New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been in almost every technology-based headline over the past 24 months. If an incumbent technology provider or a newly emerging InsurTech organization wants to grab attention – well, just insert AI in the first few lines of the description. Or,… Read more »
P&C Insurers Shift Course as the Pandemic Continues
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — When will the COVID-19 pandemic end? Will it end? P&C insurers, like all other business sectors, are faced with a time of unprecedented uncertainty. There are always multiple external factors to consider when developing strategies and adjusting ongoing plans. Now, layer into the traditional… Read more »
Property Insurance Claims Innovation: Its Time Has Come
By Stephen Applebaum and Vincent Romans — The Personal and Commercial Property claims process has traditionally lagged well behind other segments of P&C insurance in the adoption of technology and innovation. That officially ended in 2020, ironically aided in part by the effects of a global pandemic that changed virtually everything about life and business… Read more »
Claims 2021 Planning: Are You Placing the Right Bets?
New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — It’s planning season – at least in most insurance companies. It is time to take out the 2020 budget and see where line items need to move for next year. Did the claims organization meet objectives? If not, what adjustments need to be made… Read more »
Keeping Up With Innovation
By Dan Gordon, CTO, Sønr — If you want to stay on top of technological innovation in insurance, you need to consider far more than just insurance startups. You need to be looking at all technology that can impact the sector. Tech and Deep Tech have the potential to refashion the industry, so to stay… Read more »
Reflections on InsurTech and the Pandemic
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — Much has already been written about the implications of the pandemic, the related economic activity, and how they will affect the InsurTech movement. As usual, there are a wide range of opinions. Will InsurTech be one of the casualties of COVID-19? Or will the… Read more »
The Digital Future of Insurance: Three Ways to Become Paperless
By Steve Whitelaw, Vice President – Industry & Partner Relations, Applied Systems — As we think over the last few months, businesses in every industry have been facing new and unprecedented challenges. Independent brokerages have had to evaluate and launch new plans to get staff working from home, connect with insurer partners to access critical… Read more »
IBM’s Roadmap For Scaling Quantum Technology
By Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum — Yorktown Heights, NY (Sept. 15, 2020) – Back in 1969, humans overcame unprecedented technological hurdles to make history: we put two of our own on the Moon and returned them safely. Today’s computers are capable, but assuredly earthbound when it comes to accurately capturing… Read more »
Transformational Technologies in P&C During the COVID Era
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — Technologies like machine learning, the IoT, RPA, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) were hot topics in P&C insurance before the world was turned upside down in 2020 due to the pandemic. These and many other “transformational” technologies have great potential for insurers in the… Read more »
The Difference Between Audience and Prospect
By Kevin Butler, VP – Marketing & Strategy, Goose Digital — I’m often asked what the difference is between “audience” and “prospect.” While my answer might sound like I’m splitting hairs, the distinction between the two is critical. In my mind, the difference defines engagement, department ownership, and the primary methods by which each should… Read more »
New Digital Communications in Insurance: Options for Prospects, Producers, and Policyholders
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — The options for digital communications keep expanding. Insurers’ mobile interactions with prospects, producers, and policyholders have become common, while methods like e-mail, web portals, and even fax are extensively used. Now there is a whole new world of messaging platforms, chatbots, business texting, voice… Read more »
Five uses of AI in commercial underwriting
By Charles Dugas, Insurance AI Lead, Element AI — Underwriting is all about data. Since its inception, people in the insurance profession have been evaluating data on risk, value, and other factors in order to make their decisions. Today’s underwriters have more variables to contend with, more submissions, more competition, and more data of all… Read more »
What Would Your Underwriters Say?
New SMA guest blog by Megan Bock Zarnoch, Founder, Boundless Consulting Group — Boston, MA (Aug. 31, 2020) – You believe your culture is pretty darn good, and your systems, while not perfect, are improving … but what would your underwriters say? Underwriting professionals are acknowledged to be the company’s most valuable assets, which you… Read more »
Insurance Technology, Investment & Innovation under COVID-19: A Tale of Two Realities
By Stephen Applebaum, Insurance Solutions Group — This is a companion article to “Working-from-Home: Infecting People and Organizations in Insurance,” published on Aug. 17. As if our lives and the world in which we find ourselves aren’t confusing enough, for those of us working in the insurance industry ecosystem there are also less obvious threats… Read more »
Cooking Up Change: A Recipe for Underwriting Transformation
New SMA Blog by Deb Smallwood & Megan Bock Zarnoch, Strategy Meets Action — The world is changing fast. And commercial insurance fills an increasingly important need in our world by creating predictability out of uncertainty and helping businesses of all sizes navigate this turbulent time. This insurance model enables businesses to continue to participate… Read more »
Work-From-Home: Infecting People and Organizations in Insurance
By Stephen Applebaum, Insurance Solutions Group — The world is entering month eight of the pandemic and the complete disruption of the personal and business lives of virtually every one of us. While the timing and response to COVID-19 may have varied by country, region and city, nobody is unaffected. And the timeline for a… Read more »
The Biggest Insurance Disruptor: Lemonade or Tesla?
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — I’ve never been a big fan of the term disruption. I believe that in the InsurTech world, a majority of the startups are partnering with incumbents to enable industry transformation. They are catalysts for change, to be sure. But few are truly turning the… Read more »
Three Moments of Truth that Make or Break the Customer Experience
By Andi Dominguez, Principal – Insurance & Healthcare, Quadient — If you are in the insurance business, your goal is to establish long-term, trusting relationships with customers, and those relationships have many touchpoints along the journey. To win and retain customers, it’s essential to identify the most critical of these touchpoints so that consistent, relevant… Read more »
Digital Communications in Insurance: Managing the Expanding Options
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — Most P&C insurers have gradually expanded their options for digitally communicating with prospects, policyholders, producers, and employees. As the industry moves beyond the web, portals, and email, there is a growing recognition that a whole new world of digital communications options can be applied… Read more »
Strategic Planning for Insurance in the COVID-19 Era
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — No one will mistake 2020 for just another year. The turmoil caused by the pandemic, lockdowns, and social unrest is unlike any other year. Businesses, individuals, and governments have all been forced to make dramatic changes and adapt to new realities. The P&C insurance… Read more »
Coronavirus, what have you done?
By Martino Scheepens, Customer Success Manager, FRISS — The pandemic impacted the insurance industry in both predictable and unexpected ways. From the moment news of COVID-19 started spreading, insurance carriers knew there would be a significant business impact. Exactly what the impact would be was not immediately clear, and still leaves some room for guessing…. Read more »
Data and Personalization: How Brokers Can Drive Value With Customer Marketing
By Robyn Croll, VP Customer Insights, Goose Digital — It’s no secret marketing has evolved. Thanks to the digital revolution that’s been under way for over 10 years, marketing’s ability to impact and influence audiences has never been greater. Marketing now has the tools to reach and address leads and customers across the entire buying… Read more »
The Five Main (High-Level) Benefits of Relay
By Greg Boutin, CEO, Relay Platform — In our last blog post, we spoke about how Relay differs from other so-called “Placement Platforms”; now, let’s talk about the benefits. There are many, but they can be categorized in five main ones: CAPACITY: Relay provides a faster, more attractive way for cedents and brokers to structure… Read more »
How Relay Differs from Other “Placement Platforms”
By Greg Boutin, CEO, Relay Platform — We are sometimes asked why the world needs a new platform for Risk Transfer. There are already so many! The Quick Answer Let us start by saying that Relay isn’t just a placement platform. Relay is a SaaS platform that helps insurance and reinsurance participants with structuring and… Read more »
Is InsurTech Immune to COVID-19?
By John Bruno, Chief Operating Officer, Aon plc and Chief Executive Officer, Data & Analytic Services — In my last blog (“How InsurTech will save insurance from itself”), I talked about how the insurance and risk management industry must embrace innovation if it is to stay relevant to clients. The dislocation created by the novel… Read more »
Digital Risk Transfers in Insurance & Reinsurance: Time to Act – but Act Smart
By Greg Boutin, CEO, Relay Platform — It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, that lives within the means available and works cooperatively against common threats. Charles Darwin In recent weeks, due to social isolation… Read more »
The New Era of Geocoding: The Key to Advantage in Property Underwriting
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — In the real estate market, it is often said that the three most important factors are location, location, and location. A similar argument could be made for insurance property underwriting. Of course, the attributes of the property itself are important – and there is… Read more »
InsurTech Distribution: The New Frontier – Again!
New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — Compiling a list of the top 50 InsurTechs (as SMA did in April) is an interesting process. First off, you quickly realize that there are an amazing number of InsurTechs with meaningful value propositions that are on the path to success. Way more than… Read more »
Thwarting COVID-19 Claims Fraud
By Dan Gumpright, Global VP – Products, FRISS — History has proven that times of economic crisis see a huge increase in insurance fraud across most lines of business. We want to make sure you’re armed with a few best practices and examples to look out for. We’ll also discuss how a time like this… Read more »
P&C Tech Plans and COVID-19: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (but Mostly Good)
New SMA Blog by Mark Breading, Partner, Strategy Meets Action — P&C insurers are staying the course when it comes to their original digital and technology plans and investments for 2020. Many insurers report no changes to their plans, with some reshaping and a few accelerating, but very few pausing or retrenching. These are the… Read more »
Insurance Fraud in Times of Crisis
By Simon Staadegaard, Customer Success Manager, FRISS — The COVID-19 Coronavirus is causing fear, uncertainty and doubt in the form of lockdowns, runs on toilet paper, hospital capacities and many other areas including businesses. Many believe it will lead to an economic recession, the scale of which is still unknown. As with any major catastrophe,… Read more »
Finaeo Advisors Place $1B in Coverage for Canadian Families
By Aly Dhalla, CEO & Co-Founder, Finaeo — I started my career as a retail financial advisor working for TD Canada Trust. My branch, located in a middle-class neighbourhood in Coquitlam, British Columbia, was a community close to my heart. I attended Centennial high-school just up the road and many of the families that came… Read more »
Mitigate Risk of Self-Insurance with Smart Leak and Flood Solutions
By George Tsintzouras, CEO & Co-Founder, Alert Labs — Recent physical distancing measures have made it harder for maintenance teams at multi-family properties to carry out routine walk-throughs and inspections. Smart leak and flood solutions that allow teams to monitor remotely help keep tenants and staff safe and buildings damage-free. Water leak detectors that send… Read more »
How Parametric InsurTech is critically important for the long-term future of the Insurance sector in a post COVID-19 world
By Paul Prendergast, CEO, Blink, a CPP Group Company — Right now, our priorities are rightly focused on the health and safety of our families and the protection of those that are most vulnerable in our society as we adapt to the necessary restrictions on our way of living and working during the COVID-19 crisis…. Read more »
The Top 3 Ways To Optimize MGA Underwriting With A.I.
By Charles Dugas, Insurance AI Lead, Element AI — It’s no secret that the insurance industry is facing a challenging market right now. Managing General Agents (MGAs), like brokers and carriers large and small, are looking for new and innovative ways to accelerate growth to better serve their customers and to boost revenue, however few… Read more »
The Growing Case (and Opportunity) for Insurance Coverage Transparency
New SMA Blog by Karen Pauli, Principal, Strategy Meets Action — Sadly, the insurance-focused news outlets are starting to overflow with references to who is suing whom over certain types of coverage related to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a growing regulatory and legislative outcry for the insurance industry to pay out in instances where… Read more »
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 »
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 »
