Gone are the days when buying insurance was akin to entering a supermarket and picking what is available on the shelves. Today, the “Customer is King” philosophy has made inroads into Uganda’s insurance market. Cover customization which is also referred to as cover personalization basically means repackaging an insurance cover to the liking or preference of the customer. While the standard insurance policy covers still serve their intended purposes, customer behavior shows a growing inclination towards specially packaged insurance covers that meet their individual needs. This pauses some challenges but it is also an indicator of the insurance sub-sector’s growth.

The trend can partly be attributed to increased sophistication & specificity of customer needs. The information age too is a contributing factor. Imagine a standard Electronic Equipment Policy which ordinarily provides protection against loss resulting from accidental damage to one’s electronics. While in the past this was sufficient as one would claim for replacement of the damaged equipment, today this is not enough. This is because the contents of a laptop, for example, could be more valuable than the laptop itself which raises the need to cover not just the laptop but the valuable data on it too. In this case, availing the customer an insurance cover that covers both the laptop and loss of data therefore suffices.

While many insurance companies are adapting to the customers’ unique insurance needs, insurance brokers have been quick to catch on and are benefiting from this trend. Customers are finding it easier to engage the services of an insurance broker who listens to their specific needs, shops around for an insurer that can offer sufficient cover or conjure up a special insurance cover that takes into account all those needs. In short, the insurance broker absorbs the burden of haggling and shopping from the available insurers on the market.