How to Embrace Insurtech Culture

This is the fourth in a four-part series. The first three are: Investment in Insurtech Continues to Surge, Insurtech Presents Major Opportunities and Key Insurtech Trends to Watch. In this series, I’ve been discussing the continued global rise in insurtech investment and innovation and the potential benefits to both traditional insurers and insurtech startups. I’ve highlighted some significant emerging players in this exciting new space. Insurers understand that now is the time to innovate. On the whole, successful companies have evolved into thriving ecosystems, offering digital platforms that bring together diverse products and services into a community. Think of Amazon and Uber as examples of these leaders. Insurance also needs to move to this model to thrive in the new economy. Insurtech can help you connect with your customers Understanding where the gaps are, both in the current insurance market and in the customer experience, will be key. Fortunately, technologies are emerging that can help insurers understand their customers’ needs, and, in turn, customers are increasingly open to purchasing insurance in non-traditional settings, especially via smartphone platforms. Insurtechs can offer tools to help incumbents become digital insurers, but they are not a solution in and of themselves. Conventional enterprises must innovate across the organization, from the C-suite to the front line, to derive maximum benefit from a collaborative partnership with insurtech. The technologies in question—whether they use artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) interfaces or big data and analytics—can’t be quick fixes. See also: Insurtech: An Adventure or a Quest?   Successful insurers will learn quickly from the insurtech trend and will do more than just experiment with new technologies. They will need to embrace innovation at all levels, company-wide, across their everyday business. Those insurers with a strategic innovation agenda and a clear plan for where insurtech fits into that agenda, will be in a better position to lead in the new environment. Read our full report: The Rise of Insurtech: How young startups and a mature industry can bring out the best in one another.