INNOVATIVE POTENCIAL IN INSURANCE – THE INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CUSTOMERS EVALUATION

Abstract

Dynamically changing insurance market and the growing expectations of customers and business partners, intensified competition cause the need of constant introduction or improvement of modern solutions. It is highly connected to innovations. It should be stressed that the transformation of Polish economy and the process of emerging of more and more new private companies caused, on the one hand the reduction of government role in economy and on the other hand it forced companies to obey free market rules, which characterizes the adjusting to environment and the growing share in the market. For the positive creation of corporate image the open attitude of managers and directors becomes extremely important. They are aware of the importance of innovation in company life. This novelty is being spotted by the surroundings of the company, and specifically by its business partners. The positive assessment of innovation is often the starting point of making new business relations. The negative assessment can make them difficult. A good company image is nowadays one of the most basic company aims, and the condition of business success. The creation of good company image by emphasizing the high level of innovation among potential customers (insurance agents, brokers) became one of the basic tasks for insurance companies, because the growth of the company depends on customers. Insurers being aware of the importance of innovation are forced to create such systems, which allows the introduction of new technologies in the process of selling new policies in every distribution channel. The aim of this article is to present the essence of the innovation on the insurance market and to show its significance in the customers appreciation. This article consists of two parts. The first part is theoretical and presents the characteristic of insurance market innovation and its significance in the development of branch. The second part of this publication contains empirical material such as data taken from survey studies conducted in 2016, in the field of innovation evaluation seen from main insurance participants perspective (individual and institutional customers). The research was conducted in Wielkopolska area on the sample of 180 individual and 151 institutional customers (MSP).