As the pressure increases for businesses to remain relevant in a world dominated by technology and with the emergence of InsurTech 2.0, there is a digital urgency in the insurance industry. There is an increasing need to combine technology with the sector to make it more efficient and convenient. Digital technology is now driving the InsurTech industry forward, completely reshaping and enhancing customer experiences. InsurTech 2.0 is attracting clients through digital channels, shifting the focus to cater to their needs and offering new modes of interaction and digital capabilities like artificial intelligence and chatbots.
The InsurTech industry continues to grow thanks to notable trends like blockchain, personalizing products, artificial intelligence, automation and digital engagement with customers. This post will look at these trends as well as mentioning some other InsurTech companies in the world that are disrupting the industry.
The Top 4 InsurTech Trends
The following are the top 4 most prominent trends dominating the InsurTech industry:
Personalized Products
As the insurance industry evolves, customers are looking for more personalized insurance coverage including flexible coverage options, micro insurance and peer-to-peer insurance. The addition of technology in the insurance industry allows for a better understanding of customer behaviour which leads to more accurate risk assessments. Personalized options allow customers the flexibility of choosing the items they want to ensure and only insuring them when they are in use. These are policies that are being tailored to customer needs.
For instance, Buzzvault is a company that allows users to remove or add items from the insurance policy at any time. And the platform Slice offers coverage only during the specific time that it is needed. Other InsurTech companies and mobile apps like Valoo have ways of taking inventory of possessions thanks to videos and photos. They can determine the value of the items and assess their condition through the use of algorithms drawing data from big marketplaces.
AI and Automation
Using artificial intelligence and automation in the InsurTech industry eliminates the use of brokers, paperwork, fraud and improves operational efficiency and optimization. The ability to identify fraud allows for the fast-tracking of payments for legitimate claims. And now with the ability to provide video and images as an FNOL (First Notice of Loss), clients are not in a position to embellish their claims.
This technology helps us to move away from manual claims processes and allows for the fast automation of claims settlements, policy servicing as well as better data processing capabilities. Artificial intelligence can provide actionable insights to claims handlers so they can make quick liability decisions.
The use of AI helps to better determine the risks in underwriting and uses claims bots to assess and pay-out property claims in a matter of seconds. Chatbots, natural language processing and machine learning algorithms can understand and act on customer queries without human intervention and they can sense when clients aren’t satisfied and connect them to a human agent. Thanks to mobile applications, automated insurance agents are there to interact with clients to help purchase the right policies and improve the overall customer experience.
Blockchain
Blockchain is a public digital ledger which is a secured form of shared record keeping and data management. This technology allows for the processing of large amounts of customer data in real-time. Moving insurance claims onto a fixed and permanent ledger will better manage fraud detection, calculating liabilities, improve the efficiency of the claims processing system and help insurers to identify suspicious behaviour.
Blockchain also offers smart contracts for policy management to improve the efficiency of property and casualty insurance. CB Insights explains the difference between a contract and a smart contract: “A contract is a paper agreement between two or more parties that is enforceable by law; a smart contract is an agreement between two or more parties that live on a blockchain and is enforceable by code.” Smart contracts can also automatically confirm coverage, for instance, with flight insurance, a smart contract could automatically send out compensation in the event of cancellations or delays.
Digital Engagement
There are a number of different technologies out there helping to digitize the insurance industry with mobile applications, IoT, wearables, digital insurance brokerage for insurance policy shopping, chatbots and drones being just a few of them to provide clients with high-quality experiences. The industry is moving further away from traditional insurance models and more toward digital experiences to increase customer engagement and retention.
Drone and imaging technology can be used to obtain high definition images from remote areas for accurate property estimations and chatbots can be used to file claims, making these traditional processes more enjoyable and engaging.
8 InsurTech Companies Disrupting the Industry
After reading up on some of the biggest trends in the InsurTech industry, have a look at some of the apps and platforms making a major impact on the industry:
Lemonade: Property and Casualty Insurance
According to the team: “Lemonade Insurance Company is a property and casualty insurance company that is transforming the very business model of insurance. By injecting technology and transparency into an industry that often lacks both, we’re creating an insurance experience that is fast, affordable, and hassle-free. Unlike any other insurance company, we gain nothing by delaying or denying claims (we take a flat fee!), so we handle and pay as many claims instantly as possible.”
Apple App Store
Google Play Store
Tyche: Underwriting Platform
According to the team: “Tyche is an interactive platform that allows casualty underwriters to assess casualty risk like never before. By blending risk-relevant, open data with machine learning, Tyche uncovers the true factors driving the risk of each submission, and provides an interactive explorer for underwriters to turn casualty factors into actionable insights to drive better underwriting judgment.”
Buzzvault: Digitally Cataloguing Possessions
According to the team: “Buzzvault is a secure digital asset vault that makes it effortless for customers to digitally catalogue and securely store details of their possessions in an app.”
Valoo: Managing and Insuring your Items
According to the team: “Store and protect your belongings in a safe online space. In case of damage (fire, break-in, water damage) all of the necessary information is at your fingertips (photos, receipts, warranties, technical info, insurance contracts). Creating an inventory has never been so quick and easy: you can scan a barcode or receipt using our search engine (featuring over 15 million items) or our web extension which is available to download using Google Chrome. Also, as protecting your information is one of our highest priorities, it is encrypted on our secure server and is not given to any third parties without your consent.”
Apple App Store
Google Play Store
Wrisk: Insurance Adapting to Fit Your Life
According to the team: “Manage your insurance seamlessly through a single app. Add and remove things from cover anytime, with immediate effect. See the information most insurance companies keep secret and understand the risks which impact the price of your cover. Wrisk is flexible insurance that adapts to fit your life so you’re neither underinsured nor overcharged.”
Apple App Store
Carpe Data: Using Alternative Data for Insurance Carriers
According to the team: “Providing insurance companies with next-generation data solutions, Carpe Data gathers and refines a range of emerging and alternative data sources that spans social media, online content, and everything in between. The result? Insurers gain a deeper insight into risks, enhancing all facets of the insurance lifecycle.”
Xtract: Simplifying Crash Data
According to the team: “Our mission: to transform how motor claims are processed by visualizing crash data and incorporating it into the existing claims workflow to drive decision-making. Xtract is a claims tool that aggregates and visualizes crash data for the auto-insurance industry. We capture generic crash data at FNOL and deliver actionable insights to claim handlers enabling swift liability decision, fraud deflection and vehicle damage triage.”
Slice: On-Demand Insurance
According to the team: “Slice is an InsurTech company committed to delivering insurance differently. We’ve started with on-demand insurance for the on-demand economy— insurance for a slice of time. Slice provides coverage on-demand, and for only the periods of time you need it. The Slice policy automatically begins and ends with your business hours, whether it’s minutes, days or weeks. And, you only pay for the dates and times your policy is active.”
With all these crazy advancements in technology, be sure to keep your eye out on the ever-evolving trends that are not only changing and shaping the InsurTech industry but are also having an impact on industries like FinTech, EdTech and Healthcare. Let us know if there are more fascinating InsurTech trends that are worth mentioning. We love hearing from you guys!
