InsurTech in 2019: Transformational or redundant?

After three intense and exhausting days at InsureTech 2019, I’m a little conflicted.

It was quite exciting. There are many fascinating companies and ideas that are truly transforming the insurance industry.

But then King Solomon’s words (from the Bible) come to mind: “There is nothing new under the sun.” I don’t mean to express negative sentiment regarding the state of InsurTech and innovation in insurance. It’s just that, in many ways, what we are witnessing is an increasing maturity of the movement.

Of course, virtually everyone is talking about AI/machine learning. Digital transformation is high on the list of activities and discussions. New options for distribution, the evolution of new ecosystems, and the continuing progress of the new era of computing are compelling topics.

The potential and progress of transformational technologies like the IoT, autonomous vehicles, wearables, and many others are fueling much of the innovation.

But I still wonder…

Did I see anything fundamentally new at ITC?

There were a few announcements and companies that raised some eyebrows, to say the least. Here is my list of those that the industry should take note of:

1. USAA and Google partnership. These companies have collaborated to create computing visioning/machine learning capabilities for auto vehicle damage assessment. As far as I know, this is the first instance of Google actually developing or co-developing a purpose-built insurance solution. Sure, they tried Google Compare and have invested in Applied Systems. But this is a case of Google leveraging their deep machine learning capabilities to provide a capability specific to insurance.
2. Mitchell/Qualcomm smart glasses solution. Augmented reality for use by repairers at auto collision repair facilities is a very cool solution from two well-established incumbent tech companies, demonstrating that there is substantial innovation coming from these corners (in addition to the startups).
3. The spread of great use cases. Although not new, we are seeing many examples of innovative uses of machine learning, aerial imagery, the IoT, new digital brands, interesting products, and more. In past years, there might be one or two examples to cite in a particular line of business and/or business area, but now there are many InsurTechs, incumbent tech companies, and insurers that can cite multiple examples of business value delivered.

I suppose the answer to the question I’m wrestling with depends on one’s definition of “new.”

I prefer to think of what’s currently happening in the insurance technology space as the evolution and maturity of ideas and solutions that have been around for a while. Only now, these ideas are real, and they are a great thing for our industry.

The last few years have been revolutionary for insurance in some ways. But based on the trajectory that I saw at ITC 2019 and elsewhere this year, there is tremendous innovation and transformation yet to come.

One thing is certain: This industry is likely to look quite different a decade from now.

Mark Breading (mmbreading@strategymeetsaction.com) is a partner at Strategy Meets Action (SMA), a strategic advisory firm working with traditional insurers and InsurTech solution providers to manage unprecedented industry change. These opinions are the author’s own.

This column first published at StrategyMeetsAction.com and is republished here with consent from SMA.

Also by Mark Breading:

• Is the InsurTech movement maturing?
• Changing times ahead for insurance claims industry
• Top tech mega-trends with big implications for insurance