Daniele Presutti, Accenture’s Insurance coverage lead in Europe, and Silvia Milián, Accenture’s Insurance coverage lead for technique and consulting in Iberia talk about how the submissions to 2021’s Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance coverage Awards demonstrated the extent that the insurance coverage trade has been growing pioneering improvements. There shall be extra to return this yr, because the 2022 awards are actually open. Corporations can submit their entries online till April 8, 2022, with winners introduced in June 2022.
The insurance coverage trade reached new heights of innovation in 2021 because it continued to pivote shortly to reply to the continuing calls for of the pandemic, and amid evolving buyer expectations. Final yr’s Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance coverage Awards obtained 460 submissions, from 289 establishments, throughout 55 international locations – a rise of 30% over 2020. The award entries present a various and distinctive international view of the trade and its actually pioneering improvements. Each entry was reviewed and distilled into six overarching developments that spotlight the trade’s fast transformation, showcase its adaptability and establish future alternatives. Some examples of submissions in these six areas comply with right here.
Buyer Expertise
Virtually each insurer that made a submission within the final yr’s reimagined their buyer expertise. Clients now demand the identical “wherever/in all places” service from their insurer, as they do from their favourite on-line retailer. Personalized, significant and omni-channel experiences are actually due to this fact anticipated as commonplace, and the insurance coverage trade has needed to reimagine how prospects view and purchase insurance coverage to stay related and compete in at present’s ever-changing world.
For instance, AXA Italy submitted an entry a couple of central data resolution it has created to profit its prospects, workforce, and its distribution community, guaranteeing communications are constant and accessible to all – corresponding to for insurance policies and working procedures. This “digital library” powers the general buyer expertise and in addition offers the bottom for its synthetic intelligence (AI) pushed content material resolution that updates its on-line FAQs and chatbots.
Pervasive AI
Synthetic intelligence is intrinsically linked to the earlier development because the enabler of buyer expertise, and it’s reshaping how insurers function and interact with their prospects. AI has been utilized in some type throughout the trade for some time, however what we’re seeing now’s transformative scale throughout the worth chain.
For instance, Generali World Company and Business has partnered with Ticinum Aerospace to develop “Deep Property,” a device that makes use of geospatial datasets and AI to reinforce underwriting, pricing, and danger modeling. This ends in extra correct insurance coverage safety for its prospects.
Embedded Ecosystems
Ecosystems proceed to be a key tenet of transformation in insurance coverage. In different phrases, by mixing insurance coverage with broader propositions and distribution fashions, insurers can present new worth and attain new prospects. This isn’t a brand new development– however it has developed and intensified previously yr. Accenture’s Technology Vision for Insurance 2021 analysis discovered that almost all of insurance coverage executives (84%) contemplate ecosystems an essential technique whereas 54% are actively searching for these capabilities.
For instance, Baloise has partnered with Swiss digital property platform Houzy, to reinvent its ecosystem of dwelling providers for its prospects. This permits owners entry to 1 platform that gives a variety of dwelling associated providers, from property valuation to discovering a builder, plumber or electrician. That is creating new, related buyer touchpoints for Baloise and enabling the corporate to attach with prospects exterior the common renewal/declare lifecycle.
Phygital Well being and Wellness
There was a major enhance in end-to-end well being and wellness options within the insurance coverage sector. The brand new digitally enabled world, accelerated by the pandemic, has allowed insurers to develop their suite of providers to prospects. Accenture’s Know-how Imaginative and prescient for Insurance coverage analysis has discovered that millennials are most all for digital choices that assist them make safer, more healthy and extra sustainable decisions. Older generations are additionally extra open to sharing knowledge in return for extra personalised providers to maintain them match and wholesome, forestall illnesses, damage and loss – a rise of 24% in simply two years.
For instance, “Savia,” MAPFRE Spain’s digital well being service, is supported by its Digital Platform. Savia prospects can use an AI symptom checker, chat with a specialist, acquire a digital prescription, make healthcare appointments and entry medical assessments and outcomes. MAPFRE’s Digital Platform connects Savia prospects to a variety of merchandise, providers and companions, primarily based on the person prospects’ wants.
Workforce Transformation
The most important insurance coverage workforce transformation in residing reminiscence was seen over the previous two years as insurers pivoted to remain operational and maintain workers secure through the pandemic. New and collaborative processes had been required – and the know-how to match. Accenture’s Know-how Imaginative and prescient for Insurance coverage analysis reported that nearly half (43%) of insurance coverage executives have invested in digital collaboration instruments, and 48% say they’ve invested in cloud-enabled instruments and applied sciences to assist their distant workforce throughout COVID-19. Whereas many international locations are actually in a state of financial restoration, new methods of working are right here to remain.
For instance, India’s Bajaj Allianz Common Insurance coverage created an AI-powered studying expertise platform referred to as SkillSity, offering personalised and self-directed studying for its workers wherever and anytime. This gives over 190,000 studying property and was designed to assist its workers construct new expertise and capabilities while capturing and decoding knowledge insights round workers’ studying behaviors for steady enchancment.
Insurance coverage Goes Inexperienced
Sustainability is undoubtedly a standout development for insurers with a give attention to sustainable merchandise and investments in addition to sustainable operations. Going inexperienced is now not a nice-to-have. Goal-driven insurers are beginning to incorporate sustainability practices into their worth propositions in a approach that’s built-in and genuine. In the long run, sustainability is the beginning of a brand new mission for insurers to show a broader, greener objective and assist make a distinction to our world and its communities.
For instance, as a way to provide insurance coverage cowl for second-hand cell gadgets, BNP Paribas Cardif created an app that analyzes a smartphone’s situation previous to the coverage buy. Smarty+ helps to increase the lifecycle of those gadgets, giving peace of thoughts to their eco-friendly new house owners and thus having an general optimistic influence on the surroundings.
To conclude, the spirit of innovation was clear in 2021’s awards and it’s now not the realm of a handful of insurers. These carriers are main change, and never only for the sector. They’re bringing in new worth to prospects and the broader ecosystem. As these developments present, the way forward for the insurance coverage trade is one outlined by optimistic and excessive influence change. Extra innovation to rework the trade can anticipated within the upcoming seventh annual Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance coverage Awards 2022.
