That’s the central message to emerge from the InsurTech Rising International conference in Paris in October. Fve key themes emerged from the presentations by a range of venture capital firms, insurtech companies, and mainstream insurers.
In some cases, that means a traditional insurance company incubating or investing in a digital challenger insurance brand; in others, it's about partnering with an insurtech that can provide a compelling solution in a part of the value chain, such as claims or distribution. The intention might be to integrate the insurtech brand or solution into the mainstream business at a later stage.
There’s another category to consider: the startups that are built from scratch to take on the incumbents in the insurance industry. Some of them have a head start in developing pioneering tech-driven business models and customer experiences and could be well positioned to become to insurance what Amazon is to retail or Uber to personal transport.
“Insurance has a reputation for being a conservative industry that resists change, but the overarching theme at InsurTechRising International was that we’re starting to make material progress in using technology to rejuvenate the industry, but the best is yet to come” says Alex Thomson, co-founder at Naked insurance.
“We're seeing a lot of innovative thinking coming to the fore in insurance, along with investments aimed at transforming the customer experience. At last, insurance is entering the digital age.”