Risks, Rewards, and Expectations: COVID-19's impact on insurance trends.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: INSURANCE

Insurance is an invaluable instrument that businesses employ to address potential risk, but how do insurance companies and brokers navigate an unprecedented event like the COVID-19 pandemic? The novel coronavirus caught the world completely off guard, is persisting much longer than anticipated, and is having unforeseen effects on the future.

Yet the future for insurance seems more certain. "I emphasize not to make light of the tragedy of the pandemic," says Bob Shake, Director of Growth for Anchorage-based RISQ Consulting, "but there are opportunities for us to grow our business by being more proactive and being out in front of our customers soliciting new business."

Perhaps ironically, the hard times for everyone else are an opportunity for insurance providers to expand their client base. It could not be otherwise, Shake says: "In any business environment, growth is not an option. If you don't have growth, you don't survive."

So insurance--sometimes considered a necessary evil--will be even more valued in the future, according to Shake. "I think from a business perspective, insurance will become a higher priority."

Direct Impact of COVID on Insurance

In the COVID-19 era, insurance professionals are focusing more on advice about managing risk than they did prior to the pandemic. "They are more of a consultive advisor in regard to an insured's risk portfolio," according to Shake. "They're paying a lot more attention to risk mitigation to provide better services and avoid potential losses as the pandemic extends on."

As it happens, this shift is a perfect fit for RISQ Consulting, which provides specialized risk management, customized insurance programs, and comprehensive employer services for a wide range of industries, businesses, and individuals. "We've really focused on risk mitigation and risk management and by doing so have become more of a trusted advisor to those that we insure," Shake says.

A simple but important area where RISQ Consulting is closely advising clients is workplace safety. The firm is using its resources and experience to go into the work environment and identify areas where clients have potential risk issues. Then it offers recommendations on how the company can address those concerns. "As an agency, we are making an investment that we needed to make to take care of our insureds and make sure risk mitigation is a top priority," Shake says.

Risk management is also a priority for another Anchorage insurance firm, Parker, Smith & Feek. Keeping clients informed about regulatory changes and safety is of the utmost importance for the insurance and risk management brokerage firm, according to Account Executive Matt Thon. "Our conversations have shifted to, how does a business owner protect their business, employees, and customers through this pandemic as well as [stay] compliant with local, state, and federal mandates and laws," he says. "What we have found is not every exposure created...