The Digital Insurer Quarterly Digest: Q1 2016

Published: Mon, 01/04/16

 
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Digital Insurance in Action
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​We have been releasing lots of new content in our Digital Insurance in Action  section since its launch in August 2015.  We now have a large collection of Snippets (short, concise summaries capturing digital insurance in action) and InViews (more detailed examples of digital insurance in action, some of which also have videos which talk you through the innovation). Every month we aggregate our top Snippets and InViews in our Digital Insurance in Action Newsletter. 
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We also recently published our first case study on AIA’s Accelerator in Hong Kong which looks in detail at how the company is supporting innovative businesses in the healthcare sector during its 12-week programme.
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​We have also experimented with a new content format, Video InView Interviews – these are an extension of the Video InViews where we have interviewed CEOs/Founders of companies who are at the forefront of creating digital insurance innovations.  Our most recent Video Interview was with Alex Frommeyer, CEO of Beam Dental who recently launched a new dental insurance product which leverages data and technology from its IoT based toothbrush.
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​In October, we also interviewed Alison Massey from Now Health International about their new medical provider search app which helps consumers easily find a medical provider within their cashless network and submit a reimbursement of a claim
Digital Insurance Library
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Each month, we have also continued to review the latest digital insurance reports and white papers from across the globe.  With these, you get access to all the latest research and content on the subject of digital insurance all in one place.
 
 We’ve had a busy quarter with lots of events and conferences.  You can keep up to date with the latest happenings and material in our Events section.  Here’s our top picks for the quarter:
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​We recently started doing live themed webinars which have proved to be very successful.  They provide a wealth of knowledge from our experienced and senior panellists who share their insights on the particular theme.  Our three themes to date have been i) Aggregators ii) Telematics for the Car and iii) Insurance Innovation in Asia.  You can access all the material, including the replays from each webinar from the link below.
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​The Digital Insurer enjoyed speaking at the recent 2015 Operational Strategies Conference in Bangkok, organised by LIMRA.  Hugh Terry presented on “Digital Thinking to unite sales and operations”.  
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The Digital Insurer is looking forward to speaking at the Insurance Technology Summit 2016 in Mumbai in January, organised by Fintelekt.  Our presentation will look to provide an ‘outside-in’ perspective on opportunities for digital insurance in India.

The year in review


2015 was the year when digital, innovation and disruption firmly reached the boardroom and there are few insurers who do not have, or are not working on, a more formal digital strategy.
 
We are seeing digital transformation from within , via labs and digital centres of excellence, and we are seeing more collaboration with third party innovation centres, hackathons and acceleration initiatives. We are also seeing an increase in direct investment by insurers in new initiatives.

2015 has also been a busy year at The Digital Insurer with the opening of the "Digital Insurance in Action" content section accompanied by a near doubling in our subscriber base over the year.

The number of speaking and workshop engagements has increased significantly and the highlight of the year for me was the opportunity to speak at the Insurancecom conference in Vienna in October.

The year ahead


So from an industry perspective it is very clear that the shift to digital business models is underway and we can expect to see more disruption and innovation in 2016. The "war for talent & tech” will intensify and there will be continued transition away from technical insurance products to eco-system propositions along with an increasing number of customer-centric distribution models.

At The Digital Insurer our main purpose is to support the industry in this transformation by being one of the world’s most trusted sources for information on digital insurance. We hope to further achieve this through 5 key initiatives in the year ahead:

1. Grow existing content:  To expand our existing content coverage in the Library and In Action sections.

2. Extend content services around the world: We have globalised and regionalised the leadership team at The Digital Insurer and I am glad to welcome Tom, Rick and Andrew to the team in addition to Malini - find out more about the team. With support from current and new sponsors we are planning to provide deeper regional content and increased use of webinars & video interviews within each region.

3. Extend to news on Digital insurance: We will be introducing a collaborative digital insurance “news” section of the site in Q1 2016. More on this soon.

4. Provide services for the Tech community: Increased focus on helping Technology companies to engage with our readers via a relaunch of the Tech Guide as the Tech Community along with some free publicity options for Tech companies.

5. Report on People in Digital Insurance: Video interviews with some of the “movers and shakers” in digital insurance around the world. We hope to secure sponsors in each region from the recruitment industry to help open up this service before the end of 2016.

​Seasonal thanks

Our mission remains to bring high quality and relevant content on digital insurance to our 7,500 members for free.

Our sponsors are critical to achieving this and I would like to thank both Swiss Re and KPMG for their support to the site and the industry. Swiss Re is a founder sponsor and supports the Library section of the site whilst KPMG supports the Digital Insurance in Action initiatives. We will need more sponsors to achieve our objectives in 2016 as we expand our content areas and geographical reach.

The quality side of the equation is also supported by our sponsors own thought leadership capabilities but as importantly by our small and dedicated team involved in research, writing, content development, website development and social media support. My thanks to their support and great teamwork each month to deliver engaging content.

Lastly thanks to you, the readers, for providing such strong support and encouragement. We will be doing more formal polls in 2016 to get your feedback on what you like and what you see as the trends in digital insurance. Please get in touch if you would like to contribute or  to point out the areas and initiatives we should cover in more detail.

Yours digitally