With the UK commemorating ‘Know Your Health Numbers Week’, the country’s largest blood pressure testing and awareness event, Alula Technologies, a global technology group that provides solutions to the healthcare, insurance, and pensions industries, has reinforced its commitment to digital health by providing its partners and users with secure, seamless access to health data records.

“‘Know Your Health Numbers Week’ underscores the crucial role health metrics play in empowering individuals to take control of their well-being and make informed decisions towards a healthier, more fulfilling life,” says Simon Spurr, Managing Director at Alula Health.

Forming a core component of the Alula value proposition, the Health Score is a dynamic, scientifically calculated number that offers a comprehensive overview of an individual’s health status and risk factors. By leveraging data from multiple sources, the Health Score empowers insurers and healthcare organisations to make informed decisions, understand their customer more effectively, enhance customer engagement, and offer personalised care, benefits, and incentives to their customers.

The rise of digital health checks

Digital health checks can be conducted remotely and are often more convenient for individuals. They eliminate the need for physical appointments, reducing travel time and waiting periods. Furthermore, these checks are accessible to a broader population, including those in remote or underserved areas, which contributes to increasing access to healthcare and reducing health disparities.

Digital health checks can provide real-time data, enabling healthcare providers and individuals to monitor health metrics continuously. This is particularly valuable for chronic disease management and early detection of health issues.

“One of the most important benefits of these checks is that they can provide high levels of accuracy and consistent data that can be accessed easily by the end user. They reduce the risk of human error associated with manual data collection. With these checks in place, digital health platforms can analyse large datasets and provide personalised recommendations and insights based on an individual’s health metrics and history,” adds Spurr.

Rethinking data integration

Alula’s approach when it comes to digital health checks is underscored by its focus on technology solutions, data integration, artificial intelligence (AI), and an unrelenting commitment to data security. All these centres on making digital health more intuitive, insightful, and integrated than ever.

Alula delivers solutions such as mobile apps, diagnostic and wearable device integrations, rPPG solutions, and online platforms that enable individuals to engage with and monitor their health metrics and access their health data securely.

But beyond the tools, data integration capabilities, and use of advanced technologies like AI, the group is committed to collaborating with healthcare providers, insurers, and other stakeholders to ensure seamless integration of digital health checks into the healthcare and insurance ecosystems.

Commitment to data privacy

“At Alula, data privacy and consent are deeply embedded in our operations. Users have complete control over their information, and we ensure stringent adherence to global data protection laws. Trust is paramount, and we prioritise it in every digital solution we provide,” adds Spurr.

From the rise of wearable technology and telehealth services to the growing emphasis on mental well-being, Alula’s goal is to be at the heart of this digital health transformation.

“We envision a future where health monitoring transitions to optimisation and where data collection evolves into actionable insights,” concludes Spurr.

About Alula

The Alula Technologies group provides business-critical solutions to Life and Health insurance and Pensions companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitalise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

Proactive risk management has become the linchpin in revolutionising how insurers approach customer experience, underwriting, pricing, and the concept of ‘prevention being better than cure’ in today’s increasingly digitised world. The impact can be seen on the growth of the global insurtech market which was valued at $5.45 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow by more than 52% annually through 2030. This provides insurers with the opportunity to leverage advanced technologies as the means to enhance customer outcomes while mitigating risk.

Given the nature of the industry, insurers have always had to manage a significant amount of data. But thanks to the rapid evolution of technology, more refined tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and sophisticated algorithms are now available. These can be used to manage and interpret data more efficiently. An amalgamation of data and automation provides insurers with a cost-effective, user-friendly solution to proactively manage risk.

Rethinking data

Insurers can now harness health and wellness data, available in abundance from wearable devices and other platforms. However, the challenge lies in seamlessly integrating this new influx of data within existing processes. This is where solutions like the Alula Technologies HealthCloud platform come into play. HealthCloud enables the ingestion of data from a myriad of input channels such as wearables, remote diagnostics, pathology labs, rPPG (face scanning technology using PC and smartphone cameras), and even insurers’ own databases to provide a comprehensive health profile of an individual policyholder.

It is important to remember that data, in itself, is a dormant asset until it is integrated seamlessly into business processes. It is the application of this data through AI and proprietary algorithms that unlocks its potential. Alula Technologies’ HealthCloud generates Health Scores from more than 60 data points to ensure insurers can better understand their customers and anticipate and identify potential risks across their portfolios. By deploying proactive strategies, such as personalised health nudges, home testing kits, and regular check-ins, insurers can manage risk, enabling them to promote healthier lifestyles and deliver more accurate pricing models that better reflect individual customer profiles.

Success built on partnership

However, implementing this proactive approach is not without its challenges. The scars from previously expensive and unsuccessful tech projects, budgetary constraints, and internal resistance may hinder the harnessing of this data by insurers. At Alula Technologies, we believe in partnering with our clients, addressing these issues head-on, and adopting a scalable, test-and-learn approach.

Engagement and education are integral for risk prevention and mitigation. Here, the role of technology cannot be overstated. Using personalised messaging, relevant content, and timely reminders can help foster a more proactive approach in the relationship between insurers and policyholders. The next shift in engagement lies in rewarding positive changes, with dynamic pricing being the ultimate goal.

As we look to the future, we believe the true challenge lies in effectively using these tools to benefit both customers and insurers. The notion of active book management, facilitated by data and automation, paves the way for providing unparalleled health and financial value to customers. Insurers, in return, benefit from better risk management and customer relationships.

Overcoming pain points

To prepare for this shift, insurers must start their transformation now. Identifying customer pain points and finding solutions, using the available tools, and adopting a continual testing-and-learning approach, should be the initial steps. Since technological advancement is continuous, it is crucial for insurers to partner with a company that allows for growth at their own pace.

The future of proactive risk management in the insurance sector lies in harnessing insurtech effectively. At Alula Technologies, we are committed to making this future a reality, transforming the insurance industry one data point at a time.

About Alula

The Alula Technologies group provides business critical solutions to Life and Health insurance and Pensions companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitalise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

Auto insurance is leading the charge with the adoption of dynamic pricing, which entails developing policies that are more cost-effective for low-risk customers and using a different premium model for high-risk policyholders. There is significant potential for life and health insurers to capitalise on this momentum and embrace this model within subsets of their product offerings. These opportunities are born from the ability to tailor premiums based on real-time data and analytics.

Insurers planning to implement dynamic pricing will make use of advanced technologies and sophisticated algorithms through artificial intelligence and machine learning. This will provide an additional layer of insights on top of the massive amounts of data insurers are collecting from various channels. The supporting technology already exists, with the likes of telematics devices, wearables, social media, historical claims records, and health records, which are all being used to provide a comprehensive view of an individual customer.

Understanding this data empowers insurers to gain insights into individual risk profiles and provides them with the means to adjust premiums accordingly. As part of this, we are now able to adapt pricing in real-time, allowing for personalised and dynamic coverage. This serves to further strengthen the customer experience and promote more frequent interaction between the insurer and the policyholder, building the trust relationship between individual and institution. In turn, this will reduce churn in a highly competitive marketplace.

The importance of data and analytics

Data and analytics are crucial in an insurer’s approach to dynamic pricing. Using advanced analytical techniques, insurers can assess risk with greater precision. This will empower them to better differentiate between high-risk and low-risk policyholders and, per implication, implement more accurate pricing geared to each target market. Furthermore, data-driven insights provide insurers with a view of emerging trends to guide them in developing products that reflect market needs while enhancing their underwriting practices.

Dynamic pricing also has the benefit of positively impacting customer behaviour, and the relationships insurers have with their customers. With personalised pricing, customers will be incentivised to adopt safer behaviours, such as defensive driving or proactive health management. This shift can lead to a mutually beneficial relationship that sees insurers reward customers for risk mitigation and prevention. However, some customers may feel uneasy about the perceived intrusion of their privacy or the potential for sudden premium increases. It is, therefore, up to insurers to communicate the benefits of this data usage and address any concerns customers may have to maintain trust.

The challenges of transitioning

Transitioning from traditional pricing models to dynamic pricing poses several challenges for insurers. Accurate data collection, redundant storage, and effective analysis must be maintained. Leveraging reliable data from multiple channels is essential if an insurer is to truly benefit from dynamic pricing. Additionally, insurers must invest in robust infrastructure, analytics capabilities, and specialised skills to effectively leverage the power of data. Moreover, regulatory considerations, including compliance with fair pricing practices and the use of personal data, need to be addressed to ensure a smooth transition.

Insurers must also be cognisant of the ethical implications tied to dynamic pricing, particularly fairness and discrimination. To address these concerns, insurers must remain committed to maintaining transparency in their pricing methodologies. As such, they must provide clear explanations for premium adjustments based on risk factors and encourage customer education on the benefits of dynamic pricing.

Dynamic pricing provides insurers with the means to fundamentally revolutionise their business models, once proven in subsets of product suites. Integrating data analysis at scale using advanced technologies will enable insurers to better align pricing with risk profiles and customer behaviour. Additionally, customers will be empowered to make proactive choices based on their risk profiles.

There are technical complexities, alleviating customer concerns and addressing the potential ethical implications to ensure a fair and sustainable pricing ecosystem that must all be considered. However, by embracing these and leveraging the opportunities offered by dynamic pricing, insurers can forge stronger relationships with customers, enhance risk management practices, and drive greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.

About Alula

The Alula Technologies group provides business critical solutions to Life and Health insurance and Pensions companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitalise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

The evolution of consumer expectations in the insurance industry is reshaping the traditional insurer-customer dynamic. Customers are no longer satisfied with a one-size-fits-all approach; they are looking for a more personalised, meaningful, and continuous engagement with their insurance providers. Insurers, therefore, need to leverage a multitude of touchpoints to foster these deeper connections, driving customer satisfaction and retention while opening new avenues for business growth.

Today’s consumers, backed by the digital revolution, expect on-demand services and real-time interactions. They are increasingly looking for an experience that is tailored to their unique needs and preferences. Recognising this, insurers must shift from transactional interactions to consistent, personalised touchpoints that not only enhance the customer experience but also build long-lasting relationships.

Typically, customers engage with an insurer maybe once a year – either to discuss their premium increases or to submit a claim. And if no claim is submitted, how can a person really tell whether their insurer is good or not beyond looking at the price point argument. A global survey found that 57% of UK customers are considering changing their insurer in the next 12 months, significantly higher than the global average of 40%. With insurers, therefore, under increasing pressure to find more innovative ways of differentiating themselves, the focus has turned to personalisation.

The power of multiple touchpoints

Embracing multiple touchpoints is the key to achieving this. A well-integrated multi-touchpoint strategy helps insurers capture and understand a 360-degree view of their customers. From Web sites, mobile apps, and social media platforms to wearables and IoT devices, every touchpoint holds the potential to gather insights into consumer behaviour, preferences, and needs. By weaving these insights into their strategies, insurers can deliver tailored offerings, proactive risk management, and superior customer service, aligning closely with the evolving expectations of consumers.

Data lies at the heart of this personalisation. With each interaction, insurers have an opportunity to collect valuable data points that paint a vivid picture of the customer’s journey. Advanced analytics and machine learning can leverage this data to create personalised solutions, predict future needs, and offer real-time assistance.

Consider a policyholder with a wearable device. Regular activity tracking not only helps the insurer provide customised wellness programmes and advice but also dynamically adjust premiums, reward healthy behaviours, and provide proactive alerts. The use of such data to offer personalised experiences transforms the insurer from a mere service provider to a trusted health partner.

Managing the challenges

While the move towards more touchpoints presents considerable opportunities, it also brings challenges, notably around data privacy and security. Insurers must ensure robust data protection measures are in place and operate with transparency to maintain customer trust. At Alula Technologies, we champion secure data handling, transparent practices, and informed consent, ensuring that our technology solutions remain customer-centric, secure, and compliant.

The future of insurance lies in ongoing engagement, rich in personalisation and driven by a deep understanding of customer needs. It is about moving beyond transactions to create a consistent dialogue that offers value at every step of the customer’s journey. By using technology to increase touchpoints and personalise experiences, insurers can build stronger relationships, enhance customer loyalty, and pave the way for sustainable business growth.

As insurers embark on this transformative journey, Alula remains committed to facilitating deeper connections between insurers and their customers through advanced, secure, and intuitive technological solutions. We envision a future where insurance is not just a transaction but an ongoing, personalised partnership, delivering value at every interaction and touchpoint.

About Alula

The Alula Technologies group provides business critical solutions to Life and Health insurance and Pensions companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitalise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

For insurance, digital transformation has become a business imperative. As part of this, adopting advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to automate manually intensive functions can reshape the insurance landscape, especially when it comes to its core functions, such as underwriting, claims processing, and customer service.

Using AI to drive automation can significantly streamline business operations by enabling a faster decision-making process and reducing manual workloads. Furthermore, automation can improve the efficiency and accuracy of underwriting by assessing risk better using external datasets. With an automated environment in place, insurers can personalise the customer experience through chatbots, virtual assistants, and personalised pricing. Intelligent systems not only analyse and extract data from claim documents, but they also keep the customer informed throughout the process, leading to quicker claim decisions and higher customer satisfaction.

Regulatory considerations

Nevertheless, it remains crucial to ensure these technologies operate within stringent data privacy, compliance, and ethical boundaries. Using AI to deliver automation presents significant challenges, including quality of and access to data, the need for specialised skills, and operational change management. Many AI algorithms rely on large volumes of high-quality data to train models or make accurate risk predictions, and recruiting and retaining the right people who can work with data science or AI toolsets is a significant task.

However, the opportunities far outweigh the challenges. AI and automation offer insurers a competitive edge, allowing for better risk management, quicker customer onboarding, custom-tailored insurance products reflecting actual risk, and, overall, an improved customer experience. Insurers must therefore embrace the need for change and implement plans that address the potential impact on existing business processes.

Part of this entails continuing to drive the innovation agenda at boardroom level. This includes not only supporting experimental projects but also fostering an environment that encourages new ideas and transparent discussions about new initiatives. It is equally important to invest in people with new technology skillsets, create strategic partnerships with technology and data providers, and focus on customer-centric solutions.

Workforce transformation

As insurers integrate AI and automation into their systems, they must acknowledge the impact on the workforce. While automation will eliminate certain tasks, new roles and responsibilities will emerge. Transparent communication, continuous reskilling and upskilling activities, re-defining job roles to include higher-value activities and improved employee well-being support are all part of a comprehensive strategy for managing this transition.

Amid increasing concerns about data privacy and security, leveraging AI and automation responsibly becomes a priority. Insurers must embrace stringent data governance and design solutions with data security and privacy at their core. This includes ensuring informed consent from customers, maintaining transparency in AI systems and their decision-making processes, and employing robust data security measures. AI techniques that preserve privacy should be used, allowing for insights to be derived without exposing sensitive information.

Industry-wide approach

It is also important to collaborate with industry bodies and regulators to shape best practices around the use of AI and the resultant automation. Doing so not only safeguards customers but also promotes a sustainable approach to digital transformation.

To this end, insurers are focusing efforts on integrating AI into their systems and processes to deliver more intelligent, automated solutions that can rapidly scale to their business requirements. Improvements in efficiencies while improving the customer experience have become crucial strategic enablers, with AI providing insurers with the tools to do so in enhanced ways.

As insurers continue on this transformative journey, Alula stands committed to leveraging AI to deliver automation to deliver value while adhering to our principles of responsibility, privacy, and customer-centricity. These technologies, when used ethically and responsibly, have the potential to fundamentally enhance the insurance industry, leading us towards a future of better risk management, efficient processes, and personalised experiences.

About Alula Technologies

Alula Technologies provides business-critical solutions to Life and Health insurance and Pensions companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitalise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

The rapidly expanding adoption of wearable technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) marks a turning point for the life and health insurance industry. Consumers today understand the value of their data with the potential for wearables further providing impetus to unlock a richer insurance experience. But what does this transformation look like, and how can insurers navigate potential obstacles while preserving consumer privacy?

This is also reflected in the adoption rate of wearable devices. At the end of last year, more than 1.1 billion people globally used their wearables to get connected, up from 722 million in 2019. While initially driven by the smartwatch market, wearables have expanded to include wristbands, hearables, and other fitness devices. According to Munich Re, wearables present an appealing value proposition for people who want their connected devices to deliver a more personalised experience. At a fundamental level, wearables provide a means for life and health insurers to continually engage with their policyholders, moving from infrequent touchpoints to daily interactions. In doing so, the potential for stronger relationships between insurers, their partners, and policyholders can unlock new business growth opportunities.

The power of wearables

Wearable technologies enable insurers to access dynamic, real-time health data about policyholders. This wealth of data, reaching beyond historic health records, offers insurers an intricate view of a person’s lifestyle, facilitating more accurate risk assessment and personalised product offerings. The insights derived from wearables, tracking everything from activity levels to resting heart rate and sleep patterns, present insurers with the means to refine pricing and risk classes, making them more competitive.

Moreover, this continuous stream of data offers insurers the opportunity to dynamically adjust pricing and engage more proactively, based on an individual’s ongoing health behaviours. This is a transformative shift from traditional underwriting, which largely relies on static health information obtained at the point of policy issuance. But beyond underwriting, using wearables can positively impact all aspects of the insurance sector.

For example, biometrics can ensure healthcare providers can deliver preventative intervention at lower costs and efficiencies than without a connected sensor being used. Research from behavioural psychology and economics show that wearable technology is an effective tool in changing individual attitudes, behaviour, and ownership of health problems to the net benefit of the subject’s health and a cost reduction from an insurer’s perspective.

Addressing the elephant in the room

Integrating wearable technology data into underwriting processes is not without challenges, particularly around privacy and the ethical use of personal data. Insurers must demonstrate a commitment to privacy by ensuring secure data handling, transparent practices, and obtaining informed consent from policyholders for data use.

Another challenge lies in the integration, maintenance, and support of this new technology. Rather than building costly and complex proprietary solutions, insurers can lean on partners like Alula Technologies who have developed secure and scalable solutions like the HealthCloud platform which provides a consolidated feed of data from various wearable device and health tracking platforms. HealthCloud’s embedded algorithms are able to handle vast amounts of data streams, provide real-time analysis and powerful insights in the form of health status and risk scoring.

Furthermore, insurers must navigate data validity concerns. Wearables vary in quality and accuracy, potentially impacting the reliability of the data. To address this, Alula not only rigorously tests all data streams for accuracy and validity, but also advocates for a comprehensive view of risk, supplementing wearable data with traditional health data, such as medical history from doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and pathology labs, together with wellness and claims data.

The power of partnership

As wearable technology becomes more prevalent, collaborations between insurers and tech companies can drive innovation. Partnerships offer an avenue to blend expertise, resulting in products that are tailored to consumers’ needs while incorporating the benefits of real-time health data.

Furthermore, a collaborative approach with customers also needs to be considered. Educating customers about the benefits and risks of sharing wearable technology data is essential. It is crucial to communicate the advantages of sharing data, such as more personalised offerings and potentially lower premiums. But trust is the bedrock of this new insurance landscape. Insurers need to be transparent about data usage and the measures in place to ensure its protection.

Taking this further, insurers can leverage wearables to encourage healthy lifestyles amongst policyholders, offering rewards for healthy behaviours – a concept known as shared-value insurance. This not only helps insurers manage risk but also positions them as a supportive partner in the policyholder’s health journey.

Positive disruption

The incorporation of IoT and wearable technologies into the life and health insurance space represents a seismic shift from traditional underwriting practices. As we explore this new terrain, it is clear that these technologies offer significant opportunities for insurers to enhance risk assessment, tailor products, and engage customers in their health.

At Alula Technologies, we remain committed to leading the industry in leveraging wearable technologies for the benefit of insurers and policyholders alike. As we overcome the associated challenges, we envision a future where life and health insurance are not just transactions, but a dynamic partnership between insurer and policyholder, rooted in health and wellbeing.

About Alula

The Alula Technologies group provides business critical solutions to Life and Health insurance and Pensions companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitalise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

The insurance industry is well-known for its reliance on legacy systems and in-person processes. However, a shift is taking place that is being fuelled by digital distribution and self-service models as insurers look to become more forward-thinking when it comes to modernisation and digitalisation.

As more insurers move towards digital distribution, the customer landscape is changing. Today, it is all about immediacy and convenience rule. Customers want to purchase policies, file claims, and manage their accounts with a few taps on their smartphones. This shift to digital has required insurers to reevaluate their operational models and prioritise expanding on their digital capabilities while looking towards a more omni-channel customer experience where people engage using the platforms they are most comfortable with.

Those insurers who have already embraced digital distribution have been able to experience enhanced customer engagement, more cost-effective operations, and greater scalability to cloud-based environments. Of course, there are also considerations around data security, regulatory compliance, and system integrations to keep in mind.

Helping insurers meet this increasing client demand for self-service and convenience, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are increasingly becoming essential. These advanced technologies enable insurers to provide personalised, interactive experiences. Not only can customers now troubleshoot problems and handle policy changes they can also process claims independently from engaging with an agent, any time of day.

Overcoming obstacles with Alula

One of the most significant challenges traditional insurers are facing in this dynamic market is to migrate offline processes to cloud-based environments. This is particularly relevant for processes such as obtaining physical signatures and medical underwriting.

But there are options available to insurers to overcome this. For instance, Alula Technologies provides insurers with the ability to automate underwriting of new policies, resulting in more efficient risk management and innovative product design. From a digital distribution perspective, this introduces improved efficiencies, lower costs, an enhanced customer experience, and personalised policies to name just a few benefits. Automating the underwriting process is a key step for modern insurers to become more customer-centric to deliver more innovative and customised solutions.

Furthermore, Alula Technologies has extended this into a claims automation solution that uses AI modelling to replicate the insurance expert’s decision-making, enabling claims to be processed in real-time, while providing the necessary risk oversight. Throughout this, insurers can have the peace of mind that their new processes are secure, compliant with regulatory standards, and user-friendly.

Enabling remote sales

Today, insurers must reimagine their product offerings to mimic the effectiveness of in-person, advice-based relationships. In part, this necessitates the simplification of insurance products to make them easily understandable and accessible to customers online.

Interactive tools such as chatbots and virtual advisors can be employed to guide customers through the product selection process. AI can be harnessed to personalise product recommendations based on individual customer profiles. A good example of this is the Alula Technologies Health Score which forms part of the HealthCloud platform for life and health insurance companies. The Health Score can be used to deliver a level of personalisation previously unimaginable. HealthCloud connects to an entire ecosystem of health and wellness data, solving data interoperability, and providing a unified view of a consumer’s individual health profile.

The Health Score is already used by insurance and healthcare providers who have directly integrated with the HealthCloud platform. It provides a dynamic evaluation of an individual’s health status. These scores are derived through proprietary algorithms considering an integrated analysis of insurer data, Electronic Health Records, medication usage, pathology results, remote diagnostic devices, wearables, and facial scanning (rPPG), offering insurers a comprehensive view of a policyholder’s health profile. With the associated insights provided by the Health Score, an insurer can recommend specific solutions more tailored to an individual customer’s needs. This facilitates greater upselling and reduces churn thanks to more relevant offerings to an individual.

Insurers are investing heavily in equipping their sales teams with the necessary digital skills and tools for remote distribution. This includes training in digital communication tools, online sales techniques, and customer relationship management software.

The shift towards remote distribution has proven to be beneficial in several ways. It has resulted in a wider reach to enable insurers to connect with customers beyond geographical boundaries. This provides end users with the ability to take ownership of the buying process. For instance, using online tools to onboard themselves as opposed to being reliant on agents. Additionally, it has also resulted in improvements to productivity as sales representatives can manage more client interactions in a day. Using advanced tools, these agents are more digitally enabled and have more options available to them to deliver improved service to end users.

All about change

The shift towards an increasingly digitalised environment that includes digital distribution, self-service, intelligent claims processing, and underwriting is a transformative journey, not a destination. Yes, this can be complex and challenging for insurers. But it all comes down to being focused on embracing technology and digitalisation to more effectively navigate this continually evolving landscape.

For Alula Technologies, it is about providing innovative solutions that position insurers better as they look to overcome the challenges of the future. By being willing to embrace digitalisation, leveraging richer data analysis, and focusing on a service offering built around a richer customer experience, insurers can harness new opportunities to usher in a new chapter delivering enhanced customer engagement and business growth.

About Alula

The Alula Technologies Group provides business critical solutions to Life and Health insurance and Pensions companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitalise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

Alula Technologies Group, a leading provider of essential solutions for life and health insurance companies, has announced the availability of HealthCloud v7.0, a significant upgrade to its health and insurance data platform. The new version marks the seventh major release since its initial launch in February 2020.

HealthCloud v7.0 introduces several enhancements to the platform that include a redesign of the user interface to align with the Alula brand identity following its acquisition of HealthCloud at the end of 2022. This reflects the organisation’s focus on improving navigation and to streamline the flow of information to enhance the user experience.

“This new version marks a substantial milestone in our journey to integrate disparate insurance and health data sets. HealthCloud v7.0 is testament to our commitment to continually innovate and align our solutions with the evolving needs of our clients. We believe that this version will redefine how our clients interact with health and insurance data, providing them with a fresh, efficient, and user-friendly experience,” says Ilze Viljoen, Product Owner at Alula Health.

HealthCloud v7.0 introduces an advancement in data governance, specifically in handling data checks on minors (persons under the age of 18). This enhancement is supported by user navigational changes to the user to verify the date of birth earlier in the process of identity verification with the South African Department of Home Affairs. This new feature supports the Alula mission to deliver accurate and validated information to its clients, underpinned by appropriate consumer consent and in line with governance and privacy policies. Alula plans to expand this accessibility by accommodating user authentication from other countries, including the United Kingdom and UAE.

Several other updates are also in the pipeline. These include industry benchmarking for the well-established Health Score. This dynamic Health Score is used by multiple insurance and healthcare providers as a trusted indicator of a person’s overall health status. The benchmark aims to give insights on how an individual’s score compares to peers of same age and gender. The benchmark configuration is customisable per client and can therefore be further refined by including additional population differentiators such as smoking status and BMI.

Additionally, to provide a more comprehensive view of a customer’s health status and risk profile, Alula will introduce telematics data related to driving behaviour in the near future. This addition provides insurers with a new dimension to improve their understanding of individual behaviour.

Furthermore, there are plans to incorporate dashboards to highlight trends and identify key consumer risks that will enable insurers and healthcare providers to drill down into more detail and reach conclusions even faster.

“The launch of HealthCloud v7.0 is not just an upgrade but an important step towards how our business transforms and evolves. We are excited about these changes, and we are committed to continuously innovate and produce world-class technology solutions that empower our clients in better understanding, and engaging with, their end policyholders,” adds Viljoen.

About Alula

The Alula Technologies Group provides business critical solutions to Life and Health insurance companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to assist with non-disclosure, mitigate fraud and to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

“Alula’s innovative platform offers insurers a unified view of a consumer’s health, medical, and wellness information. With a focus on smart insights, Alula’s technology facilitates accurate underwriting of new policies, efficient risk management, cost reduction, innovative product design, and enhanced policyholder engagement. Proprietary algorithms generate a unique Health Score, providing a real-time snapshot of an individual’s health status and driving meaningful engagement with the policyholder,” says Simon Spurr, Managing Director of Alula Health.

The collaboration will empower insurers to better understand and manage their policyholders whilst providing a comprehensive view of an individual’s health status. This holistic approach is set to encourage healthier behaviours, resulting in improved long-term health outcomes, and fostering a culture of wellbeing management among policyholders.

“Ally brings its strengths in on-demand, patient-led clinical care to the partnership. Its focus on technology creates new opportunities for Alula to incorporate diagnostic results and real-life health readings, such as blood pressure and body mass index, into their platform. This integration of real-time and historical data exemplifies the effective use of risk identification and stratification models, ultimately providing substantial savings to insurance companies,” says Kelly Klifa, Co-Founder and CEO of Ally Health.

Both Ally and Alula’s clients stand to gain significantly from this collaboration. Ally’s ‘direct’ health measurements will be enriched with longitudinal data from wearables, remote photoplethysmography (rPPG), and insurers’ data sets. Alula’s insurance clients will benefit from a deeper understanding of their customers’ health, leading to better risk management and engagement.

This partnership will significantly enhance the value propositions of life and health insurers in the United Kingdom. Plan owners will enjoy improved health outcomes through more accessible and actionable health data, reducing long-term risks and focusing on cardiovascular health and non-communicable diseases. For health and life insurers, the partnership promises more accurate upfront underwriting, a reduction in claims through improved health outcomes, deeper insight into risk, and better engagement with policyholders.

The strategic collaboration will see the organisations delivering the joint solution to insurers in the second half of this year. 

About Alula

The Alula Technologies Group provides business critical solutions to Life and Health insurance companies. Our solutions modernise policy administration, digitalise policyholder and channel engagement, and intelligently automate key insurance business processes. We also integrate first and third-party data, including health and wellness data, to drive more efficient operations, improved policyholder experiences, and a better understanding and management of risk.

Globally, insurers are under pressure to find more innovative ways of delivering on customers’ need for more personalised solutions. Low-code and no-code platforms provide insurers with a more flexible and efficient approach to developing data-driven solutions that enable them to create tailored products based on customer data.

Low-code and no-code platforms are powerful tools that simplify and accelerate the application development process. Low-code platforms primarily cater to professional developers and allow them to create applications by visually assembling components with minimal hand-coding.

No-code platforms enable non-technical users to build applications without writing any code at all. These platforms have become increasingly popular due to their ability to shorten development time, reduce costs, and increase agility, thereby freeing up internal specialists to focus on other strategic business functions.

Insurance benefits

In most countries, the insurance landscape is characterised by intense competition, stringent regulatory requirements, and an increasingly demanding customer base. To thrive in this environment, insurers must continuously innovate.

Thanks to low-code and no-code platforms, they have the means to do so far more effectively than before:

• Accelerating time to market: Insurers can quickly develop and deploy new applications, ensuring they can respond to emerging customer needs and market opportunities without delay.
• Enhancing customer experience: By leveraging these platforms, insurers can create personalised, data-driven solutions that cater to the unique preferences and requirements of their customers, leading to increased satisfaction and reduced churn.
• Streamlining regulatory compliance: Low-code/no-code solutions can help insurers automate processes and adhere to regulatory requirements more effectively, reducing the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties.
• Reducing IT costs: By minimising the need for traditional hand-coding and streamlining development processes, low-code and no-code platforms can help insurers reduce their overall IT expenditure.

Business value

From an organisational perspective, the adoption of low-code and no-code solutions can facilitate the development of a more efficient business model. For instance, by giving non-technical employees the means to build and modify applications, the insurer can foster a culture of innovation. Through the democratisation of the application development process, employees can take ownership of finding inventive ways of addressing their role-specific challenges.

The adoption of low-code and no-code platforms is a strategic imperative for insurers regardless of the country in which they are based. By using them to create data-driven solutions and respond faster to customer demands, they gain the agility to respond faster to the rapidly-evolving market demands while delivering more customised solutions.