Insure Think

As the effects of the pandemic continue to play out, market activity indicates commercial lines insurers are reprioritizing their tech-oriented projects, with some plans continuing to move forward while others have slowed down.

There are vital aspects of business that have virtually stagnated despite the high-tech breakthroughs all around them. In insurance, it’s easy to spot: the process for managing risk transfer still relies on technology better suited for the 20th Century. It’s time for an upgrade.

In 2021, the insurance industry reckoned with the broad impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriately, 2022 will need to be the year that agencies and carriers pivot from reacting and surviving to implement new strategies for success.

Not only is digital technology changing but so is the regulatory landscape. Some U.S. states have passed laws that will lead the insurance industry to take a fresh look at technology such as Bluetooth and navigation because they capture significant amounts of personal information from drivers and occupants.

There’s no denying that working with startups entails risk. Plenty of newer insurtechs have technology that’s too underdeveloped, a value proposition that’s too undefined or leadership that’s too inexperienced to overcome the gauntlet of obstacles that stands between startups and success.

In this segment of the series, the authors examine the role M&A will play in the industry’s adoption of insurtech—and more generally, the need for established carriers to adapt to the increasingly innovative and service-based product and service offerings new entrants bring to bear.

The transformation of consumer-focused technologies is forcing providers to adopt new tools to keep up. However, many of these tools are not built with user-friendly experiences that meet customer expectations, and therefore, they suffer from low engagement and adoption.

Today’s clients are looking for financial guidance and product recommendations that account for their entire financial lives. Unfortunately, because of legacy technology in place, most insurance advisors can’t credibly weigh in on the whole picture.

The stay-at-home mandates, school and business closings, and increased remote work arrangements emanating from COVID-19 resulted in a significant decrease in motor vehicle accident frequency in 2020, with that trend continuing into 2021. There are many other, less obvious forces that actuaries and company management should consider as 2021 year-end reserves are analyzed.

There are many important legal issues to consider when operating in the heavily regulated and ever-changing insurance ecosystem. Discussed are some of the key issues to consider when contracting, to demonstrate what is truly important and where insurtechs should focus, whether it concerns program administrator agreements or other types of partnership, master services, or marketing agreements.

Five strategies that insurers can use to cut friction from the customer journey as they work towards digitally transforming their business.

Suddenly the metaverse is everywhere. Ok, the concept of the metaverse is everywhere – thanks to Mark Zuckerberg’s October 28 announcement that “Facebook” has become “Meta.”

Success demands an innovation-driven formula with four main components: speed, accuracy, scale and customer experience. To do this and change the economic equation, here are five efficiency strategies recommended by Verisk.

B2B payments represent the last mile for insurance carriers — the final step that must be integrated and digitized to achieve the industry vision of straight-through processing (STP). And the likely starting point for STP is auto claims, which represent nearly half of all P&C claim volume.

A crucial point that many businesses engaged in the B2B sharing economy are increasingly aware of is that engagement often carries considerable liability risk, which is why it is of utmost importance for businesses to insure against this risk with robust verification services.

At this point in the insurance sector’s lifecycle, change is inevitable. Now more than ever, especially with the rise of technology and insurtechs, competition in the space is cutthroat. And that is why first and cheap are no longer going to cut it.

Deciding which transformation initiatives to tackle first should involve a careful examination of the dysfunction, importance and level of change resistance expected among stakeholders of any process that may be impacted.

Insurers should enhance the capabilities and broaden the roles of claims professionals to reap the benefits of advanced tools while maintaining personal engagement at moments that matter.

The P&C industry has been on an automation path for many years. When the pandemic hit, it became a catalyst for accelerating automation and digital transformation.

With so many touchpoints across the insurance industry, and so many potential use cases, there is a lot of room for innovation — and there is a lot of room for failure. As an early adopter of AI technology, Harmon shares some of his key insights.

What’s driving your digital claims transformation program: COVID? Competition? Or cost? Whatever the answer, we could be in danger of leaving the customer out of the equation in the rush to digitize and automate insurance processes. It could be time to take a more user-centric approach, reimagine the customer journey and find out what customers actually want.

Recent EY research confirms how the pandemic fundamentally changed consumer needs, how they plan to increase their financial security, and what insurers can do to seize the opportunity.

As regulators and insurers work to understand the level of regulatory oversight that is needed for AI innovation, there is a path forward by looking to the recent past. The massive 2015 breach of Anthem’s customer data was a catalyst moment for insurance regulators and led to the Insurance Data Security Model Law now being adopted across the U.S. In this piece, former insurance regulator Jillian Froment lays out five core goals common to AI and cybersecurity that could accelerate the adoption of AI regulation.

The past 18 months have uncovered a vulnerability in the insurance industry, as companies have struggled to maintain consistency in their processes in the face of remote working. Communication processes, in particular, have suffered and as a result, traditional insurers now face the real risk of losing customers to insurtechs and other more technologically advanced companies.

The pandemic has served as a catalyst for putting digital transformation across insurance on the fast track, and claims is one of the focus areas that is primed for implementing digital capabilities. As more claims information is captured and managed digitally, new opportunities to leverage artificial intelligent technologies arise. This leads to a vision of full automation, high levels of straight-through processing, and (logically) a diminishing role for claims professionals.

Many insurers are focused on ransomware risk protection even though other new vulnerabilities are emerging from remote work. Recent statistics point to a troubling increase in ransomware and phishing, web application attacks and other emerging cybercrime tactics.

Within the insurance industry, the personal lines sector has frequently been the pioneer in building and enhancing digital capabilities.

Fueled by technological advances and rising interest among insurance customers and intermediaries for faster, cheaper and more adaptable ways to meet their risk-management needs.

Carriers, pressed by lower expense insurtech models that emphasize direct-to-consumer engagement and new, rich data sources, are beginning to encounter a bifurcation of risk and client characteristics.

Over half or 62%, of insurers, say they will invest in risk management over the next year, with 55% saying they’ll invest in customer and employee data protection, according to the FIS’ 2021 Readiness Report.

The data and decision-making insights gathered from IoT devices have been revolutionary for insurers, and the potential of this technology is just starting to be realized.

Multi-channel approach integrated with product design holds the key to a new era of protection products.

User-friendliness and a seamless experience will go a long way toward the perception that the insurer is providing value.

The pandemic didn't stop insurers from wanting to invest heavily in digital capabilities, Deloitte survey finds.

Life insurance companies compete for customers who are used to having their demands met quickly and efficiently online.

Tropical Storm Elsa made history by becoming the earliest fifth named storm on record this year. Insurers can proactively prepare for what’s predicted to be the most active hurricane season yet.

Insurance companies create curated collections of services to keep customers and win over new ones.

Protective Life discovered a tremendous amount about the way we approach customers and how we can successfully leverage technology platforms.

Half of insurers that have already adopted accelerated underwriting report payback periods of less than a year.

Agree before going into a conversation about innovation exactly what “innovation” means to the people in the room.

Transformational trends in the insurance sector are highlighting the need for corporate divestments to help boost digital capabilities.

If the insurance establishment thinks it can simply set the terms of its own innovation, it does so at its own peril.

CIOs need to identify the audiences they want to reach and develop messaging that targets their specific needs and interests.

But which Bob Dylan song best sums up the strategic shift?

The use of software that can program bots to perform rule-based routine tasks is common.

Usage-based insurance has finally come of age in the US insurance sector.

Instead of reacting to incidents, auto insurers can promote and reward good driving habits, which can be incentivized by discounts and rewards.

The Consumer Federation of America advises insurers to take certain steps to ensure policyholders who opt for usage-based insurance are protected.

We really don’t have to look far beyond the other heavyweights of national marketing.

P&C insurers have been taking stock of their customer experience journey – and this is where they are running a marathon.

Specific forms of cryptography called privacy enhancing techniques may hold the key to battling insurance fraud by delivering the benefits of data collaboration without the risks of data sharing.

And traditional insurers should adapt to the larger addressable market.