Insurance-Canada.ca "Chronicle" weekly newsletter
Insurance-Canada.ca - Where insurance and technology meet

MAY 14, 2019

Connect with us:  Insurance-Canada.ca Home Insurance-Canada.ca Blog - The Intersection Insurance-Canada.ca on LinkedIn Insurance-Canada.ca on Twitter

INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Cybercrime Costing Canadian Companies Millions
The cost to Canadian companies from malware and people-based cyberattacks, such as phishing and social engineering, averaged just over USD 9 million in 2018, according to new research by Accenture and the Ponemon Institute. Read more.

InsurTech Investment Records Smashed In Q1
InsurTech investors worldwide executed the highest number of transactions, the highest number of P&C transactions, and the highest volume of Series B & Series C funding rounds during the first three months of 2019, according to the new Quarterly InsurTech Briefing from Willis Towers Watson. Read more.

Millennials, Business Leaders Differ On Top Tech
Highlighting divergent opinions between global tech leaders and millennials, a new KPMG report on technology industry innovation shows some differences about which technologies each group feels will have the biggest impact on business transformation in their companies over the next three years. Read more.

Gartner Predicts ‘Blockchain Fatigue’ By 2023
Blockchain remains a popular topic, but supply chain leaders are failing to find suitable use cases. By 2023, 90% of blockchain-based supply chain initiatives will suffer ‘blockchain fatigue’ due to a lack of strong use cases, according to Gartner, Inc. Read more.

Carriers Enhancing Fraud Analytics Capabilities
Insurers are responding to increasing levels of fraud by deploying sophisticated analytic capabilities to identify components of fraud within valid claims as well as to identify individual and widespread illegitimate claims. In a new report, Novarica provides an overview of fraud in the insurance industry and claims fraud analytics technology. Read more.

FRISS Joins Coalition Against Insurance Fraud
FRISS, the leading provider of AI-powered fraud and risk analytics for the P&C insurance industry, is pleased to announce their partnership with the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. Established in 2006, FRISS has been helping insurers across the globe identify and fight insurance fraud. Read more.

Engaging Clients With Enhanced Risk Mitigation
The challenge for Property & Casualty insurance carriers has been that the actions and behaviors of their policyholders are mostly beyond their control. Aite Group's latest report explores the enhanced risk mitigation techniques that are beginning to emerge, supported by emerging technologies such as telematics and enhanced data analysis. Read more.

KPMG Joins Trusted IoT Alliance Organization
KPMG LLP has announced it is joining the Trusted IoT Alliance organization to help catalyze the expansion of a blockchain-enabled and trusted Internet of Things. Blockchain's decentralized systems have the opportunity to improve IoT infrastructure, allowing companies to simplify business processes, improve customer experience, and achieve significant cost efficiencies through the use of IoT. Read more.

US P&C Insurer Net Income Rose 66% In 2018
Private U.S. property/casualty insurers saw their net income after taxes rise 66.3% to $60 billion in 2018 from $36.1 billion in 2017, helped by double-digit premium growth and a significant decline in catastrophe losses, according to data analytics provider Verisk and the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA). Read more.

Policy Works Cloud Analytics For Commercial Lines
Accessing commercial lines analytics has been a challenge for insurance brokers. Until now. Policy Works is pleased to announce its introduction of the first out-of-the-box suite of commercial lines analytics that incorporates policy and workflow data. Read more.

Manulife Transforms Group Benefits Experience
Committed to be the most digital, customer-centric company in its industry, Manulife is bringing together new technology and innovative thinking to transform the employee group benefits experience for Canadians. Read more.

Messagepoint Enhances CCM Platform With AI
Messagepoint Inc. has unveiled the Messagepoint Advanced Rationalization and Content Intelligence Engine (MARCIE), an AI-powered capability within its award-winning cloud-based Customer Communications Management platform which enables organizations to intelligently migrate, optimize, author and manage complex content. Read more.

Farmers Protective Mutual Partners With Roost
Roost, a leader in Home Telematics for property insurance carriers, is pleased to announce it has partnered with Arkansas-based Farmers Protective Mutual Insurance Company. In a strategic agreement reached to mitigate loss and build customer engagement, Farmers Protective Mutual will offer free smart sensor kits to select policyholders. Read more.

Hub Acquires Assets Of Clarity Benefits Group
Hub International Limited, a leading global insurance brokerage, is pleased to announce that it has acquired the assets of Alberta-based independent boutique-style employee benefits firm Clarity Benefits Group Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read more.

Xpera Launches Forensic Video Technology
Xpera Risk Mitigation and Investigation, Canada's largest national provider of investigations and risk solutions, has announced a powerful new digital evidence tool with capabilities not offered anywhere in the Canadian private risk management market. Read more.

Mould Tops Canadians' Flooding Concerns
Emergency Preparedness Week will have been cold comfort to Canadians dealing with flooding in Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario, but it is an appropriate time for businesses and homeowners to think about disaster preparedness and how increasing catastrophic events will affect them. Read more.

Safer Drivers Can Save With Allstate's New App
Allstate Canada's Drivewise® app harnesses telematics technology to provide auto insurance customers with insights into their driving habits so they can improve and become safer drivers. Read more.


The Intersection: Insurance-Canada.ca Blog

What's going through the Intersection
of insurance and technology?

Cyber Risk And Aligning With Hope
In spite of some arcane-sounding words and phrases, most insurance transactions are pretty straight-forward. But insurers, brokers and third parties are looking to new opportunities to get a broader portfolio. And a number of insurers are looking to cyber risk as a new tab on file. What are the challenges? Read more.

Use Software Accelerators to Fill That Elusive Twenty Percent
By Saifuddin Bhagat, X by 2
In the last several decades, industries including insurance have re-developed their core processing systems many times over. When a tipping point is reached, replacement projects to upgrade or replace decades-old systems are put into motion. The problem is that these projects are not as-is replacements of outdated systems, rather they are efforts at building completely new software keeping in mind the new business strategy, workflow and processes of the insurer. Read more.


InsurTech Spotlight

The InsurTech Spotlight features insurance practitioners and InsurTech(nology) providers which are – or are becoming – InsurTechs. In the spotlight this week are:

Swift Digital Insurance
At Swift, we combine the best of two insurance models to bring you beautiful simplicity and next-level peace of mind. With Swift you don't have to choose between easy and secure. Swift isn't an insurance company, we're your insurance concierge, making sure you are taken care of at every possible point in the insurance process from quote to claim – we've got your back! Learn more.

Eddy Solutions
Eddy Solutions is an industry leader in intelligent leak protection and water monitoring solutions. Our suite of smart products offers a comprehensive water management system for building operators and homeowners that protects, controls, and conserves water. Our products have saved thousands of customers millions of dollars in damages and millions of litres of water waste by continuously monitoring water usage in their properties. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.


Insurance Works

Featured job opportunities:

Manager, Operational Audits - Underwriting
The Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company
Winnipeg, MB

Senior Underwriting Consultant
Sun Life Financial
Toronto, ON


ICEF2019: “Insurance in the Platform Economy” — 7th annual Insurance-Canada.ca Executive Forum — Wednesday, August 28, 2019, at the St. James Cathedral Centre, Toronto


From Doug

Will you be heard?

It's a truism that you can't do business without communicating with customers and prospects.

For some of us older people, the opportunities were personal visits, ‘snail’ mail, and telephone.

Then fax removed the delays associated with mail – so long as there was a fax machine at both ends.

The internet brought e-mail and websites, followed sooner or later by social media, live chatting, podcasts, and HD streaming video.

Now, voice has arrived for conversational transaction processing.

Has your organization added support for voice interactions?

What does your strategy look like? Initially for internal use (support for call centre staff), for external partners (brokers, claims providers), or customer-facing in claims, policy service, sales?

One strategy could be “do nothing” – but for how long will that remain a suitable option?

Doug Grant, CIP
Partner
Insurance-Canada.ca

Doug Grant

The Chronicle weekly newsletter features news, events, and general information relating to technology and innovation in the Canadian insurance industry and marketplace. Subscribe here or view past issues.

If you would like to recommend an item for inclusion – with a focus on technology in insurance relevant to the Canadian Property & Casualty insurance industry, please contact [email protected].

insurance-canada.ca

Connect with us: Insurance-Canada.ca Home Insurance-Canada.ca Blog - The Intersection Insurance-Canada.ca on LinkedIn Insurance-Canada.ca on Twitter