Leaders from across the insurance and technology spaces met in Las Vegas to discuss the future of insurance at Insuretech Connect (ITC) 2022, the world’s largest insurtech event. Notion joined more than 30,000 brands from over 100 countries at the event, which showcases the latest insurtech innovations and facilitates discussions around how to increase productivity and enhance the lives of policyholders.
ITC offers unparalleled access to insurance industry leaders, investors and technology entrepreneurs and enables rich networking opportunities with more than 75,000 meetings facilitated over three days. Over 70% of the Insurtech conference's attendees are vice presidents or higher, making ITC an excellent opportunity for insurance carriers to connect with decision-makers across the insurtech ecosystem.
There were plenty of takeaways from the event, but here are the five key things we learned from attending ITC Vegas.
1. Quit Looking in the Rearview Mirror – Use Data to Look Forward
It’s no surprise to anyone that the insurance industry has endured many massive changes over the last few years. Between COVID-19, an increased number of catastrophic events, and housing market shifts, property insurance has kept up with GDP pace, but casualty insurance has declined. It is more important than ever for insurance leaders to use all the data at their disposal to better understand, price, and transfer risk.
For Everest Re’s Juan Andrade, the answer is to quit looking in the rearview mirror, and start focusing on preventing risks before they happen. He said, “Our industry has always been about indemnity. We need to evolve from that – we need to stop these things from happening.”
Many insurers during the event shared how they were heeding the call. Some increased investments in energy wind farms and the environment. Others, like Chubb’s Hemant Sarma, are using data from IoT technology to reduce preventable perils, such as water leaks, in commercial buildings. He declared, “Somewhere down the line, we’ll have a water-protected building!”
2. How to Build Trust Throughout the Policyholder Experience
If there was one question that was repeated over and over during course of the show, it was, “How can we build trust throughout the policyholder experience?” At the end of the day, insurance is an industry based on trust, and insurance carriers need to be agile to ensure they’re meeting their customers where they are at each stage in the journey.
According to Erie Insurance’s Partha Srinivasa, it’s imperative to combine data with the human touch. Erie is using data to simplify quote flow and ensure more agent availability so that more policies can be written. Others, like Chubb, are working on connecting their data all the way from the acquisition to the claim, and leveraging it to create a better customer experience. During the “Reinvented Big Data Practices that Incentivize Risk Reduction, the group shared, “Our goal isn’t to make the process more frustrating for customers. Many policyholders today will get question after question on a claim. Instead, we need to use the data that’s readily available to make this process as easy as possible.”
During Matteo Carbone’s IoT Observatory, Notion’s Jeff Bales and VYRD’s Chief Digital Officer, Laura Hanson, shared the same sentiment. Hanson shared that VYRD is using Notion’s IoT sensors to help excite policyholders upon acquisition and educate them on a top peril – water leaks -- throughout the customer experience. The average water leak costs over $11,000 in damages and is a massive headache for homeowners to clean up. With Notion, VYRD can educate policyholders about this pesky peril throughout the customer journey, notify them when an issue occurs, and reduce those headaches – creating happier customers with reduced risk.
3. Get 'Back to the Future' With Insurtech 2.0
One of the biggest talking points at ITC 2022 was Insurtech 2.0: a reset in how we think about insurtech. It involves moving away from hyperbole and focuses on how businesses fully implement enterprise-wide technology decisions.
Speaking at the event, Bryan David, executive vice president at insurance provider VIU by HUB, said Insurtech 2.0 is a “Back to the Future” solution. He explained that it allows firms to revisit technologies from the Insurtech 1.0 era that may have been ahead of their time, meaning many companies weren’t able to integrate them into their innovations.
Quite a few panels focused on the need for insurance carriers to go back to basics. For example, "Insurtech Investment: What Makes Insurtechs an Attractive Investment Proposition to VCs and Incumbents Alike?" discussed the overuse of buzzwords such as digital transformation and innovation in the insurance industry. They advised that venture capitalists and investors need to look past the jargon to find businesses that will improve their bottom line.
4. Analog Problems Are Pervasive in a Digital World
One of the big problems facing the insurtech industry is that firms require a deep understanding of the claims process, which attendees referred to as “analog-world problems.” Many speakers at the event claimed the tools, software and automation capabilities are in place for insurance carriers to automate the claims process. However, this requires insurance firms to take advantage of new solutions when they become available.
Many discussions at the Insuretech Connect conference focused on the need for insurtech firms to collaborate. Numerous attendees argued that the complexity of the insurance industry and its conservative approach were hindering carriers. By contrast, successful insurtech firms are taking a collaborative approach rather than trying to singlehandedly disrupt the industry.
5. Focus on Customer Behavior and Usage
Closely related to this problem is the need for insurance carriers to embrace innovations and improve customer experience. For example, the "Bending the Curve: Behavior Change as the Next Evolution in Insurance" panel focused on behavior change and discussed how risk reduction and policyholder experience could go hand in hand. Innovations such as Internet of Things devices and smart sensors enable policyholders to reduce their risk and improve carriers’ loss reduction ratios.
Similarly, the "Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) in the Home Insurance Industry" panel discussion focused on what carriers can learn from their colleagues in the auto insurance space. As Insurtech Denver's Daniel Turgel explained, auto telematics has enabled improved pricing and diminished risk for both policyholders and insurance carriers, and home insurance leaders are using those insights to transform the services they offer homeowners.
With the news that State Farm invested over a billion dollars into ADT, Rahul Daryanani from Touchdown Ventures stated, “smart home is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have.” It can help educate homeowners on how to maintain their properties throughout the customer lifetime, and help carriers reduce claim severity especially related to water perils.
Did you miss out on ITC 2022? Want to find out more about insurtech? Discover how partnering with Notion can help you transform customer experience, reduce your loss ratios, and utilize data to better manage risk.
