New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — For me, one of the happiest, most inspiring headlines I’ve seen in recent months read as follows: “Nationwide announces five-year, $160M Future of Work investment.” Finally, an insurer was putting a stake in the ground, announcing a major commitment to address a looming and… Read more »
How does a modern brokerage find its course in the InsurTech world?
By Natasha Purnell, Chief Culture Officer, Park Insurance — The way traditional, independently owned and operated insurance brokerages conduct business is changing. Brokerages are caught in between two worlds – the “old world” and the “new world.” The old world is where clients require face-to-face interaction with their broker, want their policy printed, and appreciate… Read more »
The Rise of a New DWI (Driving While Interacting)?
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — At CES2020 and the related Consumer Telematics Show (CTS) in Las Vegas, the vision of the fully connected car with a range of in-car digital services was very prominent. Significant progress has been made in implementing devices, apps, and new digital capabilities for the… Read more »
AI in Insurance: Overhyped or Underestimated?
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — Technologies in the artificial intelligence family have great potential in insurance, according to a recent SMA survey of P&C insurance executives.* This should come as no surprise to anyone following the developments in machine learning, natural language processing, computer visioning, chatbots, virtual assistants, and… Read more »
CES2020: Big Themes Relevant for P&C Insurance
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (CES) is where the latest TVs, smartphones, and a plethora of smart gadgets of every imaginable kind are introduced and on display. This year the press is breathlessly reporting on the latest in tech that relates… Read more »
What Human Work Can Machines Perform?
Insurance practitioners are always developing new methods to improve communications and expand data applications. Some are on the edge of 100% digital communication and applications (completely paperless). Interested? Read on. Lloyd’s helped rationalize – and operationalize – the business of insurance Some of the most important insurance application forms were born in the 17th century… Read more »
How much will a distracted driving conviction increase your auto insurance?
By Lisa Coxon, LowestRates.ca — A driver distracted by their cell phone is four times more likely to crash than one who’s not, according to Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation. In some parts of Canada, in fact, distracted driving is beginning to be even more deadly than impaired driving. Meanwhile, more than 50% of Canadians admit… Read more »
How to Protect Your New Holiday Presents With Contents Insurance
By Jason MacDonald, Foxquilt — Whether or not you wanted them to, family and friends often use the holiday season as a way to express their care for you with gifts and presents! And although it’s really the thought that counts when it comes to gifts, sometimes you may receive an expensive and special item… Read more »
The Digital Age of Insurance: 5 Business Values of Digital Brokerages
By Jeff Purdy, Senior Vice President, International Operations, Applied Systems — For years, we’ve been talking about the digital age of insurance. Well now that it’s here, what opportunities have been delivered to brokers adopting digital technology? As we consider the opportunities offered by the digital age of insurance, it helps to first define what… Read more »
Holiday Safety and Home Insurance Tips
By Jason MacDonald, Foxquilt — Fall and winter may mean cold and frosty weather in Ontario and across most of Canada, but these months also mark some of the biggest holidays of the year, including Christmas/Hanukkah and New Year’s Eve. Throughout the season, there’s holiday cheer, fun and parties but with that comes an increase… Read more »
A Year-End Look Back On 2019
This was a very busy year, chock full of new developments in insurance. As the Intersection blog begins to wind down for the holiday season, we are taking stock of 2019 with the added clarity of hindsight and thinking back over some of the major topics we have touched on, including … Climate Change Especially… Read more »
A New Bet on The Insurance Technology Leaders of the Future
New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — In five years, the premier insurance technology providers will be Aon, Marsh, Munich Re, Allianz, and Swiss Re. This is a fairly radical statement to make, but it is not made without evidence and support. The following five announcements led me to this conclusion:… Read more »
Climate Change and Impacts on Insurance
I must confess that the topic of climate change had not been a central focus of my earlier insurance & technology blogs. I know that there are changes occurring on the earth and in the atmosphere, and that these changes have the capacity to disrupt human activities and natural cycles alike. But I always assumed… Read more »
Claims – Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place – No More!
New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — According to Grammarist.com, the phrase “caught between a rock and a hard place” came about in the early 1900s in Bisbee, Arizona, where miners who were seeking better working conditions pushed the mine owners for improvements. The owners were totally against making any changes… Read more »
A/B Testing in Digital Marketing – What it is & why you need to (Part 2): A/B Testing Offsite Campaigns
A/B Testing your offsite campaigns— By Ian Jeffrey, Co-Founder and CEO, Breathe Life — In part one, A/B Testing For Your Website, I set out to explain the basics of A/B testing and ideas for testing elements of your website that are most likely to impact conversion. If A/B testing is a new concept to… Read more »
What’s New in the Fight Against Insurance Fraud?
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — Insurance fraud has been around since – well – the beginning of insurance. The ancient Greeks created a form of maritime insurance to indemnify against potential losses incurred with the sinking of a commercial ship in transit. It became a common scheme for the… Read more »
A/B Testing in Digital Marketing – What it is & why you need to (Part 1): A/B Testing For Your Website
A/B Testing for your website — By Ian Jeffrey, Co-Founder and CEO, Breathe Life — “Always Be testing.” It’s good advice, but not what A/B testing stands for. The A and B in A/B testing refer to two different versions of something that can be compared to figure out which performs better. A/B testing is… Read more »
Continuous Survival in the Marshall Islands
Last December, we took a look at the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a small country in the equatorial Pacific roughly halfway between the Philippines and Hawaii, positioned just west of the International Date Line – and on the ‘front line’ of climate change. While there are lots of significant differences between an urban metropolis… Read more »
Why the Internet of Things should be on insurers’ radars
Aon’s latest Global Insurance Market Opportunities release — By Emma Karhan, Kelly Superczynski, and Matt Wyckhouse — The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to pioneer new ways for businesses to create value and organizations of all types are already benefiting from the new functionality and efficiency gains. However, the constant connectivity and data sharing through… Read more »
How Messagepoint Harnessed AI-powered Content Intelligence to Improve Customer Communications Management
By Pam Mugford, CMO, Messagepoint — The Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) are in the news every day on how these technologies are changing business as we know it. The impact of these technologies is predicted to have a seismic impact in a number of ways for insurers, not the least… Read more »
InsurTech: The Driver
We have been seeing increased interest in and utilization of “InsurTech” – a large set of development programs and implementation methods to increase quality and quantity, streamline processes, enhance value, or otherwise improve on the business of insurance. All told, InsurTech is driving new methods to improve insurers’ and brokers’ technologies and to utilize new,… Read more »
Driving Is Not Just Moving Anymore
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) has utility across myriad programs and products, it seems that automotive AI has the largest set of immediate applications in the works. To be fair to other application developers, automotive technologies have built tools and applied integrated programs to assist human drivers. That said, it seems clear that AI will be… Read more »
Four pillars for intelligent AI adoption that are transforming the insurance industry
By Karthik Ramakrishnan, Head of Advisory and AI Enablement, Element AI — Traditionally, the world of insurance is manual and process-heavy, forcing insurance executives to seek the best solutions for improving tedious workflows, with a priority on better decision making. The challenges are significant: even today’s best-in-class software lacks the power to optimize the huge… Read more »
Has a “New” Theme Emerged at InsureTech Connect 2019?
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — After three intense and exhausting days at ITC2019, I’m a little conflicted. It was quite exciting. And there are many fascinating companies and ideas that are truly transforming our industry. But then King Solomon’s words (from the Bible) come to mind – “There is… Read more »
Bridging The Insurer Talent Gap: Aon’s Global Insurance Market Opportunities report
By Dan Weber, Director of Market Trends and Industry Convergence, Human Capital Solutions, Radford — Digital transformation. Industrial Revolution 4.0. We are a tech company. These are all words and trends that fill the airwaves, the newsprint and websites across the world, as futurists speak of new paradigms and businesses talk about “digitalization” and connecting… Read more »
Climate Change for Insurance in Canada
Back in the day, a wise but somewhat gritty insurance manager liked to hear it when new junior professionals asked: “What do we do in the insurance office?” “It’s quite simple,” the manager responded. “One: money comes in to you. Two: money goes out from you. If One is larger than Two, you’re in. If… Read more »
How Brokers Can Optimize Their LinkedIn Presence To Increase Sales
By David Dyck, Editor-in-Chief, Apollo Exchange — LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools in an insurance broker’s toolbox. Done right, it can be your most powerful asset when it comes to driving leads and making connections. You might be wondering why LinkedIn and not some other social media platform? Consider the following stats: Number of… Read more »
Artificial Intelligence Adoption: Wonderful, or Wonder Why?
Since the beginning of commercial insurance technology – roughly in the 1950s from my perspective – there have been long-view opportunists who seek intelligent technologies. These would imitate humans’ cognitive functions and, perhaps, would eventually allow people to focus more on high-level thinking, paired with cold beverages and palm fronds. While we are much closer… Read more »
We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, Dorothy
Back in the mid-1970s, I accepted a job at the Red Cross as a disaster manager, which included planning, executing, responding, and mitigating results to help people recover after natural catastrophes. Each event had its own nuances, and most recoveries involved specific responses, some smaller, some larger. I moved away to other jobs, but as… Read more »
The Homeowners Insurance Quoting Process: Is It Improving?
New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — One of the big areas of focus across the insurance industry, in general, has been to streamline the application/quoting process. Whether it’s agents who are submitting applications for their customers or individuals and business owners filling out their own applications, there is a clear… Read more »
What’s the Best Approach to the Small Commercial Market?
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — The small commercial insurance market is hot – there’s no doubt it. In fact, the entire small business environment is quite active, with around 11 million businesses that employ less than 20 people, according to the US census bureau, and another 6 million with… Read more »
Insurance in the Platform Economy
According to Doug Grant, partner at Insurance-Canada.ca, Inc., many of the folks who heard about Amazon in 1994 really thought that Jeff Bezos was chasing shadows. However, the Internet demonstrated that ‘virtual’ efforts could not only deliver ‘real’ things, they could do so in shorter time frames and with lower costs. So, when executives engaged… Read more »
Product Proliferation: Don’t Let the Trends Pull You In
New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — Our digital world has changed many things in a blink of an eye, it seems. I don’t need to remind you. There are tens upon tens of blogs that remind us of all the ways digital has – or sometimes has not – changed… Read more »
Earth, the Moon, Insurance, and Beyond
In 1962, US President John F. Kennedy made a speech which committed that the United States would land a person on the moon within 10 years. Immediately, two camps were formed. The first group was excited, confident, and committed (ranging from skilled scientists to cheerleaders). The second group was also committed: “There is no problem;… Read more »
The Future of Insurance in an On-Demand World
By Denise Garth, SVP – Strategic Marketing, Majesco — Last week Manish Shah and I attended SVIA’s Digital Insurance Leadership Series: On-Demand Insurance in Palo Alto, California. Attending with us were a number of industry leaders who are instrumental in the planning, experimentation and scaling of this new type of insurance. What is on-demand insurance?… Read more »
‘Gradually, Then Suddenly’: Insurers Must Prepare for Exponential Doubling of Computing Capacity
In claims, and across the entire insurance enterprise, the pace of technology-driven change is accelerating — By Stephen Applebaum, Insurance Solutions Group — The phrase “gradually, then suddenly,” is spoken in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, by character Mike Campbell when asked how he went bankrupt. “Two ways,” he answers. “Gradually, then suddenly.”… Read more »
InsurTech, Climate Change, and a Tight Rope
While there are exceptions, the insurance industry is (still) not well known for using new technologies. This was true in the past, but insurance leaders are bringing together various organizations which provide different views of internal and external alterations and improvements. The result can demonstrate not only the value for clients, but radically improved products… Read more »
InsurTech in 2025: Will it Fade or Dominate?
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — Say what you will about the InsurTech movement; it still seems to be chugging along quite nicely. InsurTech has had its ebbs and flows since emerging out of the FinTech movement in the 2012/2013 timeframe. And at various points, pundits have been eager to… Read more »
Driving Value from AI in Insurance: Delivering Success with Sun Life and Scotiabank
By Ira Sopic, Project Director, Insurance Nexus — Much discussed, yet often misunderstood, it’s clear that Artificial Intelligence is set to dominate the global Insurance sector for the foreseeable future – and Canada is no different. Despite being a somewhat nascent discipline within insurance, progress in silicon centres across the nation mean carriers recognize the… Read more »
A Midsummer Day’s InsurTech
August is a great time to find a body of water, some nice sand, and a tree under which to focus exclusively the future of insurance and technology. Well, maybe the brain takes on some other thoughts, but I do try to focus. The fact is that there have been so many changes to insurance… Read more »
The Reinsurers Are Coming – And It Might Not Be How You Expected
New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — It is always exciting to see industry results – particularly those that rank insurers by premium size. It is probably the competitive nature that lies within most of us that gets a bit of a thrill out of seeing which insurer is gaining position… Read more »
Dispelling the Myth that Robo-Advisors Are The Way of the Future
By Alysha D’Souza, Director of Content, Finaeo — We’ve seen these headlines countless times: Robo-advice is the way of the future or Financial institution introduces direct-to-consumer technology. Many industry experts believe that robo-advisors are on track to replace the traditional roles and responsibilities of human advisory services. As far-fetched as this sounds, it’s hard to… Read more »
The Co-operators and Sun Life on The Transformational Impact of AI on Canadian Insurance
By Ira Sopic, Project Director, Insurance Nexus — From day-to-day operations to the very relationship between insurers and policyholders, it is no exaggeration to say that Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents the biggest potential for transformation that insurance has witnessed since the invention of the computer, even changing the very nature of the insurer-customer relationship. Insurance… Read more »
The Future of Insurance is Distribution
In the business of insurance, channel distributions are high on the list of the most critical insurance functions. Channels are the delivery mechanisms, which consolidate functions, requirements, communications, and delivery correctly and completely. These are critical factors, some of which are expanding. Until recently, the majority of these decisions rested on longstanding methods and systems… Read more »
How To Prospect Commercial Accounts Online (In 2020)
By Dane Gorton — Like it or not, the smartphone in your hand is changing how we do business … and you’re right, insurance is not immune. You might not feel the pressure yet, but momentum is growing … fast. But here’s the question on your mind: How will it affect commercial insurance producers? Every… Read more »
Are Personal Lines Insurers Investing in Foundational Technologies?
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — The personal lines segment of the insurance industry is quite active today, with many initiatives and projects underway across the value chain. For many, the objective goes beyond incremental improvements to positioning the company for fundamental transformation. The many projects planned or in progress… Read more »
War, Refugees, and Technologies
Ever since I started working in the technology insurance industry, I occasionally look back on the technologies and the people who are the providers. In the beginning, there were different tools and computing devices, which held back standards. However, previous results were brought together, removing problems and allowing better linkages. Now, we find the industry… Read more »
Could An Insurance Company Become The Next Sears?
By Stephen Applebaum, Insurance Solutions Group — The thought of a major insurance company – and its brand – disappearing from the market seems impossible to comprehend and more like the stuff of an attention-grabbing headline. But that’s probably what everyone once thought about Atari, Commodore, Kodak, Nokia, Xerox, Polaroid, Blockbuster, The Sharper Image, Enron,… Read more »
Climate Change: Touching a Wide Horizon
Individuals, commercial entities, governments, and insurance organizations have lately been taking climate change more seriously. The insurance community’s interest in this issue goes back quite a way, but with climate change getting a lot of press these days, parties at all levels – from concerned citizens to mega-corporations – are focusing on new methods to… Read more »
Insurance 2030: Preparing for Fundamental Change
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — There is little doubt that the P&C insurance industry is transforming. The so-called disruption touted by InsurTechs and others has not hit full force, but there is a coming tsunami of change that will be driven by outside forces. Technologies such as AI/machine learning… Read more »
