Top Technology Trends in Insurance Industry
- What are the top technology trends in the insurance industry?
- Is process automation the top tech tool to help you leverage data?
- How can cloud computing be a game-changer for insurers?
The insurance industry is multi-layered – we have brokers, underwriters, carriers and MGAs. It’s a complex and rapidly evolving space. Technology can come to the rescue of both the old players and the new entrants.
However, the tech solutions must be specific to a business as the challenges being faced by the old established players versus the new entrants in the insurance industry widely differ.
The older, more established carriers have been around for hundreds of years potentially. They depend on legacy applications and may not consider technology to be an underpinning part of their business. Lloyd’s of London is a typical example in this category. They are people-oriented and depend on a lot of paperwork instead of technology. They have a curated clientele and can easily manage their database manually. So a technology like CRM may not be right for them.
But, unlike newer entrants to the market, they have vast amounts of data which they can leverage through data migration and data integration. In some cases, they can layer newer technology over the top of older technology to enhance productivity through process automation.
On the contrary, newly-formed companies are typically run as niche services. Owners want to focus on building up their companies quickly, typically capitalizing on some aspect of insurance and preferring the latest technology over outdated legacy systems. These firms want an expert to pick up all their technology needs and deliver complete solutions. Quite often, the founding entrepreneurs might sell their companies and then move on to build another one. So they need a fast turnover rate, agile delivery, and a solutions-oriented approach.
For these modern, small niche players, process automation through tech tools, like Power Platform and Salesforce, and the use of low-code systems will provide quick and efficient results.
Another game-changer for both incumbents and new entrants is the cloud. Cloud Computing is indispensable for the insurance industry as it is adaptable to individual business needs and it allows the freedom to scale. Opting for cloud services gives you the ability to rent space for data storage and leverage computing power. A new start-up can either opt for on-premise facilities for both or it can rent the two independently. Also, a business can rent services on an as-needed basis and ramp up capacity when required, like during renewal season.
The scalability and flexibility of cloud services is ideal for smaller start-ups because they can start small and pay low. As the organization grows, they can scale up their IT without a big capital investment, without having to worry about data centers, without needing extra manpower to ensure network security. All those things can be purchased from cloud providers.
Lastly, what would help insurance businesses most on their digital transformation journey is collaborating with tech experts for optimum results. Just the way the insurance industry recommends to its clients to engage them for all their insurance needs, tech experts should be engaged for all technology solutions.
Based on a discussion with Chief Software Engineering Officer Randall Perrey who oversees Development, Security and Operations (DevSecOps) for ADROSONIC. He has a PhD in Enterprise Systems Architecture and specializes in Cloud Computing and Salesforce Development. With over 20 years of experience in regulated industries like banking and insurance, Randall is best suited to guide us on the top tech trends.