Discovery wins at the Efma–Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards 2021

4 June 2021: Discovery took home Gold in the Core Insurance Transformation category and Silver in the Global Innovator category at the Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards. The virtual ceremony showcased the best examples of insurance innovations across the globe.

The awards competition attracted 460 entries from nearly 300 institutions in 55 countries. With over 100 more entries than in 2020, the Awards reflect the intense drive among insurers to innovate to address new risks and customer needs amid continued Covid-19-related disruption.

Efma CEO, John Berry, said: “Insurance players have certainly had to face many new and unexpected challenges, requiring them to adapt their offerings and distribution models. In this context, I was really impressed by both the quality and the relevance of the projects submitted this year.”

Discovery Chief Executive Adrian Gore accepted the Silver Global Innovator Award on behalf of Discovery Limited, saying: “It’s wonderful to be honoured in a global competition of this scale and to receive recognition for the Vitality Shared-Value Insurance model as a transformative category in financial services.”

The Global Innovator category recognises the most innovative insurance organisation whose vision commits it to continuous innovation; the development and leadership of a broad ecosystem of partners; and the use of emerging technologies to improve customer experience and overall business performance.

Discovery won for its pioneering shared-value business model, Vitality, which has been scaled globally to 28 markets with over 20 million members. Its mechanism of guiding and rewarding better health behaviours has been adopted by leading insurance organisations around the world, assisting them to amplify their impact and support Discovery’s core purpose of making people healthier.

Discovery also won Gold in the Core Insurance Transformation category for its AI Quote offering, a system that uses artificial intelligence to read competitor documents and create an equivalent Discovery quote in less than two minutes. Clients or financial advisors can upload a PDF or picture of competitor insurance and investment documents and receive an equivalent quote in seconds.

“We are excited about the potential of AI Quote,” said Gareth Friedlander, Deputy CEO of Discovery Life. “By removing sales frictions and automatically carrying out comparisons, Discovery’s AI Quote enhances our exposure to potential clients, attracts brokers to sell Discovery products and improves the accuracy of replacements. We’re taking quoting to the next level by delivering it on an efficient client- and broker-centric platform available at their fingertips.”

The winners were selected through a combination of votes by a panel of judges comprising senior insurers from around the world and online by Efma members and non-members from insurance institutions. Each entry was assessed using three criteria: its originality; its strategic capacity to create a long-term competitive edge and return on investment; and its adaptability for use in other markets and countries.

About Discovery

Founded in South African in 1992, Discovery pioneered the Vitality Shared-Value insurance model - which uses the power of incentives, data and behavioural economics to make people healthier and enhance and protect their lives. The model has proven its efficacy across insurance lines for delivering tangible benefits to clients, the business and society. The model is exported and scaled through the Global Vitality Network, an alliance of some of the largest insurers across key markets including AIA (Asia), Ping An (China), Generali (Europe), Sumitomo (Japan), John Hancock (US), Manulife (Canada) and Vitality Life & Health (UK, wholly owned). Now present in 28 markets, the business model touches over 20 million lives; and has been globally recognised as leading the industry.