Insurance-Canada.ca - Where Insurance & Technology Meet

Insurance Tech Vendors: The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — With the dramatic shifts in the business world due to the pandemic, it seems that every aspect of tech and insurance is being scrutinized. After speaking with dozens of tech companies over the last few weeks – including incumbents, InsurTechs, and companies of all… Read more »

Will Auto Telematics Get a New Lease on Life In the Wake of the Pandemic?

New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — Over the past several weeks, there have been numerous aerial photos of some of the nation’s largest highway systems – devoid of vehicles. The sight of tens of miles of interconnected ramps, junctions, and straightaways with no visible cars is startling, almost a made-for-Hollywood… Read more »

Managing Your Properties From Offsite During The Pandemic

By Curtis VanderGriendt, Director – Product Experience, Alert Labs — To help stop the spread of COVID-19, you’ve been told to stay home. You’ve been told to stay away from other people. BUT, you have employees, tenants, and customers that rely on you. How can you deliver on your commitment to keep your properties safe and… Read more »

Covid-19 is Changing Insurance Customer Behaviour

By Steven Kaukinen, CEO & Co-Founder, Awywi Insurance Services Ltd. — In the distant past I didn’t think on-line insurance buying was really going to happen. There seemed a clunkiness about it, had kind of a “fly-by-night” feeling even if it was an insurer that did (or not) have a brand attached to it. That… Read more »

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Looking Skyward For Recovery

By Andrew Jackson, Sales Manager, Blink Innovation — With headlines dominated by Covid-19, we’ve spent what feels like an eternity in an innate survival mode; focused on protecting loved ones and society’s vulnerable, we’re getting our fill of news updates and the latest government health guidelines to help flatten the curve. There’s a sense of… Read more »

How Accelerated Underwriting is Being Leveraged Across Canada

By Alysha D’Souza, Director of Content, Finaeo — In a few short weeks, the insurance industry has been overturned by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Insurers have been racing to mobilize solutions as fast as possible to minimize the disruption to business and service to their clients. On one end, this pandemic has caused customers to… Read more »

Cloud Computing is the Winner in a World Impacted by COVID-19

New SMA Blog by Karen Furtado, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — Through the countless discussions that have occurred this past two weeks with many insurers, there have been winning strategies that have shone through as insurers have been executing their business continuity plans. And there have been certain challenges on the other side. Were you… Read more »

Why Looking Through the Windshield is Needed in the New Norm

New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — Based on the title of this blog, your first reaction is likely to be – this is a blog about auto insurance or distracted driving. But it is not. It’s about lessons learned coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. And one of the lessons… Read more »

Will COVID-19 Disrupt the InsurTech Movement?

New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — If there is one thing that we have all learned with the spread of COVID-19, it is that there is virtually no industry that is immune to its impact. The global pandemic is disrupting the daily lives of individuals, the operations of businesses, the… Read more »

Will COVID-19 Be The Tipping Point for Digital Transformation?

New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — Countless articles about the implications of COVID-19 on the insurance industry are circulating in the digital universe. Many aspects of the industry will be affected, but the ultimate impact depends on the length and magnitude of the virus crisis, something that is difficult to… Read more »

Why You Need Millennial Insurance Brokers on your Team

By Curtis Killen, President, KBD Insurance — My company has had many successes, as well as several failures, since I started back in 2013. Today, I want to share with you one major success we’ve experienced: hiring and developing the skills of young, green insurance brokers. Here’s how it all started: In 2015, I became… Read more »

The Value of Leadership and Collaboration in Claims

By Stephen Applebaum and Alan Demers — Much has been written over the years about what sets great Claims organizations apart from all others but none of these outdated analyses really apply anymore. The “new world” in which insurance and claims now operates features totally different customer profiles, new and still emerging tech-enabled solutions that… Read more »

InsurTech Pairing to Accelerate Claims Automation

By Stephen Applebaum and Alan Demers — Throughout the first quarter of 2020, the InsurTech landscape has remained vibrant. Record-setting venture capital investments, weekly announcements of new insurance/InsurTech deals and lots of excitement is anticipated for all the various InsurTech conferences underway and throughout this Spring. Over the last few years, the volume of InsurTech… Read more »

InsurTech: A Decade Gone, A Decade Ahead

New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — The InsurTech movement has been underway for the better part of a decade. Now that we have entered the 2020s, it might be worth exploring what could be on the horizon for InsurTech over the next ten years. InsurTech has evolved from its origins… Read more »

Introducing R2, Nuro’s Next-Generation Self-Driving Vehicle

By Dave Ferguson, Co-Founder, Nuro — First Autonomous Vehicle to Receive USDOT Approved Exemption On Feb. 6, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) approved a regulatory exemption for R2, Nuro’s second-generation vehicle. As the first company to be granted approval for a self-driving vehicle exemption, it’s an… Read more »

2020: Winning in the Digital Revolution of Insurance

By Steve Whitelaw, Vice President – Industry & Partner Relations, Applied Systems — Technology, consumer demand, new competition, and changing market dynamics are revolutionizing the insurance industry. The increased pace of innovation and change has challenged traditional insurance practices and created a new age of insurance defined by greater connectivity and automation. Technology and innovation… Read more »

Personal Lines Workforce Modernization: What’s the Price Tag?

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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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