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  5. DIA Munich 2022: InsurTech, Incumbents and Innovation

DIA Munich 2022: InsurTech, Incumbents and Innovation

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17 October 2022
Karun Arathil

DIA (Digital Insurance Agenda), Munich, happened on the 28th and 29th of September, along with the famous Oktoberfest on the sidelines. DIA also organised another event earlier this year in Amsterdam from 29 June to 30 June 2022.

DIA, Munich had a great start with a powerful Keynote by Tom Van den Brulle of Munich Re. It was great to hear how Re/insurers like Munich Re are reimagining the future customer and how a digital marketplace that enhances cooperation between insurers and Insurtechs can benefit customers. Key concepts such as connected living and insurance are getting traction in the new world. He highlighted that the key to success is an entrepreneurial mindset, companies interacting with competitors, and Insurtech in harmony.

There was 50+ fast-paced ‘Show& Tell’ live demo presentations of Insurtech Companies and many keynote speeches by thought leaders. As these Insurtechs focused on various areas in the insurance value chain, I could see four distinct themes from this event.

Customer Experience:

One key element in almost every solution or pitch was customer experience. A frictionless process for onboarding the customer and ensuring regulatory compliance are the critical criteria for these types of start-ups. As I have a background in the n BPO industry, I am thrilled to see some of the capabilities in a seamless transition of engagement from website to chat to video and co-browsing. This type of solution will improve the conversion rate for insurers impacting the top line and bottom lines.

The customer of the future is changing. They are always connected, embedded, and prefer ‘my terms and times’. Companies need to recognise these changing consumer behaviours to build successful customer engagement in the future.

The digitising customer experience was a focus for Celent in our research DIGITIZING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: A NEW FRAMEWORK

Data and AI:

Data plays a vital role in the insurance industry. Leveraging new data sources and analysing large volumes of data is getting attention. Let it be the property intelligence data, accident rates in a postcode, health data or water usage data; they all find use cases in the Insurance value chain. The availability of data and analytical capabilities are helping to reduce the distance between the physical to the digital world.

The data and AI were essential topics for Celent’s research; you can see more about them at DATA, ANALYTICS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.

API-based/embedded Insurance:

Selling insurance products at the point of sales and selling insurance products through a marketplace is getting traction globally. API is still the connecting piece for delivering solutions such as embedded insurance, allowing third parties to embed insurance and bespoke products into their offerings.

You can find relevant Celent’s research at

INSURANCE CARRIER MINDSETS ON DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION

THE RISE OF THE DIGITAL INSURANCE MIDDLE LAYER

Low-code platforms:

There was a flurry of low-code / no-code platforms at the DIA event. Low-code platform has gotten a massive lift in the last couple of years, and that trend is going up. Low-code platforms have many advantages to insurers from time to market, accelerate digital innovation to increase the responsiveness of the IT

You can find the relevant Celent research at

CHANGE IS CHANGING: PROFILING LOW CODE NO CODE PLATFORMS IN INSURANCE

In addition to these Insurtech demonstrations, there were very informative keynote speeches. Allianz’s CTO highlighted that cloud adoption is in the early stage in the insurance industry (in the range of 10%). If you are a global insurer, it is expected that you cannot move towards the cloud overnight. For every migration, you must consider the business line, country, and product line matrix. This is a barrier to innovation. But the conclusion is clear: it no longer matters of why cloud, but when and how in the cloud!

There was a keynote speech on current economic conditions and the valuation of Insurtechs. The investments in the Insurtech sector are lower this year compared to last year. European Insurtechs are attracting more funding than their US counterparts. The valuation meltdown of some of the flagship Insurtech and their inability to convert themselves to a profitable business is a concern to the market. It was highlighted that high initial valuation levels, increasing interest rates, tech business decline, political and economic unrest and the Insurtech business model were the critical factors behind the Insurtech meltdown.

The main takeaway was that “Insurtechs, who can master the current crisis, may position themselves for the future.”

DIA Munich has given us a sense of the European industry that the incumbents are maturing, both in their capabilities and, at the same time seeking true partners within their eco-systems who bring real value to them.