Consumers across the globe desire humanized experiences when navigating the insurance industry

Duck Creek Technologies launches the second edition of the Global Consumer Insurance Insights survey of over 2,000 global consumers, aimed at refining the strategies that bring insurers closer to consumers worldwide

Boston / London, May 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Duck Creek Technologies, the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance, has proudly published its second annual benchmark survey, the 2023 Global Consumer Insurance Insights. The survey reveals strong demand from global consumers for humanized insurance purchasing, switching and communication experiences through digital channels.

The 2023 wave of research – which is being launched at the Duck Creek Technologies Formation ‘23 event for customers and partners from May 8-10, was conducted independently by Research in Finance for Duck Creek Technologies and surveyed over 2,000 policyholders across 13 countries, all of whom held at least one insurance policy.

Aimed at refining the strategies that bring insurers closer to consumers worldwide, this year’s survey is more extensive than the inaugural 2022 edition, with more questions and responses from policyholders across more countries. The survey provides insights for carriers, reflecting consumer preferences and awareness of innovation opportunities, purchasing, and communication methods.

Key findings from the survey include:

 

  • 93% of consumers are confident they have the proper coverage, irrespective of which channel they used to purchase the insurance policy.
  • Once a policy is in place, 44% of consumers prefer human interaction (2022: 35%). At the same time, however, interest in app/WhatsApp usage for buying and switching insurance also increased year-over-year.
  • 46% of global consumers are unaware of embedded insurance. Of those who were aware (37%), almost half said they trust it because of product or retailer quality. Those who do not trust it (26%) find embedded insurance unnecessary and expensive. Those who are unsure (29%) require more information, having had little experience with embedded insurance.

The survey reveals significant positives for insurance providers and clearly shows they are getting it right in many areas. However, it also highlights areas where insurers must reflect and improve further – including bolstering global consumer confidence and trust in insurance.

According to Jess Keeney, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Duck Creek, “As the insurance industry continues to evolve, it is crucial for providers to listen to the needs and preferences of their customers. The 2023 Duck Creek Technologies benchmark survey provides invaluable insights into consumer behaviors and trends, highlighting the areas where insurers can maximize accessibility, accelerate speed to market, and differentiate competitively.”

While the survey shows that carriers around the world are responding quickly to consumer demand for more relevant and timely products and services, it also reveals that a significant number of consumers prefer a humanized experience when interacting with their insurance providers. This emphasizes the importance of exploring ground-breaking and varying communication options to meet the needs of diverse customers.

Keeney adds, “It is encouraging to see that despite the challenging economic environment, people are re-evaluating their insurance needs and considering a wider range of products. Mobile and gadget insurance, travel insurance, and embedded insurance are being purchased more frequently than other types of insurance.

Duck Creek’s 2023 survey is a vital resource for insurance providers, offering unique insights into customer perceptions and highlighting the next opportunities for innovation. We urge providers to delve deeply into the results and continue pushing the frontiers of the insurance industry forward.”

Research in Finance Head of Research, Karen Scott, added, “In the insurance industry, listening to consumers is essential for success. As the Global Consumer Insurance Insights Survey 2023 demonstrates, primary research capturing changing behaviors, user feedback, and satisfaction is invaluable to help inform insurance company strategies, new product development, marketing, and communications plans. Insurers now have access to significant data sets to compare year-on-year, creating a true benchmark series of reports we are proud to support. Ultimately, insurers who prioritize listening to and understanding their consumers will come out on top.”

The 2023 Global Consumer Insurance Insights Survey highlights four key calls to action for insurers:

  1. Maximize accessibility of insurance products to consumers across channels
  2. Accelerate speed to market with the SaaS model
  3. Humanize the consumer experience through digital channels
  4. Leverage the SaaS ecosystem to differentiate competitively

Download the 2023 Global Consumer Insurance Insights Survey here.

About Duck Creek Technologies
Duck Creek Technologies is the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of the property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance industry. We are the platform upon which modern insurance systems are built, enabling the industry to capitalize on the power of the cloud to run agile, intelligent, and evergreen operations. Authenticity, purpose, and transparency are core to Duck Creek, and we believe insurance should be there for individuals and businesses when, where, and how they need it most. Our market-leading solutions are available on a standalone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand. Visit www.duckcreek.com to learn more. Follow Duck Creek on our social channels for the latest information – LinkedIn and Twitter.

Drake Manning
Duck Creek Technologies
+1 860 877 3609
drake.manning@duckcreek.com
GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8833259

African governments harness education data to reverse learning crisis

EkoEXCEL Situation Room

EkoEXCEL Situation Room

LONDON, May 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — African education leaders travelling to London to showcase NewGlobe-supported transformational public educational programs at the prestigious Education World Forum (EWF), May 8 – 10.

Harnessing education data to drive learning transformation will be a key takeaway for the global education community at EWF, the biggest gathering of education ministers in the world.

They face what World Bank Education Director, Jaime Saavedra, calls, “the most serious crisis in education in 100 years.”

Data from the World Bank shows global Learning Poverty – defined as the percentage of 10-year-olds unable to read a simple sentence – in low and middle-income countries has increased from 50% to 70% while in Sub-Saharan Africa it is 90%.

Despite such enormous challenges, NewGlobe-supported programs in Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda, and Manipur (India) are leading the way in the use of education data-led solutions to Learning Poverty.

The success stories of the EKOEXCEL, EdoBEST, BayelsaPRIME, KwaraLEARN, Bridge Liberia, RwandaEQUIP, and STAR Education programs will be on display at EWF. All are seeing huge improvements in learning outcomes.

Underpinning their success is a data-driven structured pedagogy, independently assessed in Kenya in a study led by Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Michael Kremer. It confirmed learning gains among the “largest ever measured in international education.”

The EKOEXCEL program in Lagos State, Nigeria is an exemplary case of using data-driven solutions to reverse Learning Poverty. One of the program’s initiatives, the ‘Situation Room’ will be on display at EWF.

The Situation Room visualizes data from all 1012 primary schools in Lagos State, offering powerful insights. Using NewGlobe’s Spotlight software, gives education leaders access to key data in real time – empowering the government to make informed interventions.

Lagos State Education Commissioner, Folashade Adefisayo said:

“If there are any problems in schools, we are able to track them, so people going there to solve the problem have a lot of data in their hands; they would know how many children and teachers there are, whether the head teacher is at school and whether students are having learning difficulties in a subject.”

Within eight weeks of EKOEXCEL’s launch, literacy learning rates measured three times faster, and numeracy two times faster, than schools not in the program.

EWF promises to inspire governments to harness education data to reshape education and overcome Learning Poverty, with visionary African governments leading.

For additional information, contact: marek.pruszewicz@newglobe.education

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 1000808910

Encryptus Unveils the Largest Payout Network at Coindesk Consensus

LITHUANIA, EUROPE / ACCESSWIRE / May 8, 2023 / Encryptus, a leading cryptocurrency solutions provider, announced during Coindesk’s Consensus event the launch of industry leading payout product, which allows crypto exchanges, wallet providers, Web3, Gaming and other B2C crypto companies to off-ramp to Bank Wires, Mobile Wallets, Mobile Top-ups and Gift Cards with API’s.The payout network has coverage in 79 Countries for Bank Wires in 41 currencies, 39 countries for Mobile Wallets and 115+ countries for mobile top ups and gift cards. There are over 7,500 different types of gift cards and prepaid airtime of 307 Mobile operators globally available with Encryptus’s payouts. Popular Mobile Wallets like AliPay, GoCash and M-Pesa are among the few available.

As part of its commitment to regulatory compliance, Encryptus does not provide off ramps to sanctioned countries and clients. In addition the services are not available to residents and citizens of the US, Canada and Japan due to the regulatory landscape. The payout product is particularly beneficial for users looking to cash out crypto to fiat (national currencies) to their own bank accounts or purchase gift cards or mobile plans in over 100 countries. The payouts combined will be available in 98 currencies. The services are available via APIs but the company will unveil their widget soon.

Encryptus’ payout product is fully automated, with compliance monitoring tools to identify PEP and Sanctioned users and dirty coins via coin monitoring being integrated into its APIs.

“We are excited to launch our payouts; QuickRemit. Our payout network is not just the largest but offers the widest form of payments in the crypto industry. The API offers payout as a service and also keeps compliance as a core offering. Our vision is to further expand our payout coverage with a commitment to reduce the costs of payouts for the users” said Shantnoo Saxsena, CEO of Encryptus.

Shantnoo further explained that true crypto adoption will not happen with good pay-in networks, but with an extension to multiple payouts. Exchanges and crypto companies must not just focus on bringing users to their platform, but they must offer their users enough freedom to cash out.

Encryptus has aggressively priced the global bank wires for a flat fee of 1.5% and have a revenue share reserve from this amount for their partners. The accepted crypto would only be USDT and USDC.

The company promises to simplify global mobile wallet payouts and business payments in the upcoming upgrade.

Overall, the launch of the new payout product by Encryptus represents a significant milestone in the evolution of blockchain-based payments solutions. The need of the hour is to provide a secure, automated, and affordable way to off-ramp crypto holdings into various forms of payments. Encryptus is helping to further expand the adoption of cryptocurrencies and drive innovation in the fintech industry.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EncryptusGlobal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/encryptus/
Website: https://encryptus.io/

Please free to contact Abhi@encryptus.io for any queries.

SOURCE: Encryptus

Mosa Meat Prepares for Market Entry by Opening Largest Cultivated Meat Campus in the World to date and Working with Two Michelin-starred Chef Hans van Wolde

MAASTRICHT, The Netherlands, May 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mosa Meat, the pioneers in the cultivated meat space that grow beef directly from animal cells, opened a new 2,760 square metre (29,708 square feet) scale-up facility in Maastricht on Monday. This fourth facility completes the new Mosa C.A.M.P.U.S. or Center for Advanced Meat Production, Upscaling, and Sustainability for a total footprint of 7,340 square metres (79,007 square feet).

Monday’s program included a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Mayor of Maastricht Annemarie Penn-te Strake, the Governor of Limburg Emile Roemer, and the Mosa Meat team, a cultivated burger cooking demonstration by Chef Hans van Wolde, and tours of the new facility. A select group of 50 investors, journalists and value chain partners from around the world attended the event. The new facility will start the first production runs in a matter of days.

Mosa Meat CEO Maarten Bosch said: “As this scale-up facility comes online next month, we will have the capacity to make tens of thousands of cultivated hamburgers. The facility is designed to grow as demand increases with regulatory approvals and regional market entries, up to hundreds of thousands of cultivated hamburgers per year. And in combination with our contract manufacturer in Singapore, even a lot more. We are excited to debut this great tasting hamburger today that even hardcore carnivores will love.” 

Mosa Meat Co-founder & CSO Dr. Mark Post said: “When we introduced cultivated meat to the world, we predicted it would take 10 years to create a consumer product. Now, almost exactly 10 years later, we have a consumer product that we can start making in larger quantities and that we can start serving to consumers in Singapore, pending regulatory approval” said Mark Post, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Mosa Meat.

Chef Hans van Wolden said: “When I first tried a Mosa Burger as part of the internal development team, I was blown away by the beefy taste and the amazing mouthfeel of the beef fat. It gave me goosebumps. I genuinely believe this new way of making beef can delight connoisseurs and casual beef lovers alike, while enjoying the positive benefits of cultivated beef from a sustainability perspective. I am excited to work with the Mosa Meat team to make future versions even better. 

ABOUT MOSA MEAT

Mosa Meat is a global food technology company pioneering a cleaner, kinder way of making real beef. Our founders introduced the world’s first cultivated beef hamburger in 2013, by growing it directly from cow cells. Founded in 2016, Mosa Meat is now scaling up production of the same beef that people love, but in a way that is better for people, animals, and the planet. A diverse and growing team of 165 food-loving problem-solvers, we are united in our mission to fundamentally reshape the global food system. Headquartered in Maastricht, The Netherlands, Mosa Meat is a privately held company backed by Blue Horizon, Bell Food Group, Nutreco, Mitsubishi Corporation, Leonardo DiCaprio and others. Follow Mosa Meat on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram or visit mosameat.com to learn more about why people #cravechange.

For more information, reach out to press@mosameat.com.

Visual assets from the event will be loaded here by 17:00 CET on May 8th

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/181Qd14IJ9QD55SfwarnohvzO5-rjxtHf

The general Mosa Meat press kit is here:

https://mosameat.com/press-kit

ABOUT CHEF HANS VAN WOLDE

Chef Hans is a Dutch 2-Michelin star chef who converted an old farmhouse outside Maastricht into his restaurant Brut172. Previouslyhe was the chef owner of 2-star restaurant Beluga in Maastricht and has been featured on TV shows like MasterChef and Snackmasters. He has formally joined Mosa Meat’s product development, sensory evaluation and recipe formulation team to complement Mosa Meat’s internal team of food scientists.

www.brut172.com

Attachments

Tim van de Rijdt
Mosa Meat
press@mosameat.com

GlobeNewswire Distribution ID 8834249

More Effort Required to Support Industry Sector to Realize Big Goals Set In Sector: PP Vice President

Vice President of the Prosperity Party (PP) Adem Farah underscored the need for more effort to strengthen support and create a favorable environment in the industry in order to realize the big goals set in the development of the sector in Ethiopia.

Adem Farah visited ‘Let Ethiopia Produce’ Expo today along with the Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa City Administration, Jantrar Abay.

During the visit, Adem said the expo indicates Ethiopia’s enormous potential in manufacturing sector and would contribute to accelerate industry linkages.

Noting the expo will create a great potential to attract other investors he said, “if we work aggressively, the manufacturing sector will play a pivotal role for Ethiopia’s economic growth and prosperity.”

‘Let Ethiopia Produce’ movement has been registering great results in terms of job creation, import substitution and increasing productivity, among others, according to Adem.

A lot of effort is expected from Ethiopia to properly utilize its potential in the manufacturing sector, he said, stressing the need for more work on creating a favorable manufacturing industry environment.

In its Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda and the 10-year Development Plan, Ethiopia has identified the industry sector as one of the next drivers of the national economy.

Addis Ababa City Administration Deputy Mayor and Head of Employment, Enterprise and Industry Development Bureau Jantrar Abay said that the manufacturing industry needs special support to benefit more from the sector.

He also explained that since industries are capable of creating huge job opportunities, supporting the sector is particularly important to address the country’s core unemployment problem.

Similarly, senior officials and mid-level diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited the Expo.

Recall that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed opened “Let Ethiopia Produce” expo last Saturday with an aim of rejuvenating and promoting the potential of the country’s industry sector.

Let Ethiopia Produce movement is a national effort to create a competitive manufacturing industry by solving the various challenges of the sector encountered in a sustainable and holistic manner.

Some 70 large and 54 medium industries are displaying their products and services at the five- day expo organized at the Millennium Hall in the capital.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Purposeful Investment in Research Catalyst to Expediting Growth in Africa: Education Ministry

A purposeful investment in research and higher education is an engine to expediting growth, especially to ensuring sustainable development goals in Africa, Ministry of Education underscored.

The 21th international conference on Private Higher Education in Africa kicked off today in Addis Ababa in the presence of prominent educators, and researcher from Africa, Asia, Latin America, America and Europe.

The three day conference is taking place under the theme “sustainable development in higher education: Reality or Hype”

Opening the conference, State Minister of Education Samuel Kifle said the purposeful investment in research and higher education would be an engine for growth, especially for sustainable development.

He added that despite unfortunate occurrence in the continent, the expansion of higher education is showing tremendous progress.

At a country level Ethiopia has made efforts to ensure quality education by putting in place vital instruments, he said citing the recently extremely strict university entrance exam carried out for the first in the country.

Contrary to the previous years, the results of the students who took the school leaving examination under the new rigorous exam showed big differences in enhancing the moral of hard working students.

He noted that the ministry acknowledged the contributions that private educational institutions are making to fill the gaps created by limited capacity of public resources in the country.

St. Mary University President, Wondewosen Tamrat said the conference aims to initiate useful dialogue and discussion to strengthen higher education institutions in Africa.

He added that higher education institution should be active participants in the sustainable development goal.

African higher education institutions need to address the challenges the continent is facing by accelerating the implementation of sustainable development and agenda 2063.

The conference is expected to deliberate on issues pertinent to the enhancement of quality education in African institutions of higher learning.

It is also expected to generate policy relevant recommendations from various research papers, panel discussions and reflections under different themes.

The international conference is jointly organized by St. Mary University, the association of African Universities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Ethiopia’s ministry of education, African Union, International Network for Higher education in Africa (INHEA) and UNESCO.

Initiated by St. Mary’s university in 2003, the conference has been organized on an annual basis for the past two decades aiming at creating a platform for a wide range of actors, educators, policy makers and higher education leaders among others.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

Pakistan Keen on Expanding Trade with Ethiopia, Africa in coming few Years: Pakistani Official

Pakistan is keen on expanding its trade relations with Ethiopia and Africa in the coming few years, says Zubair Motiwata, Chief Executive of the Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan.

The Chief Executive made the remark during a side event discussion at the Ethiopia-Pakistan Business Forum between the Ethiopian government’s high-level business delegation and Pakistani counterparts.

Ethiopia is a gateway, said Zubair, to Pakistan’s vision of strengthening its existing trade and investment relations with Africa.

He assured that Pakistan, with better-quality products at a competitive price, will expand its trade with Ethiopia in the coming few years.

The start of Ethiopian Airlines’ direct flight to Karachi marked today as a historic day between the two countries’ diplomatic relations, he pointed out.

State Minister of foreign affairs of Ethiopia, Mesganu Arga explains the policy and practices of doing business in Ethiopia and the comparative advantages of the country for investment.

He remarks that the Federal Government of Ethiopia has undertaken a number of policy reforms in the past five years to increase foreign direct investment inflows.

Ethiopia is looking for more investment from Pakistan and wants to boost its trade volume, added the State Minister.

During the occasion, the chambers of commerce of the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to work together in trade and investment, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After a hiatus of nearly two decades, Ethiopian Airlines restarted service to Pakistan this week. With 110 passengers on board, the flight arrived in Karachi on Monday.

It is to be recalled that more that 80 Pakistani investors had conducted a visit last March to explore business and investment opportunities in Ethiopia.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency