A quick view of the insurtech related deals in 2018 shows increasing activity with relevant transactions across all lines of business. For example, in the USA there is a strong focus on health, while in other regions such as Europe the P&C (Property and Casualty) business is getting most of the attention. In general, new value propositions keep coming to the market, while older successful ones – in terms of adoption and funding – have been adjusted and tailored to the specific needs of each business environment.
From a business management standpoint, how can all this insurtech activity be redirected to the existing organisations to drive value from it? By observing the landscape, we see three main areas of interest.
Creating a new employee benefits experience
Now, more than ever, technology has opened the doors to improve the overall employee experience. Employers can now offer improved access to new benefit providers that optimises the benefits programme costs. New platforms help employees to manage benefits easily, such as Collective Health. It can also create new benefits ecosystems integrating new solutions, including wearable devices, such as WeSavvy.
Improving awareness of the existing risks around physical assets
Technology has enabled traditional insurance to become more sophisticated and to avoid “over” and “under” insured scenarios. Telematics solutions developed by insurtechs allows business to track moving assets and link it with risk scoring. For example, Cape Analytics leverage satellite imagery to map existing assets and keep it updated through AI. Furthermore, organisations can benefit from collaborating with new tech companies that use blockchain to ensure risk coverage level in almost real-time for variable stocks.
Preventing and protecting rising assets
Even if the cyber security is not considered a specific insurtech discipline, prevention is key to manage cyber risk, and the complementary insurance coverage will play a key role in mitigating the negative impact of a data breach. Startups, such as Safebreach are offering solutions to raise awareness of cyber risk exposure by providing a “hacker’s view” of the company. Related techs, such as Prevalent Networks are also helping organisations to manage risk across the whole value chain, including third-party risk management. And, SMEs are raising their awareness to prevent non-physical assets and some platforms – including Coverwallet and Insureon – are already offering insurance plans..
So, the current context is offering more and more solutions to help organisations to manage the main risk dimensions of their business. It is worth exploring opportunities based on the specific needs of every
business model.
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