“Insurance doesn’t need to be complicated. Let’s make it really simple for the end customer, and we’ll do that through technology.“ — John Shewell, Director of Communications at wefox
John Shewell, Director of Communications at wefox, visits Fast Forward, where he and our Niko Slavnic discuss the growth of the insurance industry during the pandemic and how wefox disrupts traditional insurance models through digital.
wefox is Europe’s #1 digital insurance company — a digital insurer that combines innovative rates and experienced experts under one roof. wefox redefines insurance and makes people safe, all to change the world for the better.
John Shewell has 20+ years of experience in reputation management. He is a Director of Communications at wefox, ranked in the global top 10 tech start-ups to reach unicorn status according to Sifted. John is responsible for global corporate communications for investor/business relations. Also, he founded businesses ranging from a tech start-up specializing in advanced analytics to boutique consultancies specializing in fintech, working with fast-growing companies.
John Shewell, Director of Communications, wefox: Tech as the Key Enabler of Superior Customer Experience
Listen to the podcast to hear his outstanding story. You will learn more about:
- How the pandemic reinforced wefox business model
- About the impact, Covid-19 has had on business models and work operations
- Why agents powered by technology are critical drivers of insurance business success
- How to build a better relationship with customers through simplicity
- What is the key driver of the wefox company
- The company’s growth, expansion, and future plans and ambitions
- What the company’s key differentiator is
- What his superpower is
- And so much more
For wefox, the pandemic has brought challenges and taught them what it’s like to test things and grab massive opportunities for improving business models. It brought attention to technology as the key enabler of a better customer experience. In other words, the pandemic has reinforced the wefox business model and helped them grow immensely.
“…With wefox, we’ve certainly witnessed that our company is growing very successfully in the last 12 to 18 months, and the pandemic only reinforced the business model of wefox. What it did was illustrate the need to have the technology to enable advisees to be able to deliver their work much more efficiently and be able to engage in a better customer experience. So for us, we were very fortunate in the sense of the pandemic making the business case for us. It’s been quite an interesting period for us and the way that we’ve experienced our growth. So really, the pandemic has done more than what we would have hoped for in the sense of validating our business model.“
With such tremendous growth, wefox has some exciting future goals they are striving for. John emphasizes that they plan to push things forward into a global space and disrupt the insurance industry.
“And again, coming back to the point of the pandemic, it really highlighted that massive opportunity. And so our aim is not to take part, but to take over. We’re here to really establish a global position. This is why we were able to successfully raise such a significant round of six hundred and fifty million for the U.S., by far the largest ever that’s been raised, and gives us that formidable opportunity to push forward into the global space. And we aim to become the number one insurer tech within the next ten years.”
He believes that building a better customer experience and better relationships with customers drives insurance businesses’ success. And, he points out that this can only be achieved through technology as it can make communication between customers and agents much more efficient, productive people-centric.
“…we realized that actually, the real growth was in the relationship side of things….At the end of the day, it’s about human interaction. Insurance touches nearly every aspect of our lives. So that’s a very personal agenda attached to insurance…So what we realized while we were building the business and watching our peers going direct to them was that agents were actually central to the business and, in fact, they were almost crucial to our growth.”
“So we realized that building better relationships with our customers is through our agents and that we can provide them with the technology so that they would be able to do their jobs better. They’ll be able to save their customers, which are also our customers, much better. And therefore, it’s a total win-win for everybody concerned.”
When asked about the secret of wefox’s success, John explained that it is all about making people safe because, at the end of the day, this is what insurance is all about.
“I don’t believe there’s one secret sauce, but if there was one within the company, it really boils down to our purpose, which is to make people safe. We’re very clear about that. That is the raison d’être of wefox — to make people safe. That is the purpose that drives all our decision-making, how we apply our product development, because, at the end of the day, that’s what insurance is all about. It’s all about making people safe.”
But, for companies to move boundaries and really stand out in the market, they need one key differentiator – the key that would enable them to cut through the noise and shoot for the stars. From John’s point of view, wefox’s key differentiator is simplicity and a constant need to enhance the experience of their end-customers.
“So simplicity is the key and constantly focusing on making the end experience as simple as possible. I mean, what we are very keen on is to ensure that the customers get a superior experience. Where we want to get to is to have technology as an enabler and a personal friend that identifies risks before you’re able to spot them and then gives you advice and options for the next course of action that you wish to take. So that’s where we see our differentiator.“
Finally, John shared with us what his superpower is.
“…I believe, you know, just keeping kind of a positive attitude to the whole thing. And, you know, I think really embracing it all, being open to the changes that are constant and just acknowledging that actually that is the normal situation and being able to adapt to change at a moment’s notice.”
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