Liberty enters the mobile market with Risk Explorer application for iPad

In the market for insurance, and want to assess your risk? Thanks to financial services provider and wealth management group Liberty, it’s as easy as opening a free app on your iPad.

Aimed at both consumers and financial advisers, Liberty’s Risk Explorer offers a clear view of the company’s product suite by giving users access to a high-level assessment of their long-term risk – including factors like gender, smoker status and age – and providing a ballpark quote.

Nicholas van der Nest, a divisional director at Liberty, says the decision to develop an application was based on the growing prevalence of tablet devices within the South African market.

“South African consumers are increasingly turning to tablet PCs and smartphones to gather the information they need in a simpler, more interactive way,” said van der Nest.

“The app simplifies the often-complex world of life cover and income protection – and in the process, we hope it will help people to appreciate that insurance products are not something to be feared or misunderstood, but rather explored and ultimately, embraced.”

The app assesses risk across four broad categories - temporary or permanent loss of income, suffering an illness, becoming disabled and the increasing cost of education – and even offers insights into health-related difficulties that users may encounter in the future, based on personally-crafted profiles.

For example, the app would tell you that a 52-year old male smoker has a 32% chance of experiencing a heart attack, a 17% chance of contracting cancer and a 6% chance of experiencing a stroke before the age of 70.

Having worked out your risks, the app delivers a swift, indicative quote on the cost of monthly cover –and although these estimates are not final, they will offer good insight into the importance of life cover and income protection.

Finally, Risk Explorer allows users to email the entire journey to any address for closer inspection at a later date, whilst sending a notification that they wish to be contacted by a Liberty consultant.

“This market simply cannot be ignored. It was extremely important to us that we engage consumers and our sales force in the manner they are most comfortable with.”

Van der Nest says the decision to go with the iPad platform was based on the sheer popularity of Apple’s iOS. “With an impressive penetration rate and astounding domestic sales figures for both the iPad and the iPhone, the decision to launch Risk Explorer via the App Store was the most logical,” he said.

“During the development phase, it was extremely important to us that we give consumers and financial advisers quick and easy access to as much information as possible – the iPad really acted as a solid foundation for this”.

Liberty’s Risk Explorer application is currently available for free on the South African Apple App Store.