InsurTechs driving disruptive innovation in insurance customer engagement: U.S. report

While the vast majority of surveyed insurance executives and InsurTech professionals in the United States are engaged in redesigning the customer experience, two-thirds do not have a full grasp of how evolving digital ecosystems can impact customer acquisition and customer engagement.

So notes new joint research issued Tuesday by insurance strategic advisory firm Strategy Meets Action (SMA) and Silicon Valley Insurance Accelerator (SVIA).

Findings in the 20-page Executive Insight Report: Customer Engagement at the Digital Edge in Insurance are drawn from speaking at a SVIA conference in March, and a joint survey of insurance executives and InsurTech leaders conducted in advance of the conference.

Survey results indicate 79% of insurers are actively engaged in redesigning the customer experience.

While encouraging, an SMA press release notes that 65% of respondents have limited awareness of evolving digital ecosystems and the impact they will have on customer acquisition and engagement.

Further to that, just 25% of respondents say that they are actively investing and partnering with InsurTech companies that are shaping the new digital ecosystems.

“Improving customer engagement is one of the top priorities for the insurance industry,” says SMA partner and report co-author Mark Breading.

The report captures some of the activities by “InsurTech companies that are injecting innovation and energy into engaging insurance customers,” Breading continues.

“This new generation of insurance is creating value not just by covering loss, but by leveraging those ecosystems and the data within them to predict, prevent, mitigate and help customers recover from loss,” says Mike Connor, SVIA CEO and report co-author.

“To stay competitive in this new market requires playing by a new set of rules,” Connor contends in the statement.

Among other things, the joint report explores the new digital ecosystems and participants emerging to disrupt customer engagement in insurance, assesses how insurers are responding to new customer demands to improve customer engagement within the context of existing business models and contains session recaps from more than 20 conference speakers.