Innovation 2020: 10 Predictions for the Insurance Industry for 2020 and the Coming Decade
The end of the year and the beginning of a new decade is a good time to pause for a moment and think about where the future is going.Now, we’ll admit, there’s no such thing as a perfect crystal ball for insurance. Nor is the industry perfectly homogenous around the world. Some markets will evolve more slowly, while others are already over the top of the digital disruption roller coaster and picking up speed on the downslope. The separation between the “Haves and HaveNots” is increasingly a forcing function.
But if you’re an insurance executive or even just an investor paying close attention to the industry, here are the issues that you should be paying attention to in 2020 and our predictions of how insurers will respond.
Disruptive forces are changing how insurance is being done.
- Low interest rates continue to put pressure on the need to generate an underwriting profit and rising combined ratios, both loss and expense, are generating a greater scrutiny and focus on expense reduction.
- The online world is changing how efficient we expect a business to be. Customer expectations are being driven by experiences in non-insurance sectors.Customers expect transparency, speed, and collaboration – placing pressures on insurers to deliver. ·Many property casualty insurers have completed their core system replacement – whichgives them the capability to take on new initiatives and drive change. And the exploding rise of insurtechs give insurers a wide variety of ideas and services to choose from.
- A proliferation of new data along with new tools for accessing and using that data makes AI and machine learning among the top interests for insurers.They see great potential for new data to impact claims, underwriting, marketing and customer service.
- The availability of data also facilitates the digitization of distribution.We continue to see growing initiatives in direct to consumer – and also in enabling brokers to make their own digital transition, using technology more effectively to service their clients.
- But the availability of personalized data has also generated growing concerns about privacy.Consumers are wary of insurers overstepping and thus, continue to put new requirements on insurers to manage data more effectively.
- A generational shift will happen as baby boomers retire, and the younger generation takes on a greater leadership role. This will create a war for the next generation of talent as 25% of the industry is expected to retire in this coming decade.
- And climate change with the resulting impact on disasters is expected by most to continue to intensify.
With these significant pressures, insurer tech teams need to be investing in multiple initiatives.Based on conversations with executives and research we’ve conducted, here are our predictions for 2020 and the coming decade.