HAYAH Insurance recently partnered with Kidbrooke® to build engaging, self-service investment journeys with OutRank®, the financial simulation engine driving HAYAH’s new goals-based financial planning experiences. HAYAH Insurance, established in 2008 and headquartered in Abu Dhabi, is the UAE’s newest and most exciting insurance company, specialising in life and medical insurance and savings products.

Kidbrooke’s journey with HAYAH Insurance has only recently begun but the long-term goal is to build out a whole set of engaging customer experiences together to enable HAYAH Insurance to help its clients to improve their financial health.

Kidbrooke’s technology is used not only to interactively forecast client portfolios and cash flows but also to determine investment amounts required to fulfil client’s investment goals, and then monitor those goals over time. When the monitoring detects an issue, eg. that a goal is no longer feasible, Kidbrooke’s technology will also suggest actions and notifications bring clients back on track with regard to their financial goals. 

Today we sat down with HAYAH Insurance CEO, Mohamed Seghir, to understand more about this exciting partnership, the role of financial simulation and forecasting in delivering a superior customer experience and also why this is so valuable as a core aspect of generating demand for financial services. 

HAYAH strives to deliver a fully digital, easy and secure experience for its insurance customers. What was your vision behind the commitment to provide your services through digital channels? 
Our vision stems from the recognition that today's customers demand convenience, speed, and personalisation. We understood that by leveraging digital channels, we could create a seamless, user-friendly experience for our insurance customers while simultaneously streamlining our operations, reducing costs, and improving efficiency. Our goal has always been to make insurance more accessible, transparent, and tailored to the needs of each individual and digital channels enable us to achieve this. 

What do you want to achieve within the realms of digital financial guidance and advice in your region?  
We aim to become a leading player in our region and beyond, helping our customers make informed financial decisions and empowering them to achieve their financial goals. Our ambition is to provide personalised financial simulation, data-driven advice and that is easily accessible, transparent, and affordable, thus democratising financial planning and fostering financial literacy in our region. As we all know professional advice costs money, and it is out of reach for a lot of people in the region. So the mission was to educate and inform customers, so they can access and demystify financial solutions. The customer base is also increasingly mobile, they travel more, they value convenience, they need accurate and concise information on which to make decisions and they value being able to do this themselves. Moreover, more expatriates are also settling here and need to plan carefully for the future, especially as retirement funding and so forth are increasingly expensive and challenging.

What were your biggest challenges with regards to technology? What “ecosystem”/components of technology did you end up choosing and why? 
Our biggest challenges included selecting the right tools, platforms and systems that aligned with our vision and could effectively support our digital transformation. We ultimately chose an ecosystem that integrated cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced analytics, as they offered the scalability, adaptability and flexibility we needed to provide exceptional customer experiences. 

What do you think the retail insurance-based savings and investments/pension industry will look like five to 10 years into the future? What threats/opportunities to the industry do you see going forward?  
Five to 10 years into the future, we envision a retail insurance-based savings, investments, and pension industry that is highly digitalised, personalised and accessible. We anticipate increased competition from new entrants, as well as the growing importance of customer-centric, data-driven, and ESG-focused products. The opportunities lie in harnessing technology to create innovative products and services via a financial simulation engine, while threats include the risk of being left behind by competitors and failing to adapt to evolving customer expectations. 

Describe the nature of your partnership with Kidbrooke®. What challenges have their APIs helped you solve? What motivated you to reach out to Kidbrooke® to meet these challenges? What key attributes attracted you to Kidbrooke®?  
Our partnership with Kidbrooke® has been instrumental in overcoming some of our key challenges. Kidbrooke's® APIs have enabled us to provide advanced financial simulation/planning solutions and deliver personalised, data-driven advice to our customers. We reached out to Kidbrooke® because of their expertise in the financial advisory space, cutting-edge technology and their commitment to innovation. The key attributes that attracted us to Kidbrooke® include their proven track record, scalable solutions and strong industry reputation. They are a smart group of people.  

Many advisory professionals are reluctant to introduce digital tools because they are concerned about their customers’ reactions. Do you share this concern? How important is the balance between human and digital in financial advice? What tasks do you think humans should focus on vs what is best left to technology? 
We understand the concerns of advisory professionals regarding the introduction of digital tools. However, we believe that striking the right balance between human and digital in financial advice is crucial. Digital tools can enhance efficiency, speed and accuracy, while human advisors can focus on empathy, relationship-building and complex problem-solving. We view technology as a tool that empowers human advisors, rather than replacing them. Having these tools and being able to scale these tools to give people realistic accurate forecasts and a financial simulation of outcomes and at the same time educate them, naturally drives demand.

How long did it take to be up and running with OutRank® and your digital journeys?  
Implementing OutRank® and our digital journeys took less than three weeks, including the integration, customisation and testing phases. This allowed us to quickly capitalise on the benefits of digitalisation and offer our customers an enhanced savings experience. 

How has your partnership with Kidbrooke evolved since implementing OutRank® and what additional support or services have you received?  
The partnership with Kidbrooke® has evolved since implementing OutRank® with ongoing collaboration to refine and improve our digital savings offering. Kidbrooke® has provided additional support and services, such as regular updates, new features and access to their expertise, ensuring that our solutions remain cutting-edge and customer-centric. 

How have you seen OutRank® improve customer engagement and satisfaction with your services?  
Since implementing OutRank® - the financial simulation engine, we have observed significant improvements in customer engagement and satisfaction. Our customers appreciate the ease of use, personalisation and transparency offered by our digital services. They also value the ability to access financial advice and planning tools such as forecasting on-demand, giving them greater control over their financial future. Having a tool like Kidbrooke’s gives us the ability to deliver a better digital experience to more customers.

Is anything else related to your collaboration with Kidbrooke® that you think is important for your ability to develop your business going forward?  
The collaboration with Kidbrooke® has been invaluable for our product and business development. As we continue to grow and evolve, we are confident that Kidbrooke's® expertise, technology and support will enable us to stay at the forefront of the industry and consistently deliver exceptional customer experiences. 

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