Just a few comments:
1. There is no legal, insurance regulated entity called “InsurTech”
2. There are startup insurance firms and incumbent insurance firms. Both of these types of insurance firms remain insurance firms, and ONLY insurance firms, regardless of what technology or technologies they use to get-and-keep customers
3. Insurers have been using technology for many, many, many decades.
4. This cancerous concept is a sop to (mostly) young people working for insurance firms who so desperately want to believe they are working for a technology firm – News Flash – they are working for an insurance firm
5. Absolutely nothing is being ‘disrupted’ – the league tables of rankings by insurance line of business has not changed because of the market entry of the technology-dependent startup insurance firms; the customer and competitive dynamics of the insurance business hasn’t changed an iota
6. “The King has no clothes” … the application of technology to the insurance industry hasn’t and doesn’t disrupt a rat’s fart!
The conferences may be a way to cash in on a trend, but there is substance to insurtech. Dismiss it as a buzzword, argue if it’s disruptive, revolutionary, or just part of ordinary business, but new technology is improving workflows and outcomes for insurance agents, carriers, and customers.
Thanks to this “cancerous concept” I now have access to all my policy information in an app, my private flood carrier quoted my policy online in less than a minute, and there is a new personal lines carrier who can make a claim payment via ACH seconds after receiving the claim. Perhaps there are those who pine for the days of paper applications, looking up underwriting rates in manuals thicker than phone books, and waiting weeks for a claim check to arrive in the mail.
The large insurance companies are either purchasing or investing in many of these startups. For me, the more capital that’s put to improving insurance technology should be seen as a win.
Just a few comments:
1. There is no legal, insurance regulated entity called “InsurTech”
2. There are startup insurance firms and incumbent insurance firms. Both of these types of insurance firms remain insurance firms, and ONLY insurance firms, regardless of what technology or technologies they use to get-and-keep customers
3. Insurers have been using technology for many, many, many decades.
4. This cancerous concept is a sop to (mostly) young people working for insurance firms who so desperately want to believe they are working for a technology firm – News Flash – they are working for an insurance firm
5. Absolutely nothing is being ‘disrupted’ – the league tables of rankings by insurance line of business has not changed because of the market entry of the technology-dependent startup insurance firms; the customer and competitive dynamics of the insurance business hasn’t changed an iota
6. “The King has no clothes” … the application of technology to the insurance industry hasn’t and doesn’t disrupt a rat’s fart!
Thanks, Barry.
We met several years when I was a VP at Agency Special Product Network that was led by Jerry Tegan.
I keep seeing this name appear, but nothing ever seems to happen. chuckle
I chuckle because I view tech stuff positively and remember the IBS joint venture with the Big I called IVANS.
Good to hear your voice.
The conferences may be a way to cash in on a trend, but there is substance to insurtech. Dismiss it as a buzzword, argue if it’s disruptive, revolutionary, or just part of ordinary business, but new technology is improving workflows and outcomes for insurance agents, carriers, and customers.
Thanks to this “cancerous concept” I now have access to all my policy information in an app, my private flood carrier quoted my policy online in less than a minute, and there is a new personal lines carrier who can make a claim payment via ACH seconds after receiving the claim. Perhaps there are those who pine for the days of paper applications, looking up underwriting rates in manuals thicker than phone books, and waiting weeks for a claim check to arrive in the mail.
The large insurance companies are either purchasing or investing in many of these startups. For me, the more capital that’s put to improving insurance technology should be seen as a win.