Efma & Accenture Invite Entries for 2nd Annual Innovation in Insurance Awards

December 8, 2016

Efma and Accenture have issued a joint call for entries for the second annual Innovation in Insurance Awards, with insurance and bancassurance companies invited to submit their entries by March 8, 2017.

The Innovation in Insurance Awards are a global program designed to recognize and promote cutting-edge innovation in the insurance sector, Efma and Accenture said in a statement.

Accenture partnered with Efma, a Paris-based global association comprising more than 3,300 insurance and banking members, to launch the global awards program in 2016. The annual awards seek to recognize outstanding new services and encourage innovation across the sector, while providing a forum to share industry insights and best practices.

The first installment of the awards attracted more than 224 submissions from 148 institutions across 37 countries.

“These awards will unearth best in the world when it comes to innovation in insurance, while providing a unique platform for insurance executives to come together, learn from each other and take away new ideas to improve their business,” said Karine Coutinho, deputy general manager and head of delivery at Efma, and project leader of the Innovation in Insurance Awards initiative.

Piercarlo Gera, senior managing director, Financial Services, Accenture Distribution & Marketing, said: “As insurers continue to grapple with a challenging macroeconomic environment, changing customer behavior and wave after wave of new regulations, technology’s role as an enabler has never been more prominent. Old business models are being up-ended by nimble, new solutions, so it’s imperative that insurers constantly look for new approaches. These awards are a critical part of that process.”

The 2017 Innovation in Insurance Awards will canvass the best solutions across five categories:

  • Connected Insurance or Ecosystems: Innovations that use the internet-of-things to create new business models by effectively combining insurance with technology, ecosystem services and partners.
  • Customer Experience and Engagement: Innovations that radically enhance the way insurance players engage customers. New approaches may include seamless and personalized experiences across physical and/or digital channels, new customer management (service) models, and innovative management of customer loyalty and satisfaction.
  • Intelligent Automation: Innovations that leverage the disruptive power of artificial intelligence technologies (such as intelligent automation, robotics, machine learning etc.) to deliver sophisticated, effective business solutions.
  • Best Disruptive Product or Service: Innovations that enhance, extend or replace the traditional offering, creating new profit pools by serving new customer segments or existing segments in new ways, and entering or creating new markets typically beyond the reach of insurance players.
  • Global Innovator: The most innovative insurer. The global winner is the organization whose corporate vision commits it successfully to continuous innovation and transformation, to the development and leadership of a broad ecosystem of partners extending beyond insurance, and to the exploitation of emerging technologies that improve the experience of its customers and the performance of its business.

Efma and Accenture noted that “Global Innovator” is a special category for which the jury will select finalists based on the other four categories. Across all categories, an Innovation Committee will shortlist finalists for each award, with a jury of insurance executives and Efma members then voting for the winners.

Information on submitting an entry can be obtained via Efma’s Innovation in Insurance portal.

The winners will be announced at the Efma Insurance Summit in London on April 26, 2017.

Source: Efma and Accenture

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Topics InsurTech

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