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2013: Analytics, a Soupçon of Engagement, and Disruption

Back in the early hours of 2013, we took our crystal ball out and came up with some trends we saw forming on the insurance-technology horizon.  Here’s a synopsis of what we thought then and what we know now.

Megatrend: Purposive Analytics

We saw the strategic and operational use of analytics as an overarching trend for the year.  We quoted the senior Marsh US manager, David Bidmead:  “There is a consistent request from our clients to help them make more informed decision.”

On this basis we made some specific projections, and were somewhat correct:

  1. Insurers would implement “sophisticated analytic tools to track engagement programs against performance indicators”.  While it is fair to say this is not yet the norm for all, it is certainly a goal for most insurers.  This was in evidence at our Insurance 2023 Forum in October.
  2. Operational analytics for front line workers.  While we didn’t find too much evidence of deployment, we certainly saw plans for it in the use of tools like SalesForce.com (see our notes on the Dreamforce event).
  3. We saw analytics and telematics coming together in 2013, and setting some standards for how  telematics and usage-based insurance would coalesce.  Turns out that the Insurance Broker Association of Ontario (IBAO) conference became the venue for this coming-together, with the announcements by various insurers and the launch by the IBAO of its own telematics scheme.

Technology Disrupting Insurance

We took a little bit of a flyer, and suggested that in 2013, technology itself would start to disrupt insurance assumptions and models.  We cited the example of the driverless car impacting standard automobile underwriting.

As we recently posted, it looks like we had some good support for this and also saw other examples, such as cyber insurance,  where technology is playing a lead, rather than a support role.

That’s how we saw 2013, How about you?

All told, we think we hit some of the major targets, so we think we get a passing grade.  We als think that 2013 is going to be seen as a pivotal year in some respects.  We’ll post on that early in 2014.

Meanwhile, we have two requests:

  1. Let us know how you saw 2013.  Was it innovative, disruptive, or the same old same-old?
  2. Please have a restful, safe holiday season.

Thanks for all your support in 2013.  Post at you next year.