While many insurers have jumped onto tech trends in order to stay competitive in our digitizing world, others are still early in their journey. There are a handful of key tech trends to consider for all insurance executives who want to keep themselves and their products competitive in the shifting landscape of insurance today.
Harnessing AI
Businesses have been experimenting with possibilities offered by AI for years, but few have truly taken full advantage of its benefits. Insurance carriers are no exception, and as AI technology rapidly advances, core processes like distribution, underwriting, claims, and service will all become AI-enabled.
Human workers will operate alongside these algorithms in order to create a ‘human in the loop system’ that maximizes both efficiency and accuracy. As AI becomes more prevalent, carriers will need to look at the full potential of their data assets — such as claims history and distribution interactions — and the benefits of AI being able to access and work with this data. In addition, to be an industry leader, you’ll need to create cutting-edge products centred around the data and analytics you’ve collected.
Increased Connectivity
Much like other important aspects of modern life and business, increasing connectivity is a major component of staying ahead of the curve. Just as insurers have already begun tapping the field of telematics to bring auto insurance up to date, wider applications of IoT devices have the potential to transform and reshape all other aspects of insurance — from life to property and commercial lines.
Increased frequency and specificity of data being shared allows your customers to paint a better picture of their specific needs and allows you to better calculate risk both at the time of purchase and into the future. Insurers can provide next level, real-time service to customers by harnessing increased connectivity over fast services like 5G, which continue to proliferate.
Trust Architecture
In the highly diverse and distributed environments of today’s businesses, zero-trust security models have become the preferred way to handle the threat of breaches and keep vital data safe. Insurers play host to some of the most sensitive information that customers provide, and as products and services continue to evolve, that won’t change.
The amount of data your customers share with you will only increase as new technologies step in for the realization of a ‘predict and prevent’ model of insurance that sees the insurer taking on a more active role. To handle this volume of data, technologies like blockchain can be adopted to help you more effectively, safely, and consistently manage it.
With increased digitization comes increased digital crime and risk of breach. Zero-trust security and similar approaches will allow insurers to craft networks with the resiliency needed to make sure all their important data is always safe.
Process Automation and Virtualization
Robotic process automation has already proven to be vital for insurers to help automate back-office operations, and as the technology continues to advance, the applications increase. Businesses all over the world have joined the push for digitization, harnessing the power of automation to reduce operating costs, increase turnaround times, and take advantage of many other benefits.
As an insurer, you’ll be able to rethink your products and services for a new era. Industrial IoT solutions allow for real-time monitoring of equipment, leading to predictive maintenance before claims even happen. Emerging technologies like digital twins are considered part of RPA, and in combination with 3D and 4D printing, are set to reshape the landscape for all physical damage claims. Keeping these technologies in mind will allow you to remain at the top as business realities continue to shift.
The Future in Cloud Infrastructure
A shift towards the cloud and away from extensive legacy technologies on-premises will continue to be vital for insurers to stay relevant long into the future. You can eliminate your technology debt and lay a stable foundation for adaptation and innovation by moving your core systems to the cloud. That way, you’ll be able to pivot easily and launch new products while offering greater customer service than ever before.
When compared to legacy systems, the cloud can simply handle more data, which is very important if you want to work with large data sets (like claims) in a meaningful way. Moving forward, cloud-native insurers will be leading the way by acting as a connecting hub between distributors, customers, carriers, and more.
The Latest Tech is Reshaping Insurance
When it comes to getting up to date on the latest in technology, the sooner the better when your place in the industry is on the line. Maintaining a competitive edge in the future of insurance will mean plugging in to the immense benefits of emerging tech like AI, trust security models, robotic process automation, and infrastructures built on the versatility of the cloud. If you understand how your customers use these in their own environments and adopt them yourself, you’ll set yourself up for relevancy far into the future.