words Al Woods
Everyone needs to invest in insurance. Whether it’s for their home, their car, their business, or otherwise, most people have some assets that they want to protect, and the insurance industry is a goliath that’s there to help them do that. As with every industry, the evolutions of the insurance world nowadays are largely driven by changes in technology that may well see it changing beyond recognition within the next ten years.
Here, we’re going to look at some of the top tech trends in the insurance business as it stands, and what they could mean for us if they become widespread.
An industry automated
It’s an evolution that’s happening across the board, affecting all industries in little and large ways, and it proposes not only a difference in the way that businesses operate but also ethical questions as to the role of the worker. Robotic process automation in the back office of the insurance industry has been a reality for some time now, but with an increasing reliance on things like data collection and collation as well as artificial intelligence, it’s expected to make an even bigger impact in the coming years.
Improved accuracy in discovering risk
One of the major driving factors in insurance, especially when it comes to figuring out the price of certain policies, is working out the probability of certain events happening. When it comes to things like car insurance, working out the probability of a driver getting into an accident or having their vehicle stolen could determine how likely they are to use their policy and, thus, how much they will pay for it. Tools like Artificial are allowing insurance writers to work out risks much more accurately and quickly. As such, the data provided by customers can help create even more bespoke products with more relevant pricing specific to them.
The big impact of Big Data
Of course, one of the driving factors in this increasing accuracy in risk assessment in the insurance industry is down to the development of Big Data tools and processes. Insurance companies are amongst the first to make use of the tools that are able to gather data from a wide variety of sources, and there’s a growing field of data scientists and analysts who are able to draw insights from those pools of data allowing insurance companies to be even more accurate in predicting trends in customer behavior and policies that will appeal to them as a result.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is expanding rapidly and it should be no surprise that it’s starting to play a larger role in the insurance industry. Not only can it help with the processing of data to give more accurate risk assessments and policy suggestions, but it’s also starting to handle things for clients, as well, improving the turnaround cycles of claims and underwriting risks at a faster rate in a lot of cases. This can allow insurers to focus on the work of managing the customer rather than spending all of their time and energy, or it can even help cut out the human element entirely as part of the ongoing focus on automation.
The rise of Insurtech
While it’s not exactly a specific type of technology, like those mentioned above, one trend in the technology world that is certainly affecting insurance companies is the ongoing growth of what is called the Insurtech industry. As outlined by Cision, there is an increasing space of tech developers that are working specifically in providing solutions for the insurance world that is growing at a rapid rate. It’s not just that new technologies could help evolve the insurance industry, but that there is a rising industry with a vested interest in specifically making this happen.
Taking to the sky
Insurance is a business that relies a lot upon data and risk projections, meaning that as technology gets more advanced, insurance can become a lot more accurate, which may mean that prices can get cheaper as well. Of course, these are only projections based on current trends. Whether they hold for the future is something yet to be determined.
While it’s certainly not relevant to every form of insurance, there is an increasing growth in corners like business property and crop insurance due to the fact that drone technology is getting more and more suited to the needs of businesses. With the ability to take to the skies for photography and topographical surveys, insurers are much better able to gather the data necessary to weigh out risks that would have previously been inaccessible without investing in expensive equipment like helicopters.
