Insurtech making your head spin? Perhaps it’s because of the confusion whether insurtech is a “there and back again” project or more of a paradigm shift?
No one can deny the great impact that J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and movies have had on our culture. He’s been called the father of modern high fantasy literature. Not that money has the final say on one’s success and impact, but in 2009 he was ranked by Forbes as the fifth top-earning dead celebrity.
From my perspective, Tolkien’s books are fabulous and intensely engaging. I was listening to a literature professor talk about Tolkien, and he made a most interesting observation on how very different his books were. He described "The Hobbit" as an adventure, while "The Lord of the Rings" was a quest.
He went on to say that "The Hobbit" is a “there and back again” adventure story, where you go out, experience thrilling events and then come home again. But "The Lord of the Rings" was a quest; you leave home and are fundamentally changed by the events you experience. In a quest, you may physically return home, but you are so altered that in a real sense you never return home.
I had never thought of the books in this way before. As a matter of fact, "The Hobbit’s" official title is “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.” At the end of "The Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King," Frodo Baggins returns to the Shire but never quite feels at home and eventually leaves Middle Earth with the elves and Gandalf.
See also: Core Systems and Insurtech (Part 3)
Insurtech can be looked at in a similar way. Do we view insurtech as a journey, or is it a quest? Is insurtech a “there and back again” project that has a start, middle and end, or a more fundamental paradigm shift in our thinking?
Is insurtech to be bandied about as yet another consult-speak hype-phrase added to web pages, slide decks, articles, polls and white papers so we can be 100% buzzword-compliant? Is it hurriedly tacked on as yet another topic on an already bloated agenda of items to be covered? Or is it something substantially more?
There are more insurtech lists, companies, conferences, accelerators and analysts than you can shake a stick at. There are more than 1.2 million results when you Google "insurtech." You could make it your life’s work just tracking insurtech.
Using the “there and back again” definition, the vast preponderance of what is labeled today as insurtech is a journey, and there is nothing wrong with that. Within the insurance industry, we definitely need incremental new products, ideas and solutions that gradually move the needle when it comes to process streamlining, reducing costs and greater customer engagement. We applaud their efforts and wish them all success.
But the number of insurtechs that can earn the quest moniker is much smaller. While many web sites and brochures purport to be a game-changing quest, most are actually a journey in quest’s clothing.
So, how do we make sense of it all?
First, figure out if the insurtechs you are working with are on a journey or a quest. Here are six marks of an insurtech that is on a quest. You don’t have to exhibit all six to be on a quest, but four is a minimum:
- Big Audacious Dream – Sometimes referred to as the BAD idea, this visionary and emotionally compelling future state is dramatically different than anything yet proposed.
- Multiple Directors – There are not only numerous users that employ the solution, but it directs multiple stakeholders both inside and outside multiple organizations.
- Revenue Diversity – Income comes from numerous different users, stakeholders and sources; the quest is not tied to traditional license/use fee revenue streams.
- Elongated Delivery – Because the quest is by nature long and complicated, quick deployment is not possible; delivery will take time and significant investments.
- Lots of Data – While functionality is important, large amounts of data from various sources are brought together in new and compelling ways that transform traditional tasks into new opportunities for customer satisfaction, additional sales and revenue opportunities.
- Numerous Detractors – Few will understand or initially identify with an insurtech quest, thinking it outlandish and outrageous; most will immediately dismiss it or continually poke fun at it.
- “The quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the company is true.” Galadriel, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
- There will be days when you are convinced that your quest is teetering on the edge of failure. It’s at times like this that you need to seek encouragement from your team and supporters.
- “The Ring-Bearer is setting out on the quest of Mount Doom.” Elrond, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
- There will be days when your quest seems destined for financial failure and industry embarrassment. Listening to your detractors is a recipe for certain defeat. If necessary, recalibrate your goals and move forward with your team and supporters.
- “This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.” Elrond, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
- Leadership is vital on a quest, but more is accomplished not by the great or brilliant, but by average people. Do not overlook their value or contributions.
- "What is to be my quest? Bilbo went to find a treasure, there and back again; but I go to lose one, and not return, as far as I can see." Frodo, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
- To succeed in your quest, you need to have an attitude of abandonment, willing to lose to win. You will need to hold loosely those traditional things that have given you stability and success.
- "But do you remember Gandalf's words: Even Gollum may have something yet to do? But for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed the Ring. The quest would have been in vain, even at the bitter end. So let us forgive him! For the quest is achieved and now all is over. I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam." Frodo, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
- When you have succeeded, you will look back and remember people whom you thought were your supporters and friends but turned out to be your enemies. Don’t harbor anger and bitterness.
