A company’s ability to stay relevant depends on seeing things through the eyes of its customers, many of whom are now Millenials, according to QBE CEO John Neal.

In a blog post, he writes it is “foolish to ignore” the characteristics of young people who are heavy users of social media and are more collaborative, inclusive and more demanding in terms of service and immediacy.

“The so-called Millennial generation – to some extent our workforce of now and leadership of the future – think differently, and have different values and expectations and aspirations to my own generation,” Mr Neal says.

Businesses must constantly question themselves so they don’t miss the boat, like Kodak did with digital photography and Blackberry with smartphones.

Questions should include: Which new technologies will succeed? Which should companies invest in? Which are hype? How quickly will change happen? At what pace is “Millennial thinking” changing customer expectations, and how should companies balance short-term shareholder performance with long-term investment?

“The most forward-thinking organisations actually engineer market change to create opportunities for themselves and corresponding threats to others,” Mr Neal says.

He says insuretech companies “reimagine insurance” and, unconstrained by legacy systems and processes, set out to disrupt current business models.

Businesses can merge internal data with publicly available information and social media to learn more about customers.

“The business that has the closest relationship with its customers and listens to its own people will succeed,” Mr Neal says.

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