Innovation in Latin American Insurers

Increasing commoditization, a need to improve speed to market, the multiplication of distribution channels, increased consumer expectations—these and other business challenges demand innovations that deliver new corporate capabilities. But how do leaders successfully engage their organizations in the identification and delivery of significant business and technology change? What “works” regarding business/technology planning, and where are the opportunities for improvement?

Over the past 18 months, Celent has been researching what practical steps insurers are taking to manage insurance innovation. A new report, Innovation in Latin American Insurers, extends these efforts by examining the trends in Latin America in detail. It is based on a survey of 58 insurers conducted in May/June 2013. The objectives of the survey were to: 1) gauge the importance of innovation to current business strategy, 2) identify key benefits from innovation in insurance processes, and 3) detail the common barriers to implementation.

“Practically all of the insurers who responded to the survey identified innovation as important or critical to their company strategy,” says Mike Fitzgerald, Senior Analyst with Celent’s Insurance Group and coauthor of the report. “However, a majority of them also observed that, as a whole, insurance tends to lag other industries in its successful implementation of innovative technology and processes. Clearly, there is work to be done by companies that want to excel in this area.”

“We were pleased at the broad geographic representation of respondents to the survey,” says Juan Mazzini, Senior Analyst with Celent’s Insurance Group and coauthor of the report. “Insurers from all major markets participated, and we are confident that the data provides a current, accurate snapshot of how insurers are performing in this important initiative.”