The cooperation between Cleos Welt and ROLAND Schutzbrief, two of our member companies, illustrates how strategic partnerships can contribute to the development and introduction of efficient, customer-oriented insurance products.
Insurance companies need to evolve beyond simply paying out insurance benefits. Cover letter services offer a good opportunity to help customers quickly in the event of emergencies or problems, reduce stress and support claims prevention. This is why some insurers are already using cover letter modules for pet health or pet owner liability insurance in the pet insurance sector. The problem here is that the animals that would benefit most from this cannot be insured or can only be insured at high premiums for the basic products due to underwriting guidelines, even though the risk of the benefits is manageable. As a result, only the insurer usually benefits.
In the case of animal health insurance, this applies to old or previously ill animals. In pet owner's liability insurance, the range of cover offered is also limited. In liability insurance, listed dogs are difficult to insure, and in pet health insurance, breeds that are prone to damage, such as French bulldogs, are difficult to insure.
Development of dog and cat protection
The introduction of a standalone cover letter product for dog and cat owners, SOS cover, was intended to change this. The challenge during development was that the risks and therefore also the premiums for such a product are low, customers need to be made clearly aware of the added value and they need to know how to use the benefits in the event of a claim.
The product therefore had to be kept as lean and digital as possible. This is also important when using the product for embedded insurance solutions and group contracts.
Choosing the right collaboration partners
While simple measures such as a single payment method and unit prices for the application route are easy to implement, this must also work for all subsequent processes, especially in the event of a claim. The biggest challenge was therefore choosing the right partners, as the processes in the background had to be simple without losing important information for those involved in the process.
In the case of SOS cover, this applies to two areas. Firstly, the unlimited co-insurance of telemedical services. For this, Pfotendoctor was found as a provider that has ensured simple integration and use of its platform. For the desired Schutzbrief services, simple integration into the product was important in order to enable simple "back office" processes such as billing and the exchange of customer data. With ROLAND Schutzbrief, a provider was found that was able to realize exactly this with Cleo's world.
The role of ROLAND Schutzbrief and the cooperation with Cleo's World
ROLAND Schutzbrief and Cleos Welt met for the first time at DKM 2023 and explored the possibilities of working together. ROLAND's interest was immediately aroused. After further tests and further development of the idea, the actual collaboration began in the first quarter of 2024. A kickoff gave Cleos a central contact person who went through and solved all the problem areas. As a result, it was possible to work on the product, process and pricing in parallel and make very rapid progress.
From the idea to the market launch: insights into the development process
ROLAND already offers a pet insurance policy. This saved a lot of development work, as some of the benefits, such as support in medical emergencies or accommodation for the animal if the policyholder has to go to hospital, already met Cleo's expectations. This meant that only a few minor adjustments had to be made in order to integrate the cover letter into the product very quickly. Coordination with Uelzener Versicherung as the risk carrier was also open and transparent. Together with the telemedical solution from Pfotendoctor and Cleos services in the event of injuries caused by other dogs or poisoned bait, it was possible to develop a simple and fully digital product. SOS protection was born.
Despite the four people involved in the end, the development went live in just a few months.
SOS protection: an innovative product for dog and cat owners
The SOS cover letter has been active since the beginning of July and now offers valuable support to customers with older or previously ill animals. Customers with older or limited pet insurance policies also receive additional help in the event of a claim. Sales partners are also offered the opportunity to conclude simple contracts. Platforms and dealers can use group framework contracts and embedded insurance solutions to create closer ties with their customers. The product can also be made available to other insurers for their customers.
Future developments and scaling options
Because it is designed as a separate product, it is easy to integrate and use SOS protection in other products. We are already working on the next solutions.
At the same time, the processes between the parties involved are transparent and digital, so that everyone receives the necessary customer and claims information in good time and the customer can be looked after.
The key to success: transparency, trust and clear processes
In the future, the product will be rolled out to other sales partners and initial talks will be held about integrating SOS cover as an embedded solution. The ongoing premium increases in the area of animal health insurance also provide an opportunity to offer customers an inexpensive alternative. As the product is very easy to implement and operate, there are many opportunities for scaling across all sales channels, particularly in the long term. This is also ensured by the agreed processes from application to service provision. Regular feedback meetings between the parties involved continue to ensure the open and transparent communication that has taken place to date.
Last but not least: in order to make such a product exciting, scalable and simple for everyone involved in the value chain, a transparent exchange of all necessary information, mutual trust and clear processes are required.