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The Impact of Covid-19 on the Global Economy and Insurance

3 minutes, 35 seconds read

The pandemic COVID-19 or the well known “Coronavirus” is gradually stretching its limbs throughout the world. COVID-19 has now spread to more than 180 countries with its epicentre in China. Coronavirus confirmed cases reported globally, adds up to 8,60,181 (1st April 2020) and is still on the rise. With the death toll of 42,345(1st April 2020) the insurance companies have to take it on the chin. 

Public gatherings have been banned in several places. For instance, Mipim — the world’s largest property fair is postponed to the later part of the year. Similarly, the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona is cancelled altogether. From the IPL to the world’s premier basketball league to a 250-year-old parade and sprawling festivals, all national and international events are either cancelled or kept at hold indefinitely. Almost every business (likewise insurance) is impacted with corona outbreak and any business cannot rebound in a day.

Referring to the 2008 financial crisis when credit markets seized up, Mr Muri- Wood said, “The only thing we’ve ever had which was bigger than this was the banking crisis.” 

Businesses, Corona and Insurance

Many businesses have insurance policies that are meant to kick in when disaster strikes. But few of those policies are likely to cover pandemic outbreaks. Business interruption insurance, the coverage typically availed by the companies, as part of their property policies, pays cash to make up for lost revenue when a business has to halt operations unexpectedly.

Despite the fact that most policies won’t pay out if people cancel their travel due to coronavirus; in February, Post Office Insurance saw a year on year rise in sales of policies of 168% and CoverForYou saw a 150% increase.

Queries on new policies have sharply spiked up to 60% since fresh cases of Covid19 reports.

“Globally, we have seen such cases that impact large populations there is an increased push from consumers to get themselves covered. We have seen the same happen here as well in the wave of fresh cases being detected” 

Pankaj Verma, head marketing & underwriting operations, SBI General Insurance.

After the epidemics of SARS in 2003, Ebola in 2014 and Zika in 2015 — insurance companies realized that business-interruption claims could become unwise if they covered closures related to outbreaks of disease. Since then, insurers have taken steps to exclude epidemics from their policy.

Though epidemics are excluded from many business insurance policies, as recession threatens the global economy along with rising insolvencies, all sorts of companies, from airlines to retailers are coming under strain.

The insurers refused to comment, but Atradius said it is expected that corporate insolvencies will grow 2.4% globally in 2020, majorly resulting from the coronavirus outbreak.

The harsh reality

Perhaps, it’s too late to buy coverage for the current outbreak. Insurance companies do agree to take the brunt of the situation and pay the decontamination cost after the outbreak, but would tightly limit the amounts.

With unprecedented turmoil the industry created by the outbreak caused global airlines to cancel thousands of flights. Companies could choose a policy that would cover the deaths from an epidemic, when it passed a pre-estimated threshold, or when a government body — anywhere in the world — ordered a lockdown or travel ban. The policies are intended as custom contracts, so the company would choose according to their own risks.

Coface chief executive Xavier Durand mentioned that hotels and airlines will have to take the maximum brunt of the epidemic outbreak, while Euler Hermes saw coronavirus costing $320 billion of trade losses every quarter this year.

This indicates that companies will have to bear the losses themselves. It can be either directly or in the form of self-insurance funds (large companies often set aside some funds for emergencies).

LV, the insurance giant in the UK, have stopped selling travel insurance with immediate effect as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

“We can’t insure a burning building,” Mr Ryan Christian Ryan of the risk advisory firm Marsh says.

The bottom line

The Coronavirus have adversely impacted the economy worldwide. From time to time, violent demonstrations slowed down the flood of travellers to a trickle and transactions grind to a halt. 

McKinsey anticipates recession until the end of Q2 because of large-scale quarantines, travel restrictions, and social-distancing leading to a sharp fall in consumer and business spending. However, because of banks’ strong capitalization and macroprudential supervision, a full-scale banking crisis is averted.

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How Smarter Sales Apps Are Reinventing the Frontlines of Insurance Distribution

The insurance industry thrives on relationships—but it can only scale through efficiency, precision, and timely distribution. While much of the digital transformation buzz has focused on customer-facing portals, the real transformation is happening in the field, where modern sales apps are quietly driving a smarter, faster, and more empowered agent network.

Let’s explore how mobile-first sales enablement platforms are reshaping insurance sales across prospecting, onboarding, servicing, renewals, and growth.

The Insurance Agent Needs More Than a CRM

Today’s insurance agent is not just a policy seller—they’re also a financial advisor, data gatherer, service representative, and the face of the brand. Yet many still rely on paper forms, disconnected tools, and manual processes.

That’s where intelligent sales apps come in—not just to digitize, but to optimize, personalize, and future-proof the entire agent journey.

Real-World Use Cases: What Smart Sales Apps Are Solving

Across the insurance value chain, sales agent apps have evolved into full-service platforms—streamlining operations, boosting conversions, and empowering agents in the field. These tools aren’t optional anymore, they’re critical to how modern insurers perform. Here’s how leading insurers are empowering their agents through technology:

1. Intelligent Prospecting & Lead Management

Sales apps now empower agents to:

  • Prioritize leads using filters like policy type, value, or geography
  • Schedule follow-ups with integrated agent calendars
  • Utilize locators to look for nearby branch offices or partner physicians
  • Register and service new leads directly from mobile devices

Agents spend significantly less time navigating through disjointed systems or chasing down information. With quick access to prioritized leads, appointment scheduling, and location tools—all in one app—they can focus more on meaningful customer interactions and closing sales, rather than administrative overhead.

2. Seamless Policy Servicing, Renewals & Claims 

Sales apps centralize post-sale activities such as:

  • Tracking policy status, premium due date, and claims progress
  • Sending renewal reminders, greetings, and policy alerts in real-time
  • Accessing digital sales journeys and pre-filled forms.
  • Policy comparison, calculating premiums, and submitting documents digitally
  • Registering and monitoring customer complaints through the app itself

Customers receive a consistent and seamless experience across touchpoints—whether online, in-person, or via mobile. With digital forms, real-time policy updates, and instant access to servicing tools, agents can handle post-sale tasks like renewals and claims faster, without paperwork delays—leading to improved satisfaction and higher retention.

3. Remote Sales using Assisted Tools

Using smart tools, agents can:

  • Securely co-browse documents with customers through proposals
  • Share product visualizations in real time
  • Complete eKYC and onboarding remotely.

Agents can conduct secure, interactive consultations from anywhere—sharing proposals, visual aids, and completing eKYC remotely. This not only expands their reach to customers in digital-first or geographically dispersed markets, but also builds greater trust through real-time engagement, clear communication, and a personalized advisory experience—all without needing a physical presence.

4. Real-Time Training, Performance & Compliance Monitoring

Modern insurance apps provide:

  • On-demand access to training material
  • Commission dashboards and incentive monitoring
  • Performance reporting with actionable insights

Field agents gain access to real-time performance insights, training modules, and incentive tracking—directly within the app. This empowers them to upskill on the go, stay motivated through transparent goal-setting, and make informed decisions that align with overall business KPIs. The result is a more agile, knowledgeable, and performance-driven sales force.

5. End-to-End Sales Execution—Even Offline

Advanced insurance apps support:

  • Full application submission, from prospect to payment
  • Offline functionality in low-connectivity zones
  • Real-time needs analysis, quote generation, and e-signatures
  • Multi-login access with secure OTP-based authentication

Even in low-connectivity or remote Tier 2 and 3 markets, agents can operate at full capacity—thanks to offline capabilities, secure authentication, and end-to-end sales execution tools. This ensures uninterrupted productivity, faster policy issuance, and adherence to compliance standards, regardless of location or network availability.

6. AI-Powered Personalization for Health-Linked Products

Some forward-thinking insurers are combining AI with health platforms to:

  • Import real-time health data from fitness trackers or health apps 
  • Offer hyper-personalized insurance suggestions based on lifestyle
  • Enable field agents to tailor recommendations with more context

By integrating real-time health data from fitness trackers and wellness apps, insurers can offer hyper-personalized, preventive insurance products tailored to individual lifestyles. This empowers agents to move beyond transactional selling—becoming trusted advisors who recommend coverage based on customers’ health habits, life stages, and future needs, ultimately deepening engagement and improving long-term retention.

The Mantra Labs Advantage: Turning Strategy into Scalable Execution

We help insurers go beyond surface-level digitization to build intelligent, mobile-first ecosystems that optimize agent efficiency and customer engagement—backed by real-world impact.

Seamless Sales Enablement for Travel Insurance

We partnered with a leading travel insurance provider to develop a high-performance agent workflow platform featuring:

  • Secure Logins: Instant credential-based access without sign-up friction
  • Real-Time Performance Dashboards: At-a-glance insights into daily/monthly targets, policy issuance, and collections
  • Frictionless Policy Issuance: Complete issuance post-payment and document verification
  • OCR Integration: Auto-filled customer details directly from passport scans, minimizing errors and speeding up onboarding

This mobile-first solution empowered agents to close policies faster with significantly reduced paperwork and data entry time—improving agent productivity by 2x and enabling sales at scale.

Engagement + Analytics Transformation for Health Insurance

For one of India’s leading health insurers, we helped implement a full-funnel engagement and analytics stack:

  • User Journey Intelligence: Replaced legacy systems to track granular app behavior—policy purchases, renewals, claims, discounts, and drop-offs. Enabled real-time behavioral segmentation and personalized push/email notifications.
  • Gamified Wellness with Fitness Tracking: Added gamified fitness engagement, with rewards based on step counts and interactive nutrition quizzes—driving repeat app visits and user loyalty.
  • Attribution Tracking: Trace the exact source of traffic—whether it’s a paid campaign, referral program, or organic source—adding a layer of precision to marketing ROI.
  • Analytics: Integrated analytics to identify user interest segments. This allowed for hyper-targeted email and in-app notifications that aligned perfectly with user intent, driving both relevance and response rates.

Whether you’re digitizing field sales, gamifying customer wellness, or fine-tuning your marketing engine, Mantra Labs brings the technology depth, insurance expertise, and user-first design to turn strategy into scalable execution.

If you’re ready to modernize your agent network – Get in touch with us to explore how we can build intelligent, mobile-first tools tailored to your distribution strategy. Just remember, the best sales apps aren’t just tools, they’re growth engines; and field sales success isn’t about more apps. It’s about the right workflows, in the right hands, at the right time.

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