The Group Management Philosophy calls on us to “contribute to the security, health, and wellbeing of our customers and society as a whole by providing insurance and related services of the highest quality possible.” In accordance with this philosophy, the Sompo Holdings Group is developing its mainstay insurance businesses while expanding a diverse range of other businesses.
We aim to realize a “theme park for the security, health, and wellbeing of customers” that enables them to lead fun, happy, and healthy lives. This approach will contribute to the achievement of several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit adopted in 2015. Specifically, we are particularly well qualified to contribute to goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages; goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable; and goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. We benefit society not only by providing insurance services to individuals and companies when accidents occur or issues arise but also by suggesting preventive measures to reduce their frequency and by creating innovative“security and wellbeing” products and services that enrich daily life and transcend the boundaries of insurance.
Realize “Japan, an affluent country that can boast to the world of a long and quality life”
Social Issues
The aging of society is one of the major issues that Japan faces today. In 2007, Japan became a “super-aging society” when, for the first time, those aged 65 or above accounted for more than 21% of the total population. By March 2018, more than half of senior citizens were aged 75 or above. As society ages, issues emerge. These include rising medical and nursing care costs and other social welfare costs, increasing numbers of senior citizens with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, and shortages of nursing care personnel. To tackle such issues, the Sompo Holdings Group is leveraging the wide range of resources and digital technologies that it has developed.
Launch of the SOMPO Dementia Support Program
It is estimated that there were approximately 8.6 million senior citizens with mild cognitive impairment or dementia in Japan in 2012. By 2025, this figure is projected to reach 13.0 million. Viewing dementia as an important social issue that the whole Group should address and aiming to build a society that strives to prevent dementia and enables people to continue living long and happy lives with dignity as individuals, even after being diagnosed with dementia, we launched the SOMPO Dementia Support Program. We will advance the program by using feedback from nursing care personnel as well as advice from the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, with which we concluded a comprehensive alliance agreement in September 2017, and from Alzheimer’s Association Japan, Japan’s largest group for those with dementia and their families.
As the first phase of the program, in October 2018 we will begin providing an online dementia support service, SOMPO Egao Club, which will help prevent cognitive decline. SOMPO Egao Club will be a common incidental service for two products that we will launch in October 2018. Specifically, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc. will market an insurance product Oyako No Chikara that helps people avoid having to quit work to care for family members, while Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Himawari Life Insurance, Inc., will market an insurance product that provides a one-time payment if a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or dementia is received, Linkx Egao Wo Mamoru Dementia Insurance.
With a view to developing and providing other solutions that cater to customers’ dementia-related needs, the Sompo Holdings Group will leverage the unique collective strengths that result from operating one of the largest insurance businesses in Japan as well as one of the country’s largest nursing care businesses. These initiatives will include joint research with the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology to clarify the relationship between the cognitive function of elderly drivers and automobile accidents and the distinctive causes of automobile accidents involving such drivers. Also, we will collaborate with other companies and organizations to develop products and services as well as conduct activities to support those affected by dementia and to help raise awareness of the condition.
A screenshot of the SOMPO Egao Club website service menu page
Human Resource Development—Establishment of SOMPO Care University and SOMPO Care FOOD LAB
In the nursing care industry, the development and retention of personnel have become issues. Aiming to address these issues and give all employees opportunities to gain a sense of growth as nursing care specialists, the Sompo Care Group opened SOMPO Care University in July 2017. In establishing the university, the Sompo Care Group has expanded the Sompo Care Next Step Center, which Sompo Care Next opened in April 2016, and positioned it as the training center for the entire Sompo Care Group. The revamped facility offers improved programs based on a high-quality training system. At the same time, through collaboration with a variety of research bodies, we are operating the facility as an open, in-house university. At the university, we aim to a create a general R&D center for nursing care that has the capabilities to research frontline issues and countermeasures and where not only personnel of the Sompo Care Group but also those in a variety of professions that support the nursing care business can study.
Further, in March 2018 the Sompo Care Group unveiled the SOMPO Care FOOD LAB as a general organization tasked with conducting personnel training as well as the planning and development of food products with respect to diet and nutrition. Through this new organization, the Sompo Care Group aims to realize its basic management policy of creating tasty food and helping people gain vitality. The goal of the SOMPO Care FOOD LAB is to become a general R&D center for food. As such, it will propose new or improved menus based on the opinions and requests of those who receive nursing care as well as develop menus for different levels of chewing and swallowing capability. In addition, the lab will provide food and hygiene technical training that covers knowledge and preparation methods and which is tailored to specific professions, such as dietitians.
VOICE
Eriko Umekawa
Sompo Care La vie Re Ayase
Sompo Care Inc.
In December 2017, I joined the company without any experience of nursing care. Subsequently, I undertook training for new employees at SOMPO Care University. I attended training seminars in my first, third, and sixth month after entering the company. The training did not just cover the basics of nursing care; it involved learning about a wide range of fields, including dementia and pharmaceuticals. Before joining the company, I had learned about nursing care basics through training for newly appointed nursing care instructors. At SOMPO Care University, however, I acquired more practical skills that are useful when providing on-site nursing care because we trained using the recreated living room of a nursing care facility. My goal is to pass on to junior coworkers the skills and knowledge I have garnered through this training.
Utilization of ICT and Digital Technologies
Taking On the Challenge of Using AI at Nursing Care Facilities
As part of measures to enhance the quality of nursing care, the Sompo Care Group has begun examining the feasibility of utilizing AI. Specifically, we are considering the use of AI to assist nursing care managers in the preparation of nursing care plans for clients as well as to analyze whether nursing care personnel are employing proper techniques and to show personnel the correct techniques.
Increasing Productivity through the Use of Robotic Process Automation
Nursing care providers carry out a lot of routine operations. Among these operations, some procedures only arise at certain periods, and employees have dealt with this by working overtime. Given that our introduction of robotic process automation for certain procedures has reduced work volumes, we plan to increase operational productivity further by using robotic process automation for a wider range of tasks.
Linking Expertise at Nursing Care Facilities with the Latest Technology Development
We host a business contest for start-ups in Japan and the United States. Our aim is to discover or conduct joint proving tests with start-ups globally—but with a focus on the United States—and thereby build an ecosystem for start-ups engaged in childcare or nursing care fields. Also, we are concentrating efforts on the development of technologies that enrich the day-to-day lives of senior citizens in collaboration with SOMPO Digital Lab, which is located in Tokyo, Silicon Valley, and Israel and supports the digital technology R&D of the Sompo Holdings Group’s businesses.
Business contest
Use of Driving Recorders to Support Accident Responses and Safe Driving
In January 2018, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa introduced a service for individuals that is based on telematics and driving recorders, DRIVING! Living with a Car, as a rider for automobile insurance.
Initially, as part of our digital technology-enabled safe driving support services, we provided a service that was free for a limited period and for a limited number of vehicles.
However, we received feedback from many users to the effect that the service heightened their awareness of driving safety and they wanted to continue using the service even if it was no longer free. In response, we revamped the service to enhance its capabilities and began offering it as a rider for automobile insurance, and many customers now use the new service.
Through safe driving support, the service gives drivers peace of mind when they are driving, and when they are off the road safe driving assessments and visual training enable them to maintain their driving skills. Also, if an accident occurs, the new service includes accident notification functions. Moreover, through a collaboration with SOHGO SECURITY SERVICES CO., LTD. (ALSOK), we are the first major P&C insurance company in Japan to offer accident-scene callout services. In this way, the new service provides all-around support that allows customers to drive safely and with peace of mind.
Launch of a Cybersecurity Business Offering a One-Stop Platform
January 2018 saw the Sompo Holdings Group’s first foray into the cybersecurity business. With changes in society’s infrastructure and technology, such as the spread of self-driving technology for automobiles and the Internet of Things (IoT), and the emergence of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, cyber risks have become a significant factor in corporate management.
Through the underwriting of cyber insurance, the Sompo Holdings Group has collected information on the issues that companies face in relation to cyber risks. Based on this insight, we have built a one-stop platform that provides services covering risk assessments and security-strengthening measures through to insurance payments if accidents or issues occur. In preparation for the launch of this new business, we established a new SOMPO Digital Lab in Israel in November 2017. Employing leading-edge technology to deal with increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, we will support customers by focusing on providing a comprehensive menu of services that encompasses the establishment of preventive systems and countermeasures for impact minimization.
Support for Healthy Lifestyles and Lives
Health Maintenance and Improvement Assistance through Linkx
With the aim of transforming into a health support enterprise, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Himawari Life Insurance established the health service brand Linkx (pronounced “link cross”) in September 2016. The concept of the brand is to help customers become healthier in enjoyable, relaxed environments.
With this in mind, we are developing a business model that unites three components: innovative products, health-related services that utilize digital technologies, and sales channels.
We have already launched a range of products and services under the brand, all of which have proven popular. Linkx coins (insurance covering advanced medical treatment with organ transplantation medical treatment benefits) is an online-only insurance product that focuses on covering conditions that place the greatest financial burden on the insured when undergoing treatment. Also, we offer services under the brand that are available to everyone, not just insurance policyholders. These include the Linkx siru health app, the Linkx aruku walking app, and the Linkx reco dieting app.
In response to feedback from female employees, in March 2018 we brought to market a new service, Linkx Pink, and in the following month we launched a renewed family income insurance product. Specifically designed for women, Linkx Pink gives complete breast cancer-related support that covers the early detection of breast cancer through to measures upon developing the disease. As well as information, the product provides a screening search and reservation service.
The renewed family income insurance is the first product in the domestic insurance industry to incorporate a “Get Healthy Challenge!” program. This program lowers the premiums of customers who quit smoking or get healthier and provides them with a Get Healthy Bonus, equivalent to a reimbursement of the difference between the former and reduced premiums dating back to the time of policy enrollment.
