3 technologies supporting the InsurTech revolution
The digital transformation movement affects all industries, and can mean many things to different organizations.
Earlier this year, Charlie Hanna, director of the Insurance Solutions Practice at Hyland, spoke with Mark Breading, a partner at Strategy Meets Action, to discuss the InsurTech revolution as part of a Facebook Live event.
The goal was to have a candid discussion about current technologies affecting and supporting the insurance industry, highlighting key trends coming out of the InsurTech movement, which is a catalyst for innovation for insurers in all sectors. Three primary technologies were identified that benefit InsurTech: digital transformation, content services and security.
1. Digital transformation
The digital transformation movement affects all industries, and can mean many things to different organizations. In 2018, 90% of insurers say they have a digital transformation strategy in place, according to SMA research. However, a significant shift within the industry is redefining the meaning of “digital transformation.”
Initially defined as implementing digital interactions between the business and the outside world — it enabled agents with technology and gave them the ability to interact digitally with policyholders. However, an organization can’t be digital to the outside world unless it is digital within its four walls, says Breeding. That means insurers need to embrace a comprehensive strategy across the enterprise to make all internal processes as digital as possible.
Related: What do InsurTechs really need? An open mindset
2. Content services
As part of the InsurTech movement, many insurers are reevaluating their technology stack. The evolution of enterprise content management (ECM) to content services is a more modern vision to support digital transformation and technology modernization strategies. Insurers today have a lot more information, and new data varieties to manage than ever before. While former document imaging and capture solutions were good at managing information in repositories, new content services platforms act as a technology layer to serve relevant content when needed.
Prior systems were monolithic and involved large code bases. Content services platforms include different applications and micro services bringing a new, forward-thinking approach to problem solving. These information management solutions will continue to better manage the new types of information and ways of working.
Related: Planning to switch technology systems? Use this guide…
3. Security
Recent high-profile data breaches place security at the forefront of every executive’s mind. Proper security is especially relevant to the insurance industry because it is a highly regulated market. Every state has different security rules and regulations. Breeding explained that the U.S. property & casualty industry alone faces more than 10,000 regulatory changes a year — adding to the risk insurers with poor security face.
When it comes to guidance for security paths, Breeding recommends reviewing external and internal compliance regulations closely, and taking an integrated approach to ensure the data has the right encryption and that only those who should access information can.
It’s obvious that the InsurTech movement is causing some major shifts in the industry, including triggering insurers to think more about digital transformation strategies, content services technology and data security. While no one approach fits all companies, the most important advice discussed was not to just select the newest offering because it’s cool. Insurers need to think about new ways to address their challenges and solve the issues they are having.
Insurers need to think about digital transformation, content services and security in the context of their business strategies — which will cause a natural segmentation to identify the right partners, technology and use cases. It can be overwhelming when initiating, but don’t get too frustrated. It will be worth it in the end.
Cara McFarlane (cara.mcfarlane@hyland.com) is the insurance solution marketing manager at Hyland and oversees all marketing initiatives to plan, execute and manage Hyland’s insurance marketing tactics.