News
Amwins: 5 technologies impacting insurance
Throughout 2022, the insurtech sector experienced a fundraising paradigm shift from "growth at all costs" to a greater operational focus on sustainability, responsible growth, and even more importantly, toward a clear path to profitability.
It was an important market correction, but the shift has been challenging for both public and private insurtechs, resulting in reduced share prices, pulled IPOs and strategic employee layoffs.
Now, at the start of 2023, the insurance industry is abuzz with speculation over the fate of insurtechs and the impact on continued digital transformation. Without insurtechs pushing traditional carriers to apply new technologies to remain competitive and profitable, will innovation slow?
While it's true that 2023 may prove an obstacle some startups won't overcome, companies that have focused on responsible growth are likely to survive. They'll look different than the last few years, but they'll continue to evolve, disrupt the market, and challenge incumbents for market share.
As incumbents continue to leverage tech advancements to fill the gap between customer needs and current capabilities, we will see both insurtechs and traditional carriers investing in technology to offer more innovative and cost-effective products and services.
This article explores five such technologies that are currently aiding the digital transformation, and that will continue to add value this year.
Tom Parsons Head Of Digital Strategy, Amwins
Despite Inflation, North American Life Insurance IT Budgets Rise—Celent
Carrying over from 2022, growth and digital acceleration are top 2023 priorities, followed by cybersecurity.
Growth and digital acceleration continue to be top priorities for North American life insurers in 2023, with cyber security coming in third, with insurers spending about 8 percent of their IT budget on it, according to Celent’s (Boston) newly published annual "North American Life Insurance IT priorities and Pressures” study, co-authored by analysts Karen Monks and Keith Raymond. Growth and digital acceleration were top priorities for life insurance CIOs in 2022, followed by process optimization, cost reduction, and innovation.
Celent gleaned its findings through a Dec. 2022 online survey of North American life and annuity insurance company CIOs and technology executives, across both individual and group lines. The life insurance IT priorities and pressures report has been published for many years, and several CIOs respond year after year while others are new this year. While the survey was reasonably short, according to Celent, it covered a broad range of topics, including but not limited to business priorities, IT budgets, investment plans, and cloud adoption. Celent publishes analogous annual reports for the EMEA, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America regions.
Insurance IT leaders herald new era for digital customer experience
The insurance industry is undergoing a sea change, with IT playing a crucial role in rolling out digital customer experiences for policyholders and agents, as in-person meetings all but vanish in the post-pandemic era.
This pivot to digital customer experiences has become a new insurance industry imperative, as Aflac, Liberty Mutual, MassMutual, MetLife, and a host of other insurers have embraced digital strategies for interacting with and delivering new services to customers — in some cases, integrating advanced cloud technologies such as analytics and machine learning to design new insurance policies.
How AI Can Transform Insureds’ Lives in 2023 -
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a popular topic of year-end prediction articles in recent years. Looking ahead in 2023, I offer a viewpoint that goes beyond the marketing buzz with my forecasts of the value insurers could realize from AI and the potential impacts these AI implementations will have on their customers.
Robert Clark, CEO of Cloverleaf Analytics, an enterprise business intelligence and analytics provider for P/C insurers
Hyundai unveils vehicle subscription service Evolve+ in Chicago
The brand revealed that customers would now be able to drive select vehicles for a monthly fee, similar to a lease or rental, but with no minimum term like the former and less cost than the latter. Only two vehicles are available on the platform; the IONIQ 5, for $899 a month, and the Kona Electric, for $699 a month. Maintenance, insurance and roadside assistance are included with subscriptions for either vehicle. Although they can signup through the Evolve+ app, subscribers will still need to pick the cars up from participating dealers in one of the six states where the program is available.
InsurTech/M&A/Finance/Collaboration
Insurtech and Why It Matters?
Insurtech was introduced in 2010 and heralded the start of a new era in the industry.
One of the key elements you need to familiarize yourself with when involving yourself in a more digitized economy, like crypto investing, is Financial Technology. Financial Technology or Fintech is a technology that automates the delivery and use of financial services. With the use of specialized software and algorithms, computers and smartphones are able to assist their users with their financial operations and processes.
There are several subsectors of Fintech, which include digital wallets, cryptocurrencies, and Insurance Technology.
As you might now concur, Insurance Technology or Insurtech is a system designed to build an efficient insurance industry model that is supposed to provide top-tier creation, distribution, and administration of insurance products.
What Does InsurTech Do?
When Insurtech was introduced to the market in 2010, it heralded the start of a new era in the insurance industry, allowing for a more advanced and efficient system that shook the industry on a global scale.
Connected car consolidation, as Urgently acquires Otonomo in reverse merger after its market cap plunges to $70M
Otonomo, a connected automotive company that has seen its stock price plummet since going public in 2021, has announced that it is coming together with Urgently, a roadside assistance tech provider, in a reverse merger. The two are combining in an all-share deal that will see Urgently shareholders take 67% of the company and Otonomo shareholders take 33%. The stock, which had traded under OTMO on Nasdaq, will now trade under the ULY ticker.
Otonomo went public in 2021 on Nasdaq in a SPAC deal that valued the company at $1.4 billion at its debut. But the writing for it (and indeed SPACs) may have been on the wall: By the end of the first day of trading, its market cap had dipped to $1.1 billion, and that was definitely not the bottom; currently the company’s market cap is just over $70 million.
Westfield closes acquisition of Lloyd's syndicate | Insurance Business America
Westfield has announced that it has completed its acquisition of Lloyd’s of London Syndicate 1200 from Argo Group International Holdings.
The acquisition will help Westfield establish itself as a global franchise, while expediting the growth of its specialty arm, Westfield Specialty. A release mentioned that the deal puts the overall Westfield Specialty portfolio in excess of $1 billion in premium.
InsurTech Spotlight: FloodFlash Is Closing Coverage Gaps with Parametrics
Parametric insurance covers a policyholder against a specific event by paying a set amount based on the magnitude of the event rather than the magnitude of the loss.
Are fintechs and insurtechs bad at PR?
According to business information tool Crunchbase, there are over 25,000 fintechs and 2,000 insurtechs in the world today. With more than 300 additions to their database in the past year alone, new startups are constantly coming online. Each new business will have to secure the awareness and trust of consumers, partners and investors alike. Good PR is a critical step in that endeavour – yet so many founders seem to misunderstand what PR is and what benefits it can bring to their business.
As a journalist, I get to see first-hand the discordant and occasionally haphazard way in which some fintechs and insurtechs – particularly newer entrants – approach the topic of PR. So we asked two industry insiders, with long lists of fintech and insurtech clients, to give us their perspective of raising awareness as a new business.
Alex Clere, FinTech Magazine
Collision Repair Consolidators Continued to Grow in 2022
According to the mergers and acquisition firm Focus Advisors, the acquisition and development strategies of key consolidators have come more sharply into view during 2022. While the Big Four national collision repair brands became the Big Three with Crash Champions acquisition of Service King, the Second Tier continued to accelerate their growth. The New Entrants established geographic diversity. And more private equity firms than ever kicked lots of tires looking for their entry platforms.
People
Caliber President and CEO Mark Sanders Retiring after 36 years in Collision Repair Industry
David Simmons named incoming Caliber President and CEO.
Caliber announced today that after 26 years with the organization, President and CEO Mark Sanders will retire and move into a special advisory role for the next 18 months, effective March 6.
Sanders grew up in the collision repair industry working alongside his father, also an industry veteran. In 1997, Caliber acquired their two collision repair shops, and since then, Sanders has held a variety of operational roles, including Caliber Chief Operating Officer and later President and CEO.
“Mark has been the cornerstone of Caliber since 1997 and instrumental in the organization’s growth and success over the years,” said Steve Grimshaw, Chairman of the Board. "As President and CEO, he led Caliber back from the global pandemic and successfully responded to multiple industry challenges. Mark’s leadership and commitment to Caliber made an enduring mark on the collision repair industry and every teammate he inspired to reach their full potential.”
Events
InsurTech Spring Conference - InsurTech NY - The #1 Resource for the InsurTech Community in the New York Area
Join us at 4th annual InsurTech Spring Conference focused on collaboration, held on March 29-30, 2023.
The insurance industry is inherently collaborative. Carriers, brokers, and risk managers must find ways to share data about assets, risks, and claims to preserve a stable value chain. InsurTechs introduce an entirely new form of collaboration in the industry. InsurTech distributors need risk capacity partners to exist. InsurTech enablers need carriers and brokers to shape and purchase their platforms.
This conference will bring together traditional insurers and InsurTechs to discuss what is necessary to build better collaboration across the value chain. Presentations will be divided into two tracks: (1) Property and Casualty and (2) Life and Health. Integrated in the event is the largest InsurTech competition on the East Coast. Top startups from a pool of 100+ applicants will pitch in front of investors.