The gig economy of the UK is enjoying an impressive growth spurt. The latest figures from research carried out by the University of Hertfordshire reveal that in England and Wales alone 4.4 million people are working for gig economy platforms at least once a week – a figure that is expected to rise to 7.25 million by the end of 2022.
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It was also highlighted that gig workers contribute £20 billion to the UK economy, which is predicted to grow to hit a whopping £63.25 billion contribution by 2026. The post-COVID shift in customer expectations alongside changing attitudes to the future of work are creating a defining moment for the gig economy and Janthana Kaenprakhamroy (pictured), CEO of Tapoly can only see it moving in one direction – up, up, up.
“It’s a big market, and it’s growing very rapidly,” she said. "A lot of people are now looking sideways at their careers to run their own businesses. We’re seeing a lot more of those one-man-band consultancies than we were a couple of years ago. And I predicted this would be on the rise, but I didn’t expect it would rise as quickly as it is today.
“I think COVID and the way it accelerated remote working has allowed people to look outside of their 9-to-5 jobs to get extra jobs. We’re seeing a lot of second jobs, especially in the medical space as well as other areas. The whole professional services industry is turning into a gig economy now because of that.”
Tapoly operates a unique position in the insurance ecosystem, serving as a digital management agent supplying flexible insurance solutions that are tailored to small businesses, sole traders and freelancers alike. As somebody who founded the business in reaction to the gap she saw in this space, Kaenprakhamroy is keenly aware of the challenges facing those looking to bring on-demand solutions to the market.
“Capacity scarcity is one of the main pain points for us. It’s not that insurers don’t have the risk appetite or that they aren’t aware of their customers’ needs but the cost of operating in this market versus the money you receive right now is just not marrying up. So, a lot of the big players who want to be in our space are currently playing ‘wait and see’.”
The insurers want to see a use case of somebody having substantial success from insuring gig economy workers on demand – and Tapoly is looking to be that use case. The insurtech is looking to be one of the first market players to make a profit for its insurer partners and Kaenprakhamroy has no doubt that it will hit that target.
Another concern impacting innovative insurance businesses looking to achieve real change in this space is around investment, she said, as Tapoly is operating in a market where the cost per customer acquisition is very high. Trying to build a B2B and B2C brand simultaneously comes with its challenges too as often investors will do one but not the other. Despite this, Kaenprakhamroy has no intention of ending that dual approach which she firmly believes is the right model for the firm.
“You can’t really do one and not the other,” she said. “Because if you go wholesale and nobody knows about Tapoly as a brand, then you can’t sell to the end customer because they don’t trust the brand. But if you do it the other way around and only focus on the B2C then you lose the opportunity to leverage the existing customer base and wealth of experience that brokers bring.
“Only when you combine those distributions do you maximise your distribution. But in order to do that, it’s going to take you longer, unless you have millions to build a mega-team and try to get everyone on board straight away. If you run a company organically, like we do, it will take longer to get there. But we will get there.”
Looking to the future of the gig economy movement, she noted that she has no doubt that it will continue to thrive and, as a result, great insurance players in this space will see their hard work pay off. The customer need is so strong, she said, and Tapoly has a value proposition that is very well understood across the market. It knows where it needs to be positioned, it has positioned itself accordingly and the next step is just bringing more partners on board.
“We want to collaborate with other people,” Kaenprakhamroy said. “Tapoly is based on a collaboration model. For that to be successful, we need brokers and insurers to come on to our platform. And we believe in ongoing relationships and long-term relationships and what that means is that everyone under our platform must benefit from our connection. It’s all about giving in order to receive. That’s what I believe.”
