Tech Opportunities In The North American Insurance Industry

North American insurers are reorienting from business as usual, where actuaries and underwriter drive product creation and sales, to a "business-as-unusual" model in which insurers sell a customer experience. Insurers are pivoting away from messages about what they sell to emphasizing how they help their customers manage risk. What's behind the change? Even with a turning market, competitive pressures from the likes of Google, the wow factor of Apple, and the onslaught of new consumer tech that's populated insurance conference agendas all year are drawing insurer focus squarely toward the customer. How will this new thinking drive technology vendor strategy in the coming year? Tech vendor strategists must pivot their solution portfolios to connect the "what" of insurance — underwriting, claims, and compliance — to new "hows," through innovative applications of mobile, social, machine-to-machine (M2M), and big data that will create differentiating customer experiences while protecting the balance sheet.