A snapshot of ITC 2022

Rob Norris
Senior Analyst

Less focus on disruption: The conference seemed to be less focused on disruption of the industry and more about making smart use of modern technologies to improve the business in all areas

Going big: Big firms in software and services seemed to be increasing their presence, making the conference less startup focused

Networking fever: Attendees seemed more interested in networking with one another and walking the show floor than attending educational sessions

Andrew Schwartz
Analyst

Packed exhibit hall: The expo floor was completely packed with attendees. So packed that it was almost overwhelming. I thought ITC was crowded last year, but this year eclipsed it

Democratizing technology: Many insurtech startups seem to have changed their pricing structure to “per use” basis which has democratized access to many mid-smaller tier carriers

Hot topics: Embedded insurance and the disruption to distribution seemed to be the two ‘hot topics’ of the event

Partnerships at work: Carriers seem intent on opening their moats and finding insurtech startups with whom to partner to develop an ecosystem

There is a curiosity in finding ways to create a synergistic relationship between carriers and non-insurance partners. Incentives need to be aligned to create an experience that provides value for the end-user

Keith Raymond
Senior Analyst

Vibrant crowd: The crowd was amazing, by day 2 it seemed overwhelming

Covid, what Covid?: Covid seems to be an afterthought, I would estimate 1% or maybe 2% of attendees wore masks

Meaningful interactions: ITC has proven to be a high value event in terms of networking, with most attendees eager to connect and talk… about insurance and technology!

IT Investment decoupled from economy (yet): Shared view within the insurance IT community that they don’t see the acceleration to digital slowing anytime soon; however, a few recognize that the sales cycles are getting longer with additional diligence being done to mitigate risk.

Donald Light
Research Director P&C

Walking the Exhibit Hall floor at ITC 2022, confirms:

Convergence: The ever-closer integration of insurtech and insurance technology – to the benefit of insurers and policyholders

Vendor driven ecosystems: Ecosystems are increasingly seen as a must-have enabler to extend and diversify a solution’s value propositions

Positioning: A lot of tech firms are making significant investments to see and be seen at ITC

Karlyn Carnahan
Head of Insurance | North America

Huge event: This year’s InsureTech Connect was the largest ever with close to 10,000 participants across insurers, vendors, and investors. The exhibit hall was HUGE – although the main scene is now dominated by more established vendors, big name consultancy firms, and other ecosystem participants already scaling. The startups seemed to be relegated rather than front and center as in the past

Data, data, data: Data continues to be the hot topic with a wide variety of solution providers focused on use cases such as fraud, customer experience and improved underwriting. Process digitization was also a focus – especially with a goal of improving the customer experience. These themes were mimicked in the content of the sessions

Evolving distribution: We saw some great discussions on digital distribution -including embedded insurance; new uses of data to drive true results; and a variety of sessions discussing how to effectively drive innovation at an insurer

Ecosystem: And the idea of an ecosystem of solutions, easily integrated into a core system has matured – with multiple examples of insurers using them and vendors providing them

Whether or not your firm is ready for implementation of any of these initiatives, paying attention to the pace of change is an imperative for anyone that wants to keep up

Juan Mazzini
Head of Insurance | APAC, EMEA, and LATAM

Nothing new to report: From last year to this, nothing new in the scene, other than the fact that ITC has almost doubled in size and what my colleagues have shared about the eager to connect in person after the years of isolation imposed by Covid-related restrictions and care.

As a reminder here below are my views from 2021, that I believe continue to be true after ITC 2022:

·Maturity of insurtech: We now know what works and doesn't. Insurtech startups have figured this out, in some cases evolving into a tech player rather than staying just as an insurance player (i.e., Haven Life launches Haven Technologies, following other similar plays from Slice Labs, Trov, Zhong An just to mention a few). Insurers know that they have to look for their next partner in the exhibit hall rather than the sessions. And while back in 2017 at ITC, there weren’t many startups looking to compete with insurers among the participants, this has changed. These neo insurers claim their share of attention as they grow in size and test their business models at scale.

·Execution kills novelty: Nothing new in terms of technology for insurers, but a few insurance models enabled by technology growing in relevance. Think about the different flavors of embedded insurance, parametric insurance, digital partnerships, and risk sharing models. Success is now measured by the capacity to execute at scale. Looking beyond product and market fit, into risk fit; enabled by technology but being a risk taker in the core (unless you are in the distribution side of the business).

·Show me the money (Part II): Back in 2017 I reflected post-ITC that the industry needed to see successful, profitable, stories to sustain investments in insurtech startups. While some (neo) insurers could be seen as a success from an investment perspective, there is still some way to go until they can demonstrate sustained profitability. For now, their valuations represent, at most, the potential they have to grow their portfolios. Those few that are showing profits are either niche (neo) insurers that operate at low cost or jumbo (neo) insurers that use the scale of their ecosystems and partners.

An area to watch, as we move into year end and 2023, is the impact of recession and inflation in the economy and hence in the insurance industry, and how this translates into the insurtech scene. If Covid showed us something is that resilience requires deep pockets. ITC 2023 could find the insurtech industry in a very different (and dooming) situation. Hope I am wrong.