A New Year has begun, which means resolutions have been made. Some will undoubtedly be broken. That is one prediction I can stand by, as it has happened to me and countless others I'm sure.
Within the insurance industry, there are predictions made — and possibly even some resolutions based on those predictions.
Capgemini, a Paris-based business consultancy, has examined what the insurance industry will look like in 2017. Among the corporation's predictions for the year to come:
No. 1: Use of wearables and other Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices will be increasingly incentivized.
Greater use of wearables and other IoT-enabled sensors among consumers will be encouraged by insurers as they begin to incentivize IoT use to help reduce customer pricing and expedite claims servicing, among other features. In home insurance, we are already seeing insurers encourage their customers to use home sensors as it helps them to proactively mitigate risks for customers. In life and health insurance, IoT will increasingly be used to offer customers a way to stay connected and avert a crisis, such as helping ensure the safety of elderly customers who live independently, for example. Commercial insurers, who in 2016 were already utilizing real-time data from connected devices for risk management, will be increasingly analyzing the data from these new streams to identify areas of need and develop new offerings, such as usage-based insurance for shipping companies.
No. 2: New mobile and digital offerings that encourage safer, healthier customer behavior.
InsurTech firms are already transforming the insurance industry and this is set to accelerate as they providing customers with an increasing array of mobile and digital tools that help them practice safer, healthier behaviors and receive benefits based on the personal information they share. Apps that use gamification to help a patient quit smoking and reduce health insurance costs or which analyze data from a phone's accelerometer to share tips which improve driving habits are just two examples. Many of the offerings we will see introduced in the coming year will be geared towards proactive risk management so as to reduce claims incidents. As more of these value-added offerings are introduced in 2017, there will be a significant increase in the frequency of interactions between insurers and their customers. These new data streams will also allow insurers to offer more personalized loyalty and rewards programs that cater to specific customer preferences.
Two other predictions from Capgemini focused on new insurance products being introduced for the sharing economy and greater adoption of emerging technologies such as augmented reality and drones. Though these latter predictions don't quite fit with the life/health space, it's important to keep them in mind. You never know when peer-to-peer insurance or health care administered by drones. Oh wait, that already exists!
