When I think about insurance, my mind doesn’t immediately jump to words like “warm,” “personal,” or “human.” Most of us probably picture fine print, long phone calls with call centers, or a clunky app that we only open when something has gone terribly wrong. Yet, in the middle of all this, Old Mutual—a company with more than 175 years of history in South Africa—has been leaning hard into the idea that technology in insurance should be about people first, and gadgets second.
It’s a bold claim. Insurance has traditionally been one of those industries where the human side often got buried under processes, paperwork, and legal language. But the question is: can tech really make insurance feel more personal, more intuitive, and maybe even a little more human? Old Mutual seems to think so. And to be fair, there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting they might be onto something.
A Company with Old Roots, New Ambitions
Old Mutual is not a tech startup. It’s not a Silicon Valley company with hoodies, kombucha fridges, and ping-pong tables. It’s a financial services giant that’s been around since 1845, and its reputation has historically been built on being solid, steady, and dependable. The kind of brand your grandparents probably trusted for life insurance or retirement planning.
But lately, the company has been trying to shake off that image of being too old-school. Instead, it’s been positioning itself as a business that doesn’t just use technology for efficiency, but actively rethinks how technology can bring customers closer, not push them further away. And that’s an interesting shift because many of us associate “digitization” with distance—apps replacing face-to-face interaction, or chatbots replacing real human voices.
Old Mutual’s bet is different: technology should enhance the human connection, not erase it.
Human-Centric Tech: A Fancy Phrase or a Real Shift?
“Human-centric technology” is one of those phrases that can easily sound like corporate fluff. It rolls off the tongue nicely, but what does it really mean? In practice, Old Mutual appears to be focusing on three overlapping areas: accessibility, empathy, and personalization.
Accessibility is straightforward. Not everyone in South Africa has the same level of internet access, and not everyone is comfortable using complex financial apps. So the challenge is: how do you design tools that work for both the urban professional in Johannesburg who lives on her phone, and the small business owner in rural Limpopo who might only occasionally get reliable internet?
Then comes empathy—something you don’t often hear in tech discussions. Insurance is almost always tied to life’s toughest moments: illness, accidents, death. If technology makes those moments colder, it fails. If it can lighten the load—even just a little—then it earns its keep.
Finally, there’s personalization. Nobody wants to feel like a number in a database. Whether it’s using AI to analyze someone’s financial habits or creating flexible insurance packages that reflect real lives instead of theoretical ones, personalization is becoming a cornerstone. And Old Mutual is betting that technology can make that happen at scale.
The App That’s More Than an App
Let me pause here and tell you a quick story.
A friend of mine once had to file a car insurance claim after an accident, and the process dragged on for weeks. Every update required a phone call, every phone call meant sitting on hold, and every agent seemed to tell her something slightly different. By the end of it, she joked that getting rear-ended was less stressful than dealing with the paperwork.
Now compare that with how Old Mutual’s app tries to reframe the experience. It doesn’t just let you log a claim; it gives you real-time updates on where your claim is in the process. No endless chasing. No mystery. Just an app that feels like a human being keeping you in the loop.
Is it perfect? Probably not. There are always people who’ll say, “I’d still rather speak to a person.” And fair enough—that’s valid. But for those of us who dread making those phone calls, this kind of digital transparency is a relief.
AI with a Human Face (Sort Of)
Artificial intelligence is a tricky subject in insurance. On one hand, it can make things faster—assessing risks, pricing premiums, flagging fraud. On the other, it risks turning people into nothing more than data points.
Old Mutual seems aware of this tension. Instead of only using AI to crunch numbers, the company has started applying it in customer service, with the goal of speeding up responses without stripping away the “human touch.” For example, their chatbots aren’t just generic question-answer machines; they’re designed to escalate to a human agent when the conversation turns sensitive.
That may sound like a small tweak, but it matters. I’ve tested enough chatbots to know the frustration of getting stuck in a loop (“Did you mean X? Reply YES or NO”). Having a system that recognizes when you need a person—that’s a more human-centric use of AI.
Still, one could argue this approach raises its own questions. If tech works so well, why not go all-in? Why not cut down human labor entirely? Old Mutual’s restraint here might be read as old-fashioned. Or, perhaps, as quietly radical: in a world obsessed with automation, they’re saying people still matter.
Designing for South Africa, Not Silicon Valley
Here’s something worth noting: the South African insurance market is not the same as the American one, or the European one. Challenges here are unique. Connectivity is uneven. Economic inequality is stark. Customer trust in large institutions can be fragile.
Tech solutions that work in San Francisco may not land in Soweto. Old Mutual seems to understand this. Their push into mobile-based solutions, for example, isn’t just about convenience—it’s about reaching people who may never set foot in a traditional branch. Mobile-first doesn’t mean “tech for tech’s sake”; it’s often the only viable channel.
And while Silicon Valley might push biometric logins or fancy voice assistants, South African customers may be more concerned with whether they can check their balance without burning through precious data. That’s a different design priority altogether.
Where It Gets Complicated
Of course, no story about tech in insurance is complete without a bit of skepticism. Human-centric or not, technology always carries trade-offs.
Take personalization. On the surface, it sounds wonderful: insurance tailored exactly to your lifestyle. But personalization often means collecting more data—about your health, your habits, maybe even your location. And with data comes privacy concerns. Do people really want their insurer tracking how often they drive at night, or how many steps they walk each day?
Or take accessibility. Even if Old Mutual creates the most user-friendly app in the world, what happens to customers who don’t own smartphones, or who struggle with digital literacy? Does tech risk leaving behind the very people it claims to help?
These are not easy questions, and to their credit, Old Mutual hasn’t claimed to have all the answers. But it’s worth holding space for the possibility that “human-centric” could mean different things depending on who you ask.
The Bigger Picture: Trust in an Age of Tech
Insurance is built on trust. You pay premiums every month, hoping you’ll never need to use them, but believing that if you do, the company will be there. Technology can either strengthen that trust—by making processes faster and clearer—or undermine it, if customers feel manipulated or misunderstood.
Old Mutual’s bet on human-centric technology feels like a way of rebuilding trust for a generation that doesn’t just want reliable service; it wants transparency, speed, and a sense of being seen. Whether it’s through a smoother claims process, a chatbot that knows when to back off, or an app that feels like a partner rather than a barrier, the aim is clear: make customers feel like people, not policy numbers.
Looking Ahead
So, what’s next?
If you listen to Old Mutual’s leadership, they’ll talk about expanding AI responsibly, refining mobile-first strategies, and using data to better understand customer needs. They’ll also admit—sometimes surprisingly openly—that the journey is far from over. Technology is moving quickly, and expectations shift just as fast. What feels cutting-edge today can feel outdated tomorrow.
But here’s the thing: maybe the “human-centric” part isn’t really about the tech at all. Maybe it’s about the mindset. A company can launch a thousand apps, but if it loses sight of empathy, of accessibility, of trust, then the shiny tools won’t matter.
That, I think, is where Old Mutual’s story gets interesting. They’re not promising miracles. They’re not pretending technology will fix every flaw in insurance. Instead, they’re experimenting, adjusting, sometimes fumbling, but always with the stated goal of keeping people—not machines—at the heart of the process.
A Personal Takeaway
As someone who’s had their fair share of frustrating insurance experiences, I find myself cautiously hopeful about this shift. I like the idea that filing a claim might one day feel less like pulling teeth and more like texting a friend who has your back. I like that the company is paying attention to South Africa’s specific context rather than copying Silicon Valley playbooks.
But I also keep in mind the caveats: technology can exclude as much as it includes, and data-driven personalization can slip into surveillance if not handled with care.
Maybe the real “human-centric” breakthrough isn’t about the app or the chatbot or the AI at all. Maybe it’s about whether we, as customers, feel respected in moments when we’re most vulnerable. That’s harder to measure than download numbers or AI adoption rates, but in the end, it’s probably the metric that matters most.