InsurTech LIVE 2023: HUB International on digital strategies
On the back of InsurTech LIVE, our virtual show connecting the world of insurtech, we look back on a keynote presentation from HUB International’s EVP and Head of VIU by HUB, Bryan Davis, about the rise of independent omnichannel distribution.
HUB: Three key themes driving insurance to omnichannel distribution
For Davis, three core themes are driving the insurance industry to favour omnichannel distribution.
“The number one theme is market conditions,” says Davis. “Climate change is having a marked effect on insurance today. Weather patterns are affecting customers and locations differently than they have in the past.
“Typically, insurance carriers price on historical data. Now, some of those historic models are becoming irrelevant because we’re seeing hail in Arizona, ice in San Antonio – and other weather phenomena we wouldn’t usually see.
“So it’s getting harder for carriers to predict risk, and it’s increasing prices for consumers too.
“Markets are hardening too in today’s economic environment, with unstable supply chains causing prices to increase in different interest rate environments.
“This is creating a market that is less risk tolerance and more risk averse, a big change from the last 10 years.”
Secondly, Davis cites tech and data enhancements as a key contributor to the rise of omnichannel distribution.
“New entrant tech-enabled competition (insurtechs) are influencing customer's preferences too.
“Tech and data advancements, whether it's the rise of platforms, ecosystems, embedded insurance, embedded finance, or cloud computing are making interactions, programming and data compilation a lot easier and a lot more affordable.
“This rise is enabling smaller insurance entrants to do a lot more with less, with far greater ease to deliver greater customer experiences. This is why we’re finding that insurance incumbents are favouring omnichannel distributors.”
Thirdly, Davis cites a change in customer behaviour as a cause for a shift in incumbents preferring to use the services of independent omnichannel distributors.
“Shifts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted all consumers. We know too that Millennials and Gen Z customers have a heavy preference for seamless and interconnected services.
“These digital natives have always been used to technology. But we’ve also seen that the pandemic has forced many more to become more digital. We like to call them digital refugees. So we’re seeing more and more consumers get to grips and integrate themselves with the digital world.”
For the full keynote from Davis, you can click on the video link above.
And, if you’re looking for more InsurTech LIVE content, you can find it on our website as more continues to roll out over the coming days.
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