• This information has been made freely accessible for any person or company logging onto the Company´s new regional website com.
• This new publication identifies seven global megatrends and provides applied knowledge in these times of uncertainty given the COVID pandemic as well as the prevailing climatic, technological and social phenomena, among other relevant factors.
• This knowledge center also offers access to The Trend Observatory, the SURA Geosciences Journal, the Center for Regulatory Studies together with a publication dealing with the political prospects throughout Latin America.
• Its content has been especially designed by experts from different fields of knowledge including geologists, anthropologists and sociologists.

In order to understand the impact that technological transformation, environmental changes and social phenomena have had on both companies and private individuals, Suramericana has provided, free of charge and on its new centralized website, four different initiatives pertaining to its specialized knowledge strategy as a trend and risk management organization; these being a book on Megatrends, the SURA Geosciences Journal, the Trend Observatory, as well as the different studies on the regulatory and political environment in Latin America.

Suramericana's knowledge strategy provides tools for entrepreneurs enabling them to make the right decisions and anticipate emerging and strategic risks that could well jeopardize the continuity of their businesses. For example, thanks to the knowledge provided, company leaders are able to identify the climatic or social phenomena that could have an impact on the raw materials needed for being able to continue providing their products or services. This indeed represents a logistical and adaptive challenge for continuing to be able to respond to their customers and remaining relevant over time.

"As trend and risk managers, we recognize the importance of anticipating natural phenomena, the technological revolution and changes in social dynamics, since these directly impact business competitiveness. Consequently, knowledge is an essential tool for identifying opportunities for adapting to different scenarios as these continue to arise", stated Claudia Gutiérrez, Manager of Alternative Risk Transfer at Suramericana.

This initiative has come into being against the backdrop of a fast-moving pandemic, which has directly impacted different businesses, especially the micro- small, and medium-sized enterprises. An example of this is that 80% of all Latin American SMEs do not survive beyond their first three years, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC). This is because they lack the capacity to adapt and are not able to accurately “read” their own business environments.

For this reason, identifying trends and acquiring knowledge is especially relevant, even more so when these companies are the main drivers of jobs throughout the region, representing 96% of the business fabric in Colombia, according to the Colombian Association of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Companies (ACOPI).

In this regard, and in response to this changing context, Suramericana’s new book analyzes the interaction between society, the environment and technology, which had in turn given rise to seven global megatrends, namely demographic changes, shortages of resources, hyperconnectivity, transfers of axes of power, urbanization and mobility, globalization, and climate variability and change.

On the other hand, the SURA Observatory permanently analyzes the environment in the light of six central capacities with regard to social development, that is to say, mobility, health, business competitiveness, autonomy, habitat and connectivity. In this way, it delivers constantly updated knowledge to the business community regarding aspects relating to these capacities and which have an impact on consumers, societies and countries alike.

There is also the SURA Geosciences Journal, which compiles studies and research regarding natural phenomena and their business impact in all the nine countries where the SURA Insurance Companies are present. With this knowledge, companies can prevent or take advantage of strategic opportunities, based on a geographical analysis of their operations, their logistics network, as well as their national and international suppliers, current and potential customers, as well as other actors in their own individual value chains.

All this specialized knowledge can be found in segurossura.com, where the valuable contents and conclusions resulting from a constant and structured review of the environment on the part of experts such as geologists, anthropologists, sociologists from Suramericana, shall be collected in order to enrich the contents of the Mega-Trends publication, the Observatory and the SURA Geosciences Journal.

"In Suramericana we believe that knowledge is vital for ensuring business competitiveness and people’s well-being, especially now since today’s world is far different from that which existed just a couple of years ago. That is why it is essential to take a broader view of the environment, as an enabling factor for ensuring good levels of performance by both companies and private individuals," said Claudia Gutiérrez. "Our trend and risk management model offers relevant data and information so that entrepreneurs can tackle challenges such as those we are currently experiencing due to the pandemic," she concluded.