There was a hum of excitement all around us as we met with insurers, startups, and innovators at ITC 2017, and I truly mean all around us. There were 200 tables set up in the conference hall for attendees to network. Meetings were arranged via an app that matched people with like interests. Each table included two to three groups, so more than 500 meetings were going on at the same time. Believe me, that many people talking at once creates an electrifying environment!
Life insurance startups were my focus for the conference. Many startups have taken the first step by creating a product with potential. The next step is to partner with an insurance company or consulting firm that can help to build out the use cases that will demonstrate the product’s full capabilities. The third step is to make integration into the insurer’s ecosystem easy and seamless.
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There were three overarching themes in my discussions: 1 -Underwriting innovation: fluidless underwriting, instant underwriting, high risk underwriting 2- Customer experience: collection of IoT data, communication using SMS, reminders for health-related activities (for example, taking daily medications) 3- Sales and sales support: predictive analytics for next best products, channel management, and notifications of life events. It was gratifying to see the connections that were being made at the conference. Twenty-five year life insurance veterans and entrepreneurs who have been in life insurance for less than two years were sharing experiences and learnings. Everyone wins when these discussions take place. I can’t wait for next year! |
This is the event that our parent company helped found with two tech entrepreneurs. They had a shared vision that the Insurance industry did not have a single place in which incumbents, insurtech entrepreneurs, venture capital firms, and regulators could come together to improve the industry.