DIA Amsterdam 2017

The Insurtech checklist: Ten differentiators that turn optimisers, transformers and disruptors into Insurtech – part1

Written by Conny Dorrestijn on 15 Feb, 2017

Insurtech is hot so the world tells us: VCs and PE firms, large IT companies and a wide range of start-ups all agree. A cynic would however say that two worlds could be hardly further apart: innovation and insurance. A financial services industry with – by its very nature – a long term view on anything, stability as part of its DNA and solidarity as its backbone. A long term view does not spontaneously align with the speed, agility and instant nature of today’s society and innovation. Stability has an uneasy relationship with constant change and solidarity has to be reinvented to find its place in the personalised customer experience.
So which characteristics make technology developments in and for the insurance services industry Insurtech? See whether your Insurtech business model ticks the boxes. In this blogpost the first six.

1.  Digital DNA Centric – Customer centric, agile, simple, redesign
Too often – even in start-up designs – we see translations of today’s practices and procedures into a workflow built with new technology. These so-called optimisers have a place in the value chain and can help organisations improve digital access in their current environment. Insurtech should go further: redesign and simplify. Build processes in smaller kernels and connect those rather than ‘boiling the ocean”. There is no other way for existing insurers or new players than going digital: to open up or ring fence existing cores or to build totally scratch and new. This trend is as big as ‘automation’ was in the eighties: a giant leap forward.

2.  Instant, Open and Mobile – the new norm for connectivity
Please stop debating this, these are all irreversible societal changes that we see and experience in every walk of life. Insurance is not that unique that these laws do not apply here. Stop your time debating it and look for omni-channel, use that time to develop an open and mobile solution that is instantaneously available with all relevant context. This is not a generational segmentation, we no longer speak of Millennials but of Generation C – the connected customer that reaches across all ages and life styles. What’s more, brokers and expert consultants can be same level stakeholders with equal level access to the workplace as their customers do.

3.  Regulation is an opportunity
All too often disruptive start-ups claim to shy away from the establishment, to make a new market but even the Ubers of this world have to deal with the rules of law. And as much as we may complain about the EU and consumer protection bodies, these same institutions create a massive market and playing field with their new technology. Don’t be shy, study the law and find your niche. At the very least understand the impact: making connections and using data for enhanced propositions sounds great, but be sure, things will change after 25 May 2018 in the EU when the GDPR (for a quick and insightful read-up by Capco) kicks in: consent is needed from every single customer or face tough penalties of up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 million – whichever is the greater amount. On the other hand, PSD2 creates a totally new and open banking and insurance landscape

via www.digitalinsuranceagenda.com