View from the top: An apple a day

I recently threw myself into the Apple experience when purchasing a shiny new iMac and, while I confess I didn’t quite follow Jobs’ advice to the letter, I was absolutely staggered at how Apple has successfully managed to put the customer right at the centre of everything it does.

It has genuinely managed to ‘un-shop the shop’ — whether it’s the look and feel of the store itself, the admittedly superb products, or the plentiful staff on hand to listen and show you what they have, while taking care not to oversell everything on their shelves.

So, why don’t we take a leaf out of Apple’s book and make sure the insurance industry delivers the same quality of customer-centric service? The stumbling block here is that difficult economic times often result in a reversal to type: some brokers, for example, try to look for more commission while consolidating books of business, intent on raising revenue but seemingly having lost sight of their customers’ needs.

I would argue that difficult economic times mean we must be even more passionate about what we can deliver for the customer. Apple hasn’t cut back on its quality of 
innovation or lost that passion for the customer because of the 
recession. Why should we?

The best of the brokers — and we’re fortunate to work with a good many of them — absolutely put the customer at the heart of what they do. An impartial, independent service has to be at the core (sorry, there’s that Apple again) of what we, as an industry, provide to our customers. Anything less only damages the long-term health of the industry.

Steve Langan is managing director, Hiscox UK & Ireland