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image The Innovation road diverged in an InsurTech wood, And while I wanted to travel both And be one searcher, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it was lost in unknown techo growth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And an improving process that […]
The post Two insurance innovations roads to be taken- it’s not all tech appeared first on Daily Fintech.
TLDR Insurance is not complicated, say compared to sending a man to land on the moon, but it’s big, and its current challenges are like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. Innovation, digitization, virtual sales and service, and so on. Not unlike the elephant in the fable, insurance is perceived differently by each beholder- is it tail, ear, leg, trunk, sales, or underwriting, claims, accounting, actuarial, or customers? What is to be innovated?
The drum beat of innovation is in some part fashion, but a large part reality- insurers need to evolve with their customers. But there’s the rub- what evolution is meaningful, useful, profitable, doable, and able to be integrated into a carrier’s strategy, tactics, and admin superstructure?
This week’s discussion- who is useful to consult when you want to do it, or how to tackle it, innovation idea-wise.
I had a very useful conversation this week with an insurance veteran, Joël Bassani, founder and consultant at jinnbee who is now looking to share his knowledge gained over years with the insurance industry. Our discussion reminded me that there are many aspects to insurance, many lines, covers, regulations, regions, etc. that one must deal with in the globally interconnected insurance world. And how does one determine what path to take from that which one is on to one that leverages innovation or change?
What Joël told me as a foundational message resonates well- it’s not necessarily knowing the tech to apply, but it’s knowing what problem you have and working from that to what innovation has to help you. In his opus of an InsurTech study, Joël notes early on, “An InsurTech is a solution, you need to focus on your Problem!”
And how do you know your problem? Simple- you ask your customers, both external and internal and you strive to #innovatefromthecustomerbackwards .
What jinnbee has compiled for the industry is a compendium of InsurTech purposes:
You have an insurance problem, jinnbee’s analysis can help find an InsurTech solution from organizations that exist, are experts in their fields, and are available. So you don’t have to create the wheel, you simply need to know the makeup of the wheel and jinnbee will help find a fit. Do you make the innovation in house, or connect with an InsurTech? Jinnbee will help lead your decision matrix.
And as comprehensive a study as jinnbee has produced, there are other organizations who have blazed a trail in terms of aggregating InsurTech organizational data, firms’ purposes, an ability to play ‘matchmaker’, and in providing accessible data. The two most prominent examples are Coverager, and Insurance Thought Leadership .
Coverager
I asked Coverage founder Shefi Ben-Hutta what synopsizes Coverager’s business model, what is the ‘elevator pitch’ that would best describe her firm’s approach:
If the reader has yet to access the Coverage website (or better yet, subscribe to Coverager’s daily email), rest assured you will not be disappointed by a simple blast of information. Coverager approaches information sharing with a wry tongue in cheek, occasional snark, but always best in class, topical information. The firm’s web splash page gives an indication of the depth of coverage and information:
Everything from an encyclopedic source of insurance company information, a searchable database of InsurTechs, hosting of industry events, and to the latest marketing scheme or the scoop on a company that has gone off path. As Shefi recounted, their purpose is:
Insurance Though Leadership
Take Coverager’s avant-garde approach to InsurTech assistance and look to a somewhat organizational opposite, and one finds Insurance Thought Leadership (ITL). ITL approaches InsurTech advisory services with more of a formal suit, but with no less breadth of information as Coverager. ITL has developed through the efforts of its founder, Dave Dias into a premier source of innovation source/need connections, and a premier host of innovation education. And the firm is the home of the man with a knowledgeable grasp on the innovation world, Guy Fraker, AKA the man with a thousand sneakers (runners, athletic shoes). Insurance company C-Suites are encouraged to subscribe to the matchmaking service, and the organization’s excellent editorial staff keeps the industry appraised of the latest concepts. A look at the Innovator’s Edge page of ITL website provides the searcher an idea of what the firm can offer:
Three very good sources to search and consider, and there are other InsurTech informational resources, e.g., GR Capital’s recent summary article, Why Next Year Can Be a Turning Point for Global Insurance Innovation, and industry influencers who can make connections from personal experience, including those in this list, or this one, or even this one (companies).
But it still requires the asker to know what innovation problem needs to be solved, what the customers are expecting (maybe it’s no change?), and how efforts are to be focused. Innovation is not fashion, it’s strategic application of resources and there are good resources at hand. And in most cases it’s not part of the elephant, but consideration of the whole beast.
Patrick Kelahan is a CX, engineering & insurance professional, working with Insurers, Attorneys & Owners. He also serves the insurance and Fintech world as the ‘Insurance Elephant’.
I have no positions or commercial relationships with the companies or people mentioned. I am not receiving compensation for this post.
Subscribe by email to join the other Fintech leaders who read our research daily to stay ahead of the curve. Check out our advisory services (how we pay for this free original research).
The post Have the horse before the cart- problem first, then innovation solution appeared first on Daily Fintech.
TLDR The volume and variety of insurance/InsurTech news is almost too much to keep track of, even if one tries to keep focus on one insurance line, one region, one company, legacy vs. innovation, etc. And of course, I like to keep up with all. Foolishly, because a jack of all trades remains a master of none, even in the digitally aware environment.
In any case here’s a sampling of what caught my attention during the past week:
Auto telematics help inform driving decisions for the elderly (and maybe create a sales opportunity for scooter sales What was rolled out originally as an app to measure driving habits for taxis and fleets by Orix Auto Corp evolved into a clever tool for the elderly and their families to broach the subject of safe driving, and whether a person has requisite driving skills. In turn, many who choose to surrender their auto driving rights have found a measure of freedom using motorized wheelchairs or scooters, e.g., devices rented by Whill, Inc. Japan Today Thanks, Robert Collins
InsurTech builds a market for a complementary product.
Equipment breakdown claims grow in a booming economy
“Equipment breakdown now rivals fire loss in both frequency and severity of claims, driven by the booming economy and human influence, according to an FM Global analysis of large property-related losses greater than $3 million released Tuesday.”
Sure, it’s one firm, but what??? Rivals fire losses for frequency and severity???
“Lack of maintenance was a factor in two-thirds of equipment breakdown losses in 2018, while nearly half had a significant human element impact or influence, FM Global said.”
InsurTech opportunity– IoT devices to monitor equipment performance, maintenance, automated repair, and controlled shut down. Keep in mind equipment failure equates directly to loss of use and profitability issues. This speaks to changes in underwriting, policy forms/exclusions, changes in indemnity paired with parametric for a new sort of indexed parameter. Business Insurance
AIG unit off the hook for non-property damage arising from flood
“A flood sublimit in a property policy applied to all losses arising out of a flood, not just property damage, a federal appeals court ruled, reversing a lower court’s ruling against an American International Group Inc. unit.”
An AIG insured filed suit for loss of use (time element) claims, a contention the appeal court said was unfounded as the policy sublimit was deemed to include all claimed losses, not just direct property losses. Policy provision/endorsement wording and existing case law- insureds need to understand and/or ensure their broker does. While this is an insurance ‘due diligence’ issue that is not new, this is another innovation opportunity- policy language/unstructured data analysis. Chris Cheatham of RiskGenius has done yeoman’s work in providing a service to allow companies to “better understand policy language and create more efficient underwriting workflows,” but that does not force a company to understand what coverage applies. Business Insurance
InsurTech opportunity- automated learning from denials of coverage– this flows both from the insured to the carrier, and vice versa. Same principle applies to analysis of litigation- learnings for all.
Which P&C Insurers Made the 2019 Fortune 500?
Let’s not consider the 500, let’s consider the top 100 companies on the list, of which 7 are P&C insurers. Why care for this article? Well, the seven firms represent $535 Bn in annual revenues, and employ in total 658,000 insurance professionals (not including those populating tens of thousands of agencies). That’s a lot of financial clout, and 658K pros (estimated one million with all carriers included)? Innovation opportunity– Think what the input from an informed constituency of that size could contribute to insurance innovation and the industry’s future but are in whole discouraged from doing so. (roll this up to the global top ten- $917 Bn capitalization, hundreds of thousands of staff)
Unleash the innovation Kraken, P&C industry, free the staff! – the only real problem that would be had will be what to do with all the great ideas. PropertyCasualty360
GetSafe CEO Predicts Lemonade Will ‘Struggle’ In Germany
“Lemonade will have to struggle in Germany,” GetSafe co-founder and CEO Christian Wiens told Carrier Management vie email. “The market is regulated and complex, and the domestic InsurTechs are in no way inferior compared with Lemonade.”
“While Lemonade is a fantastic storyteller, they concentrated on their brand and not so much on their product and technology,” Wiens said. “Germans, on the other hand, prefer to do it the other way around.”
First sentence- seems the industry cognati agree- plenty of DE innovators already in play across all covers.
Second sentence- not so sure. Lemonade has been a mostly transparent sharer of the principles behind its policy form, and certainly speaks a lot of its favorite bot, Maya. GetSafe is no technological slouch as its easy app and MGA-based operation has brought together backing (Munich Re) and leverage of changing customer needs in its property insurance platform.
InsurTech opportunity- harken back to business school– what are your market threats, and who is manifesting a potential competitor’s novelty, and can you iterate more effectively based on what new entrants are bringing to your base? Lemonade’s substantial financial backing can help them bring a ‘square peg’ to a DE ‘round hole’, so why not shamelessly and fashionably imitate? Don’t denigrate the disruptor of the disruptors- re-disrupt (is that a word?) Carrier Management
Plenty to see here, as they say, but don’t rest too long on one news feed- too much of one good thing could cause info-indigestion.
Best approaches I have found- watch what your respected connections watch and watch what smart persons in tangential industries watch- there are bound to be meaningful overlaps. Don’t limit yourself to one region’s news, don’t limit yourself to one line of thought. Read the contrarian’s point of view. And understand that the next best thought may come from an unexpected source/country/post/medium/neophyte/expert/anything.
Patrick Kelahan is a CX, engineering & insurance professional, working with Insurers, Attorneys & Owners. He also serves the insurance and Fintech world as the ‘Insurance Elephant’.
I have no positions or commercial relationships with the companies or people mentioned. I am not receiving compensation for this post.
Subscribe by email to join the other Fintech leaders who read our research daily to stay ahead of the curve. Check out our advisory services (how we pay for this free original research).
The post InsurTech and Innovation news- a great banquet but fill your plate wisely appeared first on Daily Fintech.
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