Bradley Du Chenne, CEO of Telesure Turkey, said: " Currently, distribution of insurance is labor-intensive with many inefficiencies. To increase sales, extra labor input is required at both an agency level and an insurance marketing level.”

“Turkish insurance sector is at a tipping point and disrupters like ourselves are becoming significant players in the market”

“The characteristics that differentiate Koalay.com from its competitors are Koalay.com’s superior user experience and user interface, and online purchasing capabilities”

With the wave of InsureTech, a new era has begun for the insurance market. How do you evaluate the development of insurance market in recent years?

Insurers have begun to realize the demand for online capabilities in the insurance market. This demand is being driven by the consumer as a natural progression towards digitalization that we are seeing throughout all industries. They are demanding smarter and faster solutions to their purchasing problems. Telesure has been exposed to the evolution of technology and digitalization of the insurance industry across our international group, particularly in the UK; and in comparison, development in the Turkish market is definitely slower than other global markets that we have been exposed to. However, I do believe that insurance companies have shifted focus in the right direction and are dedicating a lot more resources in order to meet these increasing needs for digitalization.

What do you see when you compare the online insurance practices in Turkey to those in the rest of the world? Do you believe Turkey will be a successful country in the field of online insurance?

Yes, Turkey will definitely be a successful online insurance country due to the strong driving force from consumers and their digital demands. For instance, in the UK market, we have seen an evolution of an agent-dominated market to a direct sales market via insurer call centers, and ultimately a migration to self-service purchasing through online comparison sites. In Turkey, due to e-commerce enablement, and a high mobile and internet usage penetration; consumers will drive the migration directly towards self-service purchasing through online comparison sites, as they are beginning to realize that traditional agent is not necessarily best placed to provide them with the cheapest quote. Consumers are beginning to take their insurance purchasing decisions into their own hands, and platforms like ourselves fulfill the need for a one-stop-shop for both online price comparison and purchasing. This behavior is going to drive the migration in Turkey from agents directly to the online websites, bypassing the direct insurance sales model.

What are the characteristics of Koalay.com that stands out and differentiates it, when you compare it to other online insurance intermediaries?

The characteristics that differentiate Koalay.com from its competitors are Koalay.com’s superior user experience and user interface, and online purchasing capabilities. The user is provided with real-time quotations, advanced customization options, easy quote comparison and the ability to purchase their desired policy at their own convenience. Our system does not rely on offline, call-center dependent processes; thus allowing the consumer the luxury of shopping and purchasing at their leisure. This is what allows us to partner with non-insurance related partners to enhance distribution; and it is very rewarding to see that we are becoming the online partner of choice, with companies approaching us to be their technology partner.

What are Koalay.com’s targets in Turkish insurance market? Could you inform us about your growth and development targets for 2018?

We continue our focus on increasing insurance penetration across Turkey, by increasing the range of product offerings as well as offering Koalay.com as a technology solution through non-traditional white labelled partnerships. Currently, the distribution of insurance is labor-intensive with many inefficiencies. To increase sales, extra labor input is required at both an agency level and an insurance marketing level. Through our focus on digitalization and ease of scalability, we will allow insurers the ability to increase sales without the increase in variable costs, meaning these costs can be removed from the value-chain, making insurers more profitable.

What do you think about Turkish insurance market’s perception of technology and digitalization? Do you believe InsureTech endeavors in Turkey are innovative?

Insurance remains a low engagement, grudge purchase. Therefore, ease of transaction is critical for the consumer. Through innovative technology, the user experience needs to be optimized in order to allow for an intuitive and user-friendly interface to maximize the conversions throughout the sales journey. InsureTech endeavors have been on the rise, and conferences like “Insure and Innovate” will create the environment for businesses to share best practices and international benchmarks to allow for more rapid and innovative developments.

Could you tell us about the developments along Koalay.com’s experience in Turkey since its foundation, and Koalay.com’s priorities in Turkey?

Koalay.com has been present in the Turkish market for just over 4 years and we have seen great increase in support from both consumers and insurers, which has allowed us to grow aggressively. We have added more products to our offering, partnered with many non-insurance companies to widen the distribution, and seen a great increase in appetite for pure online sales from the direct consumer. Turkish insurance sector is at a tipping point and disrupters like ourselves are becoming significant players in the market. Our focus remains on fulfilling the consumer requirement of wanted transparency, control and the best deal for insurance as hassle free as possible.

Turkey has experienced frequent regulatory changes especially in traffic insurance. Could you tell us about the impacts Koalay.com has experienced due to regulatory amendments and recent developments in traffic insurance?

Regulatory changes impact insurers’ appetites to sell regulated insurance products. By capping the price for products, it places the insurance companies in a difficult position of fulfilling services at non-profitable premiums. This is not sustainable, and in the long run, consumer will suffer.