Technology and Data - Insurance for the Future

Unprecedented change

Insurance.

It is one of the oldest industries in the world. In fact, the earliest documented version of insurance was a lending guarantee that covered merchant shipping for cargo losses through shipwreck, foundering and theft. It is so old that it is included in the "Code of Hammurabi" written on stone in cuneiform, nearly 4000 years ago.

Civilization has evolved considerably since then, and the insurance industry has too - but the rate of change has never been faster than what has taken place over the last 100 years. Population has exploded, technology has developed at a dizzying rate, but not much has changed in the claims process over much of that time. In fact, the process itself has remained surprisingly personnel-heavy, administrative, and complex but advances in technology over the last few decades have started to significantly change things.

Due primarily to advances in computing and data management, the insurance sector has invested significant resources into improving their operations. The focus has been on using newly available technologies and methodologies to improve customer experience. Adaptability, and an agile response to innovations, and change are seen as the key to meeting future challenges. Change is the major disruption to traditional conceptions of insurance, and the biggest shift has been in the area of customer expectation where the customer is looking for a streamlined, customized experience. These include such things as how seemingly unconnected technologies interact with the shared economy. How will innovative combinations of technology and traditional businesses - such as Uber for the taxi space and Airbnb for hotels - impact insurance product offerings? Will future innovations in manufacturing, or improvements in repair, maintenance, and safety technologies continue to reduce claim volumes? Smart buildings, driverless cars and telematics are technologies on the verge of a commercial breakthrough. What impact will these and other unforeseeable technologies have on the insurance industry?

With new technologies changing the way that insurers assess collateral, serve claims and manage repair functions, dynamic data collection and analytics are of prime importance. The sheer volume and richness of collected data is one of the biggest challenges the industry faces. Asseti is part of the evolution in this field. Asseti is specially architected from the ground up to simplify, and manage this complexity of scale.

The Customer of the Future - Speed and Service No Compromise

Insurers must innovate and invest in the customer experience, by adopting new technologies that can serve client needs rapidly, accurately, and more responsively.

With customers increasingly geared toward wanting instant access to service, from anywhere, at any time, all with their choice of automated or personalized customer assistance when appropriate. The expectation is of the highest level of service. In an increasingly competitive and crowded market, customer service is likely to be the key differentiator in choosing the vendor.

As if this isn't a difficult enough landscape to negotiate, add to that the consumers ability to directly affect the on-line reputation of the insurance company by instantly sharing their experiences with other prospective clients. The silver lining here is that the insurance company can also use this data to break down the customer experience and proactively manage issues before they become a PR difficulty. This is a definite advantage in fine tuning the claims process and raise the level of end user satisfaction in an era of customer impatience and increasingly high expectation of service.

Geared toward the fact that Asseti enables rapid responsiveness to the scale of, for example, weather incidents, where a massive number of claims are received in a very short time in a localized area. A good example of this is the 1999 Sydney hailstorm which was at that time the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history, with 24,000 houses and 70,000 cars significantly damaged. The backlog of claims led to negative public perception of the insurance industry because insurers couldn't handle the scale of so many assessments required quickly. Asseti helps to avoid this.

Disruptive Technologies

Because of their growing importance, insurance companies need to monitor new technologies to assess both their possible impact on customers along with any potential improvements they could make to product offers or claims assessing services.

Insurers could even team up with start-up incubators as a means of identifying any new technologies that could result in customer improvement or potential disruption. Teaming up with a disruptive technology specialist such as Asseti, will give an insurer the benefit of access to the agile innovation and development capabilities of the start-up market.

The Biggest Technology Risk for Insurers in the Future is Being Left Behind ...

The collection and analytics of real-time data about claims and individuals is the future of the insurance industry. Claims and assessing teams will benefit from having instant access to more real-time and relevant claims data than ever. Customers will share data in real time, through social media apps, from sensors attached to vehicles and properties.

With the volume of information being collected increasing at an exponential level, it will be vital to ensure the right analytics and modelling tools are used. You need the right external data analysts in place to ensure the best use of the masses of data being gathered. Asseti helps insurers use that huge history and wealth of data easily and meaningfully - transforming their often little-used data repositories into strategic and tactical competitive advantage.

Decreasing Volumes and Increasing Volatility

The recognized trend, within the industry, is that general insurance claims will continue to drop in most insurance lines. The causes? "The Internet of Things" is seen as one of the major drivers in the trend. The increasing number of networked monitoring sensors have already reduced fire and flood claims, for example. Increasing use of telematics will lead to further reductions in vehicle accidents, while driver assistance technology, and autonomous vehicles will potentially reduce the accident rate more.

Asseti recognizes these trends. It would be to the advantage of the insurance company to encourage clients to employ these methods to the benefit of both parties. As a leader in the field of data analytics and management Asseti is eminently qualified to advise, oversee, and maximize the efficient flow and analysis of the required data. Asseti can help to substantially reduce the amount of claims - and expedite claim surge management.

Catastrophe and Weather-Related Claims

Another recognized trend is that natural hazard claims will continue to rise. The volatility of weather and catastrophe related claims will be closely linked to the severity and frequency of extreme weather events due to climate change. It will be important to easily be able to scale up and down quickly, in response to events. Asseti can help insurers expedite assessment and response at scale, while enabling assessors to check claims against policy requirements.

If the insurer chooses to move away from disaster recovery in preference to using mitigation (building codes, retrofits, advisory programs, damage mitigation) as their focus , then Asseti can deploy for sites that can play a key role in their prevention goals.

Claims People of the Future

Claims services teams of the future will be leaner, highly skilled, and more efficient. Increased use of data, automated self-service, the omnichannel digital experience and reduced claims will be constantly shaping them. Flexibility, and adaptability will be important as being able to scale up teams in times of peak volume, or in the event of a natural disaster will be paramount. Asseti enables teams to run more agilely and leanly which is vital when quick deployment and upscaling is required in response to an unexpected event.

Important Considerations for Insurance Decision Makers

This is a time of rapid change when insurance executives and key decision makers need to step up and show strong leadership. Leaders need to be aware of the changes and dangers happening around them and from within the market. They need to be team focused and supportive while adjusting operating models and devising transformational strategies with the goal of ensuring organizational resilience. Innovative ideas and technology must be shared across the company, as must disruptive technologies and innovation threats. These opportunities and threats must be quickly responded to by rapidly bringing in expertise like Asseti, to enable more robust decision making, more quickly and with a greater degree of compliance with insurance policy strictures.

Asseti is the system that empowers the key decision makers, and allows them to make those fast and accurate decisions that gives the edge to any insurance company.

Claim your free Asseti trial using the button below, or link to set a demonstration meeting.