Ensure InsurTech Returns a Win-Win

Although Financial technology (Fintech) has a mental and physical footprint in banking and payments processing, the insurance industry is being disrupted too by technological start-ups in niches and initiatives to better connect involved parties. Last week I read both a blog on AM Web by Capgemini colleague and Chief Inspiration Officer, Pascal Spelier stating “InsurTech is no break-through yet.” as well as a shared update on LinkedIN from an inspired contact center manager who returned from the April 20-21, 2016 Digital Insurance Agenda conference in Barcelona.

What’s on the digital insurer’s agenda?

45% of the Dutch are willing to share health data with insurers via wearables in return for a lower premium, Smart Health Monitor reported on April 21, 2016. And next to pay as you drive come modern solutions for risk avoiding behavior as car driver. Companies like Chipin measure behavior and the technical status of the vehicle by using a dongle. Metrics are made available online. How well you drive should make a difference. Chipin therefore launched Fairverzekering, an insurer as proof of concept.

Behavior based insurance is also the field of competence of U.S. based TrueMotion.

New market entrant or periphery support?

Flexible insurer-in-a-box kind of off-the-shelf solutions like Roundcube, IBA, and KASKO  Remember the acronym IAAP (Insurance as a Platform). Dutch general insurance greenfield operation InShared (marketing tag line: “we all benefit”), launched in 2009 by Achmea, as one of the largest insurers in the Netherlands itself struggling with cost reductions and competition, now markets its CynoSure platform through OutShared: “CynoSure is an all-in-one insurance solution for policy management, quotations, claims origination and processing: from back-office database through middle-office processing to front-office web and app interfaces. Built on today’s digital ethos, and offered through strategic BPO and SaaS operations, CynoSure is the smart integrated solution for insurance specialists. CynoSure is a state-of-the-art insurance solution developed in open source technology – the low cost solution for modernizing existing insurance portfolios or launching new brands globally.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-XjhzMEpQU

Mobile insurance managers like the German Knip offer a digital policy vault. Coming soon is Trov, the world’s first on-demand insurance. Swipe to insure exactly what you want to protect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S16-f0OE1i0

Omni-channel support and life cycle management to customers offered by Salesforce‘s Customer Success Platform and its partners like Vlocity. Preventive solutions to decrease insurance risks are not new, and still have added value. Think of Nest smoke or carbon monoxide detectors. There are many solution providers for CRM, social media management, forms processing, and predictive marketing. Why not plug in OpenClaims, offering insurers, leasing companies and fleet owners an online platform to tender their customers’ motor insurance claims? Or use Amodo to interact with your customers through wearables, connected cars and homes?

What should be the existing insurance player’s agenda?

You can’t beat these technological startups on your own. Embrace them, exploit opportunities to retain customers, and attract new ones. If possible and necessary, replace your existing application landscape with a modern, flexible and open for connectivity solution.

While only 7.5% of digitally active customers report in an April 2016 EconoTimes research are using a form of the insurance novelties I described, a decade ago these technical advances were not possible at all. It shouldn’t be surprising to see Martin Pluschke, Executive in Residence for ERGO Insurance Group at April 2016’s Startupbootcamp explaining why he’s embracing InsurTech to get help.

I mentioned a couple of these start-ups, but there are many more. In March 2016, Let’s Talk Payments listed 80 Hottest InsuranceTech Companies Shaking up the Trillion Dollar Insurance Industry. VentureScanner currently monitors 465 InsurTech businesses. Your help, but also competitor or party that drove you out of business may be in.

Capgemini’s World Insurance Report 2016 concludes: “Of all the possible threats, insurers view Google to be the most significant (40.8%), followed by self-insurance by product manufacturers and Amazon. To withstand the coming competition, insurers must build up their brands, learn to take advantage of real-time customer data, and develop agile operating models that will enable them to adapt to changing scenarios.”