Snapshot: A Quick Look at the Insurance Industry in Belgium

4 minutes, 33 seconds read

Published on Nov 12, 2019

Updated on May 18, 2020

The market for insurance in Belgium has been stable for over a decade. Unless Insurers adopt new strategies and embrace external partnerships, organic growth seems next to impossible.

While insurers in other parts of the world are leveraging technology for better customer acquisition, Belgian Insurers struggle with stringent customer data protection laws.

This is the time for major business alignments to keep up with the changing customer expectations. For instance, the brokerage system dominates nearly 60% of non-life insurance distribution in Belgium. Unfortunately, 31% of the brokers have a negative attitude towards digitization and InsurTech, mainly because of the lack of awareness about the subject.

With current business models, there’s negligible hope that Belgian Insurers will remain competitive. Let’s look at the key drivers of ‘change’.

Challenges-and-opportunities-of-insurance-in-Belgium

The ‘Change’ Drivers for Insurance in Belgium

The threat to lose customers for being slow in a fast-moving age is imposing some serious pressure on Insurers in Belgium. The change in customer expectations and lifestyle will drive the transformation of the Belgium Insurance Industry. The other factors that will impact the insurance include- economy, technology, life expectancy, climate change, and competition.

Digital and Mobile Adoption

The Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey 2018 reveals— 84% of Belgians own at least one mobile device. This indicates a growing preference for digital, self-service platforms, and ease of access irrespective of location. Insurers are, thus, compelled to look beyond agent-driven pitches.

For example, Trov— an American technology company provides ‘on-demand’ insurance for individuals’ properties for short durations. Customers only need to register their properties, activate insurance for a desired duration, and pay a daily premium.

Now that over 60% of non-life insurance products are distributed by brokers, this is also the time to train and equip brokers with handy apps.

Economical Changes

The world is rapidly moving towards a sharing economy, which involves short-term P2P (Peer-to-peer) transactions for shared use of products and services. The societal shift towards the open data economy fueled the open banking trend. Recently, insurers are following the trend as open insurance.

“..The economy has been moving beyond narrowly defined industries built around large, vertically integrated, and mainly “self-contained” corporations. New means of creating value have been developing everywhere in the form of ever-denser and richer networks of connection, collaboration, and interdependence…” (Business ecosystems come of age. Kelly, E., 1 April 2015, p. 4.)

Belgium is set to witness the following major economic shifts-

Mobility – Belgians demonstrate an inclination toward multimodal mobility solutions. For example, Antwerp-based Olympus Mobility- an app for cars & bike pooling and parking services is set to expand its services in more Belgian cities.

IoT – Lifestyle and product preferences are changing with connected devices. With new customer expectations, insurance needs and opportunities are also growing. For example, Phil at Home by AG Insurance is a compound product with services in the field of prevention, protection, and assistance for elderlies.

Adoption of Technologies across Industries

Digital has put customers in the center. While other industries stay ahead with technological adoption, Insurers need to invest in innovative products that cover emerging risks. For example, Spotify’s personalized recommendations and Apple’s assistant – Siri are setting a benchmark for customizing the products at an individual level. “Yet what has become the new normal for those companies, remains a challenge for insurers,” says Dirk Vanderschrick, CEO, Belfius.

The Insurance industry in Belgium is yet to adopt biometrics, recommender systems, sentiment detection, and natural language generation. Currently, 60% of Belgian Insurers use text analysis; 40% use chatbots and object detection; 20% exercise automated decision making and pattern detection; according to Monitor Deloitte’s One Minute Survey, Artificial Intelligence (May 2018).

Apart from AI-enabled tools, the Belgium Insurance sector will soon adopt blockchain, Automation, Analytics, XaaS, and IoT.

Competition

Today, business models have a shorter life cycle because of digital disruption. The competition for incumbents is fierce- with 4 bEUR potential investment in InsurTech in Belgium.

Many have thought of phygital experience as progressive- where paper and paperless processes coexist. However, in the long term, their existence is questionable. For example, Lemonade is racing the core insurance with paperless and personalized insurance packages delivered to the customer in just 90 seconds!

In line with the fact that customers want a solution to their problems – the one who provides the most appropriate solution in the easiest way possible, wins.

Regulatory Changes

Compulsory health and car insurance policies had a great impact on sales volume. Apart from being an entry barrier for small players, the existing regulations no more align with climate changes, longevity, and technological disruptions.

The Belgian Government is set to launch Payment Service Directive 2 (PSD2) by 2024 and IFRS 17 (International Financial Reporting Standard) by 2021. Nearly 70% of Insurers believe PSD2 will have a positive impact in the insurance value chain.

‘Beyond’ Insurance is the Future

According to Insurance Experts from Deloitte, non-core insurance products and services drive 10-30% of the revenue. Therefore, complementary services or value-added services can bring a greater competitive advantage to the insurers.

For example, the US-based Oscar Health Insurance encourages a healthy lifestyle by financially rewarding its customers. It tracks footsteps, eating habits, workouts, etc. on its app through wearables. It further supports customers with doctoral advice and scheduling appointments. These value-added services, along with traditional health insurance is a win for customer loyalty.

We’re an InsurTech100 company championing back and front-office automation solutions along with interactive applications for the new-age digital insurer. Drop us a line at hello@mantralabsglobal.com to know more.

In healthcare, field sales is more than just hitting quotas—it’s about navigating a complex stakeholder ecosystem that spans hospitals, clinics, diagnostics labs, and pharmacies. Reps are expected to juggle compliance, education, and relationship-building—all on the move.

But, traditional systems can’t keep up.

Only 28% of a rep’s time is spent selling; the rest is lost to administrative tasks, CRM updates, and fragmented workflows.

— Salesforce, State of Sales 2024

This is where mobile-first sales apps in healthcare are changing the game—empowering sales teams to work smarter, faster, and more compliantly.

The Real Challenges in Traditional Field Sales

Despite their scale, many healthcare sales teams still rely on outdated tools that drag down performance:

Paper-based reporting: Slows down data consolidation and misses real-time insights
Siloed CRMs: Fragmented systems lead to broken workflows

According to a study by HubSpot, 32% of reps spend at least an hour per day just entering data into CRMs.

Managing Visits: Visits require planning, which may involve a lot of stress since doctors have a busy schedule, making it difficult for sales reps to meet them.
Inconsistent feedback loops: Managers struggle to coach and support reps effectively
Compliance gaps: Manual processes are audit-heavy and unreliable

These issues don’t just affect productivity—they erode trust, delay decisions, and increase revenue leakage.

What a Mobile-First Sales App in Healthcare Should Deliver

According to Deloitte’s 2025 Global Healthcare Executive Outlook, organizations are prioritizing digital tools to reduce burnout, drive efficiency, and enable real-time collaboration. A mobile-first sales app in healthcare is a critical part of this shift—especially for hybrid field teams dealing with fragmented systems and growing compliance demands.

Core Features of a Mobile-First Sales App in Healthcare

1. Smart Visit Planning & Route Optimization

Field reps can plan high-impact visits, reduce travel time, and log interactions efficiently. Geo-tagged entries ensure field activity transparency.

2. In-App KYC & E-Detailing

According to Viseven, over 60% of HCPs prefer on-demand digital content over live rep interactions, and self-detailing can increase engagement up to 3x compared to traditional methods.
By enabling self-detailing within the mobile app, reps can deliver compliance-approved content, enable interactive, personalized detailing during or after HCP visits, and give HCPs control over when and how they engage.

3. Real-Time Escalation & Commission Tracking

Track escalation tickets and incentive eligibility on the go, reducing back-and-forth and improving rep satisfaction.

4. Centralized Knowledge Hub

Push product updates, training videos, and compliance checklists—directly to reps’ devices. Maintain alignment across distributed teams.

5. Live Dashboards for Performance Tracking

Sales leaders can view territory-wise performance, rep productivity, and engagement trends instantly, enabling proactive decision-making.

Case in Point: Digitizing Sales for a Leading Pharma Firm

Mantra Labs partnered with a top Indian pharma firm to streamline pharmacy workflows inside their ecosystem.

The Challenge:

Pharmacists were struggling with operational inefficiencies that directly impacted patient care and satisfaction.
Delays in prescription fulfillment were becoming increasingly common due to a lack of real-time inventory visibility and manual processing bottlenecks.
Critical stock-out alerts were either missed or delayed, leading to unavailability of essential medicines when needed.
Additionally, communication gaps between pharmacists and prescribing doctors led to frequent clarifications, rework, and slow turnaround times—affecting both speed and accuracy in dispensing medication.

These challenges not only disrupted the pharmacy workflow but also created a ripple effect across the wider care delivery ecosystem.

Our Solution:

We designed a custom digital pharmacy module with:

Inventory Management: Centralized tracking of sales, purchases, returns, and expiry alerts
Revenue Snapshot: Real-time tracking of dues, payments, and cash flow
ShortBook Dashboard: Stock views by medicine, distributor, and manufacturer
Smart Reporting: Instant downloadable reports for accounts, stock, and sales

Business Impact:

2x faster prescription fulfillment, reducing wait times and improving patient experience
27% reduction in stock-out incidents through real-time alerts and inventory visibility
81% reduction in manual errors, thanks to automation and real-time dashboards
Streamlined doctor-pharmacy coordination, leading to fewer clarifications and faster dispensing

Integration Is Key

A mobile-first sales app in healthcare is as strong as the ecosystem it fits into. Mantra Labs ensures seamless integration with:

CRM systems for lead and pipeline tracking
HRMS for leave, attendance, and performance sync
LMS to deliver ongoing training
Product Catalogs to support detailing and onboarding

Ready to Empower Your Sales Teams?

From lead capture to conversion, Mantra Labs helps you automate, streamline, and accelerate every step of the sales journey.

Whether you’re managing field agents, handling complex product configurations, or tracking customer interactions — we bring the tech & domain expertise to cut manual effort and boost productivity.

Let’s simplify your sales workflows. Book a quick call.

Further Reading: How Smarter Sales Apps Are Reinventing the Frontlines of Insurance Distribution

Snapshot: A Quick Look at the Insurance Industry in Belgium