People. A changing population, with many members beset by economic challenges, is applying urgent pressure upon the insurance industry to develop a new approach to the market; one that demands products and services that are more affordable, tailored to very specific needs, simpler and grounded in trust. These conditions have helped create a "new normal" when it comes to consumers' and businesses' risk profiles and expectations. The atmosphere for purchasing decisions is also changing. Insurers need to take a close look at what factors will improve policy uptake in a world dominated by the desire for immediacy.

Related: Be an agent of change

Market boundaries. Customer expectations, experiences, loyalties, and relationships are continuing to rapidly change with long-held business assumptions and models being dismantled and replaced with new models, more appropriately aligned to this shift. The traditional boundaries between industries and companies are also being dismantled by technologies that have created platform-based economic shifts. The result is a porous market, where engagement is everything and the relationships between businesses, customers, channels and partners create their own chemistry. It is exciting! But it also means that new strategies are needed for everything from product development to back-end administration.

Technology. The rate of emerging technologies will continue, but even more exciting is the rapid adoption and commercialization of these technologies, surpassing many predictions by "the experts," while catching many traditional executives off guard. It comes at a time when the convergence of advancing technologies, increasing customer expectations and demands, and access to capital for new technology start-ups are magnifying the extremes — from disruption and destruction to innovation and transformation. Can insurers simply graft these new technologies onto their existing frameworks? It is unlikely. A broader approach is needed.

Even insurers focused on replacing their legacy core systems with modern solutions surrounded by digital and data capabilities will need to take a new view and a broader approach to the changes around them to make certain that systems stay aligned with new customer expectations. These expectations highlight a generational gap where traditional insurance business models, processes, channels and products are becoming rapidly irrelevant to a new generation of buyers.

Will established insurers suffer at the hands of tech-savvy, culture-savvy competition? Some may, but only if they allow themselves to. Many will re-invent themselves to become the new leaders of a re-imagined insurance business . . . that meets the needs and demands of a new generation of buyers. They will forge new roads of adaptation and become adept at shifting balance from the traditional old business to the ever-flexible new business.

Adapting to the shift

This seismic shift is creating leaps in innovation and disruption, challenging the traditional business assumptions, operations, processes and products of the last 30-50 years. The implications for insurers are enormous. To adapt to this shift, the report notes that insurers are charting a path using the following methods:

• Maintain and grow the existing business while transforming and building the new business. The current business is funding the future and needs to be kept running efficiently and effectively as the market shifts.
• Optimize the existing business while building the new business. Optimizing any process will help to maximize the existing business, reduce the cost of doing business, and provide a bridge from the past to the future while allowing realignment of resources and investment to the new business.
• Develop a new business model for a new generation of buyers. Create a strategy and plan for a new business model that supports simultaneous leaps forward to create new customer engagement experiences underpinned by innovative products and services that offer growth, competitive differentiation and success in a fast-changing market dynamic.

These three focal points are critical steps in a world of change and disruption. A new generation of insurance buyers with new needs and expectations create both a challenge and an opportunity. There is no clear path or destination.

The time for plans, preparation, and execution is now — recognizing that the customer is in control. Those who recognize and rapidly respond to this shift will thrive in an increasingly competitive industry to become the new leaders of a re-imagined insurance business that aligns to a rapidly growing, Millennial, Gen Z and Gen X customer base.

Related: The direction of insurance in 2017: It's all about convergence

Denise Garth is senior vice president of strategic marketing responsible for Morristown, New Jersey-based Majesco, an insurance industry software and service company. She can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @denisegarth or on LinkedIn. Opinions expressed in this article are her own. This article first appeared on the Majesco website and is reprinted here with permission.