IBOTT
Managing Big Data for insights With a large number of new data sources and the growth of the IoT , processing Big Data has been a challenge for the insurance industry in general . However , this rich information source has also been a huge advantage to insurtechs that have adopted the latest technologies and can manage the data to their advantage .
The digital ecosystem , Moore says , is providing insurtechs with the opportunity to create new products because they have better access to data and they are adept at maximising that opportunity . “ A lot of insurance companies have maybe struggled embracing new risks like that of the Sharing Economy as they have a deep rooted reliance on 10-15 years of developed loss data in order to price risk .”
“ However , we need to move faster than that . It ' s got to be more dynamic . The 10 years of data might only have three or four data points . What we can get through this digital ecosystem is hundreds of data points , from maybe the past two to three years . It ' s not as long-standing – but it is much richer information – and the world is moving so fast that it ' s almost certainly incredibly deep and it gives us so many different risk insights .”
“Embedded insurance is huge . There ' s still so much to be done on the insurance customer experience ”
CHRIS MOORE HEAD OF IBOTT
Scaling at pace Another challenge is the ability to focus and grow . Because of how the insurtech industry is developing , startups often make the mistake of trying to do too many things when they should always seek to specialise and become leaders in their fields . The Sharing Economy , like insurtech , is also undergoing a period of intense development .
" It ' s expanding all the time ," Moore says . " And it ' s not expanding linearly . Airbnb is a great example . It transitioned quickly from just providing homes to now providing experiences and looking at the whole spectrum of travel . Policies have to be able to cater to that level of change . Insurers have struggled with that amount of flexibility and that speed that you need to transition to create a partnership that ' s fit for purpose for these companies .”
He continues : " I think it ' s really easy to see the opportunity and think disruption . But my advice to startups in the space would be ' focus on your goal '. There is a huge opportunity across every part of the value chain , but focus on a certain deliverable and be good at it and deliver it and then you can transition . And I think this is also a very people-oriented business . It ’ s about building relationships and partnerships .”