The FINEOS Global Summit was held recently at Half Moon Bay, CA, just a short ride from the mecca of technology, Silicon Valley. I mention this as it had a significant role in this year’s summit. As we all have seen, the technology evolution (or in some spaces revolution) has not left the insurance market alone especially considering recent advances in the InsurTech space. This will no doubt continue, however, the impact as it relates to Digital is at a ‘Sea Change’. The customer expectations for digital solutions, leveraging IoT, Data Analytics and API infrastructure continue to evolve, but are more of a priority than ever before. Luckily, we have a talented group of folks here ready to share their perspectives on how the market will evolve and what you need to do to be successful.
Starting the conversation was an insightful presentation by Michael Connor on the Vision of a Digital Industry. Michael is the CEO and Co-Founder of Silicon Valley Insurance Accelerator. Starting with a focus on how innovation is resident across all industries: Auto, Cellular, Insurance, etc. This helped ground the audience on how insurance is ripe for disruption with Insurtech leading the way. But what will this lead to and how does our current technology glide path look in the not-too-distant future?
One item Michael highlighted was paying attention to the ‘megatrends’ and how they impact the insured. Economic, Rise of Individual, Urbanization, Technology, Climate/Population, Connected World, and Conflict (both ground and cyber attacks) are some of the key ‘megatrends’ to consider. All of them create new challenges and opportunities impacting every industry.
Considering InsurTech, Megatrends, and the Global Economy, Michael brought it back to the key item to remember: The Customer. Each customer is unique. How do we take advantage of the technology and drive a better customer experience? How do we meet the customer where they are and with what they need? Michael gave excellent examples of leveraging data, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and many more to not just drive new customer acquisition, but to help better their lives. Doing this in ways we never could, by helping to prevent incidents and improve lifestyles.
Having spent time in a few organizations, I have an appreciation on how the focus has shifted from providing excellent service, best products, etc to customer centricity. This is an imperative FINEOS has embraced and cuts right to the core of how FINEOS AdminSuite is built. Bottom line: InsurTech is impacting the industry with next generation thinking and technology. If you’re not paying attention and better yet, engaging with them. You’ll be left behind.
