While the insurance industry may be considered conservative when it comes to IT, technological innovation is seriously impacting how insurers conduct their trade.
Emerging technology trends to impact insurance industry
The KPMG General Insurance Industry review for 2018 noted that technology was one of the two areas drawing the most attention in insurance: “We continue to see a number of emerging trends that will impact the industry in both the short and long terms. These trends are largely split between those driven by technological advances and those impacted by regulatory developments.”
As the report notes, technology provides insurance companies with the opportunity to deepen customer engagement, find new value in non-traditional assets such as data alliances and networks, improve the speed it does business and, through automation, run a lean and more productive organisation while offering sophisticated products in the market.
Insurance industry still slow in adopting digital transformation
Despite the interest, however, insurance organisations are still slow to pull the trigger on major transformation projects. “Most began with ambitions to disrupt, but their enthusiasm has been tempered by the reality of investments, regulations, capital requirements, and the risks and challenges of offering something new to cautious customers,” according to the KPMG report.
Duck Creek Technologies to support insurers’ growth through digital transformation
Duck Creek Technologies has grown rapidly in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region on the back of its reputation as a specialised partner that helps insurers realise their technology ambitions while managing their risk profiles at a lower Total Cost of Ownership compared to others in the market.
Duck Creek Technologies managing director, Shaji Sethu, said key to its role was being able to understand the unique challenges facing insurers, and then articulate technology solutions on their terms.
The company provides organisations with a SaaS platform – in fact, it claims it’s the first SaaS solution designed specifically around the unique environment that the vertical operates in. It enables insurers to manage policy, billing, claims, and distribution management in the cloud, while providing deep insights and digital engagement with customers.
The open platform, with a broad partner ecosystem built around its API, is designed to consolidate and centralise the entire IT environment for the insurer, enabling them to operate with greater agility.
