Insurers frequently struggle to come up with cost-effective and timely solutions for challenges that they know they need to address. In many cases, an outside or third party can help provide the needed help with little to no capital or operational expenses required from the insurer. All that is really required is a shift in… Read more »
Brokers: Where Will You Take Cyber Risk?
In planning for the 2015 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference, my IT and Underwriting friends tell me that cyber risk is a hot topic. For sure, there is a fair amount of discussion in the insurance and IT trade press. However, in talking to a few organizations who are actively developing/delivering these products, I hear that there… Read more »
Survey Says: Broker/Agent-Insurer Alignment Grows, As Do Portals
A recent survey found that insurance practitioners are committing significant resources for technology to support customer service and growth. Digging a bit deeper, we see another trend: better alignment between insurers and brokers/agents. We’d be interested in your thoughts. Background Insurance-Canada.ca recently partnered with Xchanging, an international business procurement and technology service provider, to conduct… Read more »
Does the Big Data Future Start with One Step Back?
The old saying, “Data Rich, Information Poor,” seems more applicable today than when it was first coined. Paradoxically, at the same time as we are facing data avalanche, the most important tool to exploit 21st-century data might be one that has been around for more than three decades. However, this “one step backward” approach may… Read more »
Emerging Technologies and Insurance: How Do You Resource Innovation?
Do you and your staff have some extra cycles? Specifically, would you mind evaluating three, five, or maybe nine new technologies in your spare time? Just asking, because there might be a few things coming along …. We’d like your thoughts about the capability of insurance organizations to exploit new technologies. Figure 1: Emerging Technology’s Impact on Insurance – Source… Read more »
On Being Re-skinned: Welcome to The Intersection’s New Look
As you likely noticed (if you’ve come by this blog before), we’ve been re-skinned! It didn’t hurt too much, really, and we believe the updated look and feel, combined with new features, will make your experience with the Intersection more rewarding. We hope you’ll let us know. How did this all start? Back in October, 2010, we… Read more »
A New Era of Technology: Part 2 – Analytics
In my last post, I focused on the transformative power of the current generation of Mobile Technology. I will turn to the core of current technologies, and an example from the insurance industry. Big Data, along with his trusty companion, Analytics are what drives organizations to make decisions because…the numbers don’t lie. Gone are the… Read more »
Canadian Insurance Innovation: Can We Go From Inconsistencies to Opportunities?
Frankly, we have gotten a bit weary of the term ‘innovation’. It seems that every second consultant, supplier, and blogger is beating the innovation drum, while reciting a litany of benefits ranging from improved profitability to better golf scores. It is a bit like dietary fibre: we all know we need more, but do we… Read more »
A New Era of Technology: Part 1 – Mobile
As I think of the amazing transformation we have witnessed over the past couple years, I wish I could share this moment with my grandparents. They would be blown away by the simple idea of a smartphone, tablet, or PVR, the technologies we take for granted every day. Does this make us oblivious to how… Read more »
Agent Connectivity: What Gets Measured…
The old adage, “what gets measured, gets done,” was validated again during the agents’ sessions at the ACORD Implementation Forum this week. And, just as significantly, what got done is forming a platform for better things to come. Real-time is real work…. Within the U.S. property-casualty community, Agency/Company interface is an industry with a half… Read more »
Aligning Insurance and Emerging Technologies: Existential Requirement or A Step Too Far?
A recent report from SMA, “Emerging Technologies: Reshaping the Next-Gen Insurer,” has an ambitious scope, on which it delivers. Moreover, it contains a surplus of well-supported recommendations for aligning threats and opportunities driven by the technologies with changes in insurance purpose and process. The challenge we see for some insurers – especially one segment of… Read more »
Insurance 2024: A View from the Podium
Who would ever have thought that the insurance industry, which has thrived for many years with a traditional business model, would face pressure to adopt cloud, analytics, mobile and social strategies to meet the needs of its insureds? Regardless, 100 attendees at the Insurance-Canada Executive Forum: Insurance 2024 did. I believe we all came away… Read more »
Will Insurers Lead Transformation with the Internet of Things?
At the recent 2014 Insurance-Canada.ca Executive Forum, Donald Light, Director – Americas Property/Casualty Practice, Celent, gave an update on the progress of the Internet of Things and his view of the direction the IoT might give to the industry. It is a bad news/good news story that — we think — needs careful attention. Do… Read more »
Social Reform in the Insurance Industry
Social — it’s no longer a term used exclusively by millennials looking to catch up with family and friends. Customers now have the ability to tweet and connect with their most hated or most adored organizations — and these organizations have the ability to communicate back. The concept of social businesses is alive and well… Read more »
One-Stop Financial Shopping: Will We Find the Holy Grail?
In the news stories surrounding the purchase of State Farm’s Canadian operations by Desjardins General Insurance Group, I saw a phrase that took me back to my insurance roots: ‘One-Stop Financial Shopping’. Conceptually, this has strong appeal for all parties – insurers, distributors, and clients. In practice, however, results have been spotty. I’m wondering if, in… Read more »
Baby Boomers’ Impact on Personal Injury Claims
Population demographics may soon play a major role in the way personal injury claims — particularly accident benefits claims — are handled in Canada. The real question is, what can be done proactively to minimize the impact? Boomers drive on …. Canada’s baby boom is larger than that of most other G8 countries, and next… Read more »
Data Science Implementations: Keep Your Eye on the MoneyBall
Data Science is a hot topic these days. The ability to quickly turn data into actionable information using advanced analytics is seen as a major competitive advantage. However, a sense of urgency to put analytics into place may be creating some longer term consequences. We’d like your thoughts and experiences in implementing analytics. Cheaper, Faster… Read more »
Personalized Marketing: What Do We Know and When Do We Know It?
Reading between the lines of some recent reports, I am starting to think that the more we learn about personalized marketing, the less we know about how to implement it. Fortunately, there is an opportunity to pose questions to leading experts next week. I hope you can join me to ask your own questions and… Read more »
Why Wait? E-signature Technology Is Here Today
For many business sectors, going paperless is a major efficiency initiative – and insurance is no exception. So why wait? Perhaps it is tradition, or misinformation, or just momentum. Let’s look at some facts. Tangible benefits from virtual documents …. E-commerce – including electronic contracting, electronic signatures, electronic delivery of documents, and retaining electronic records in place… Read more »
Climate Change Day Musings: Lessons from The Marshalls on Insurance and Technology
On this day of Climate Change Awareness, I am proud of the leadership role that the insurance industry is playing in raising awareness of climate change impact, and supporting change adaption and remediation. If you are not aware of our industry’s activities combating the effects of climate change, take a moment to check them out… Read more »
Need Core Systems Replacement Success? Think Small!
To mitigate risk with large technology projects, experts suggest careful planning and on-going control of scope. There’s an old adage that advises: “Start small and be prepared to scope down.” Now, some data from the US and anecdotes from Canada suggest there may be one more piece of advice for success: “Be small, and be… Read more »
A Delicate Balance In Commercial Underwriting Technology
Is effective commercial lines underwriting technology an oxymoron? There are enough graveyards filled with projects that have arrived DOA to make this seem true. But hasn’t modern technology had an impact? Perhaps, but not on its own. There is increasing evidence that technology solutions need to be blended carefully with business wisdom to balance efficiency… Read more »
Can Brokers Manage the Next Wave of IT?
As we look over the topics we have covered in this space, it occurs to us that the brokers might be getting hit with more IT than they expect over the next little while. We’d like to know what you think, and, if you are part of the broker distribution value chain, what, you think… Read more »
Pragmatic Telematics: Reality Trumps Theory in Chicago
I detected a noticeable change in tone at the Insurance Telematics USA conference held in Chicago last week. In prior years, much of the discussion was prognosis and guesstimation. This year, the majority of presentations and conversations dealt with real-world issues relating to development, implementation, promotion, and utilization of telematics-based usage-based insurance (UBI). I think… Read more »
Can You Say ‘No’ to Driverless Cars?
In July, I attended the 2014 Automated Vehicles Symposium in San Francisco. Over the last three years, attendance at the event has grown significantly. This important increase in attendance mirrors the tremendous rise of interest in the subject of driverless technology as well as the rapid pace of technological advancement necessary to bring driverless vehicles… Read more »
What Influences Decisions on Digital Advertising for Insurance?
Back in my hometown of Detroit, I learned that consumer advertising decision-making by automobile manufacturers consisted of one part art, two parts science, and and some unknown parts corporate politics. I’m thinking that there may be a similar formula in place for decisions on digital advertising by insurers. I’d appreciate your thoughts on this. “Digital… Read more »
Data vs. Data Governance? Chicken & Egg Dispute Resolved!
It looks like the egg comes second in one “Which came first?” argument. At least, that’s our read on a recent report by Celent, based on a survey of insurance companies on the topic of data governance. It seems that the Data chicken precedes the Governance egg by a long stretch. Our question to you: … Read more »
Learning from Leaders: Winning Strategies for Insurers
For most of us, in our private lives, rapid change has become a given. How many of us had heard of Facebook or Myspace ten years ago? In 2008, you had to be extra cool or a geek to have a Smartphone – today you are almost seen as a Luddite if you don’t. We… Read more »
Technology as a Tool for Knowledge Worker Retention
I am a big fan of continuous, broad-based skill development for employees. A fair percent of my time as an IT manager was spent encouraging technical IT folks to learn about the business of insurance in order to provide a broader view of their jobs. I recently saw some material that suggested that an inverse… Read more »
Are Insurers Facing More Threats or Opportunities with the Internet of Things?
The view of the Internet of Things (IoT) from the present moment is overwhelming for most mortals (present company included). That said, we believe that insurance practitioners need to squint hard and try to get some things in focus. A recent research brief from SMA – Strategy Meets Action provides one lens we can use…. Read more »
CRM: Old Technology At The Eye of the Perfect New Technology Storm
Some of you have commented that we’ve been harping on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for sometime now, without a whole lot of solid reasoning. Fair comment. What we’d like to do on this almost perfect summer’s afternoon is to take a weather reporter’s view of CRM. We’ll look to the past for evidence of incorrect… Read more »
Seriously, What is ‘Technology Modernization’ – and Why Should Business Managers Care?
Since the early days of this century, strategic planning documents have referenced ‘technology modernization.’ For example, “In order for us to achieve our strategic goal of profitable, sustainable growth, we will need to include technology modernization initiatives in the plan.” Now, after a decade or so of use, we are getting some different perspectives on… Read more »
Will Insurers Help Consumers Get Ready for the Internet of Things?
We’re starting to hear real buzz around insurance and the Internet of Things (IoT). On the personal lines side, the only fly in the premium ointment might be the consumer, who may not be ready – or willing. However, insurers could have impact here by showing leadership (and perhaps improving results while grabbing a bit… Read more »
USAA and Watson: Defining the Standard for Customer Service?
Some marriages are made in heaven; others are made in Las Vegas. It’s early days yet, but I think the marriage of IBM’s Watson technology with USAA’s insurance and financial services is made in customer service wonderland. If implemented correctly (and I will tell you what I think about that), this could be the standard… Read more »
The Road to Digital is Paved … Sort of
We are hearing lots of enthusiasm for digital innovation by senior executives in insurance companies. And for good reasons. However, there may be some historical baggage that needs to be handled and some organizational issues that need to be addressed before progressing in the brave, new digital world. What do you think? The digital chain… Read more »
Project Review – Think of it as an ‘Annual Physical’
In this post we look at the value that an external Project Review brings to a project. A project review is typically undertaken for two reasons: A project is challenged in some way and a review is needed to identify the problems and recommend solutions to resolve the problems. A project is not challenged in… Read more »
Is Communications a Lecture or a Conversation?
Over the years, I’ve learned – sometimes the hard way – a deep respect for communication professionals in all aspects of business. I recently came across a report from the Project Management Institute (PMI) which quantifies the impact of communications on project effectiveness. This is important reinforcement for the role of communications. However, after looking… Read more »
Targeting Niche Insurance Products
Most discussions about marketing personal lines of insurance typically revolve around property and auto offerings. But how can insurers target niche products like boat, ATV, ski-doo, RV and pet insurance? It’s a dog’s life …. Raise these niche products in some boardrooms and you might get a smirk or an exasperated eye roll. Some executives… Read more »
Is Insurance CRM Dead, or Does It Just Smell Funny?
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has had a chequered history in the insurance industry. There is significant potential value, but precious little that has been realized. The question is, can this change? Here’s my experience … The second IT project I worked on in the insurance industry was developing and deploying a CRM solution for multi-line… Read more »
Gamification: The Key to Transforming Lifeless Insurance Documents
The evolution of the Internet and the rise of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have placed information in the palms of our hands in unprecedented ways. These technological advances have brought with them an important shift in expectations. The shift is this: People today expect to be able to immediately interact with information… Read more »
Analytics In P&C Insurance: Is a Good Start Good Enough?
A new report from two senior analysts at SMA suggest that P&C insurers have made a good start down the analytics road. The question is: will this be good enough to remain competitive given the pace of adoption by present and potential competitors? A second report, focusing on the broader Financial Services community, puts perspective… Read more »
Mid-Year Update on 2014 Trends
Before we head off for a good long weekend, we thought we’d celebrate the 2014 mid-point by reflecting on the trends we discerned at the beginning of the year. It looks like we caught a wave or two, and are still waiting when it comes to some others. We’d like your experience: how have your… Read more »
7 Principles For a New Construct in Broker Connectivity
We’ve been encouraged by the responses to our suggestion that it may be time for a new construct for broker-carrier connectivity. There are two questions that you keep raising: First, Does this mean that all the work to date has been useless? Second, How can we be sure that this will meet the needs of… Read more »
What’s a Nice Insurer Like You Doing with a Sensor Like That?
American Family Insurance and Microsoft Corp. recently announced the establishment of a business accelerator which will focus on home automation. According to the release, “the accelerator will help the next generation of startups create advancements that can help lead to safer and smarter homes.” We also think that this will help American Family get a… Read more »
Do We Need Different Constructs for Broker/Carrier Connectivity?
For the past 47 years, independent P&C insurance distributors, insurance carriers, and suppliers to the community have invested large quantities of time, energy, money, and credibility in seeking to rationalize insurance data transfer between brokers and carriers (now commonly referred to as ‘broker connectivity’). We believe consensus exists on two points: There continues to be… Read more »
Modernization: An Option to Replacement for Insurers
In the last article, we discussed Application Modernization and the steps that should be taken to ensure a successful Modernization project. In this article, we will discuss which systems are viable candidates for Modernization and the reasoning behind it. Regardless of company or industry, when considering application portfolios for modernization, only systems that hold valuable… Read more »
Some (Conditionally) Encouraging News for Brokers
Two recent reports are suggesting that the independent broker channel may have positive prospects, if (big ‘if’) its members can embrace rapidly emerging trends in business and technology. We’d like your thoughts on this possibility. The channel needs to change as fast as the consumer … A recent Swiss Re Sigma report, “Digital Distribution in… Read more »
Could Ontario Election Outcome Refocus Auto Insurers on Technology to Reduce Inflated Rates?
The June 12 election in Ontario was triggered by the New Democrats’ refusal to support their Liberal government coalition partner’s 2014 budget – in part, they claim, because of its failure to reduce auto insurance rates as promised. This plan is likely to backfire on the New Democrats and return everyone’s focus to the real… Read more »
What’s the Lifespan of Insuring Telematically?
Ten Years. Ten years could be the life span of telematics-enabled, usage-based insurance (UBI), and maybe auto insurance itself, according to one expert on autonomous vehicles, speaking at the Insurance Telematics Canada 2014 conference in Toronto yesterday. Several members of the audience were vocally skeptical, but the Oracle of Omaha was quoted, adding some credibility. … Read more »
CRM 2.0: Back to the Future ‘Market of One’
At a point in the somewhat distant past – a bit after the industrial revolution, but before Al Gore created the internet – the concept of a ‘market of one’ became fashionable. It was a brave concept, but it became mired in the first implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Both CRM and the ‘market… Read more »
