2019 Aus Insurtech Delegation Wrap Up from ITC

Last week, Insurtech Australia hosted our third annual Insurtech Delegation which this year was to the US encompassing a day of private sessions including Ted Stuckey, Andrew Johnston, Insurtech Gateway UK founders, Insurtech Israel delegation and an afternoon of local and international pitches. This was followed by 2 intense days at Insurtech Connect with the mission being creating connections, opportunities and gaining insights. The delegation was made up of 13 insurance executives coming from organisations including QBE, Munich Re, iptiQ by Swiss Re, Austcover, IAG, Centrewest, AON, JB Hifi Solutions,  Envest, Insurtech Gateway together with 8 insurtech organisations including Evari, Claim Central, Codafication, Floodmapp, Cover Genius, JRNY, Advisr and Coverhero. 

Some of the main themes and observations from Insurtech Connect I experienced were:

1. AI ...was everywhere and is the current buzzword for insurtech. From underwriting applications, automating parts of the value chain, new business models and improving customer experience.
2. The changing expectations and demands of customers continue to drive many of the innovation activities in the insurance space. Self-service was mentioned multiple times with the view being this is not seen as a burden by the customer but rather being given control. It is accepted that when it comes to self-service offerings there really is no digital divide between generationsThere is no doubt that self-service will be creeping into the value chain more and more with insurtech players enabling this capability in various forms. 
3. Cyber risk continues to have significant impact and the demands in this space are constantly changing with not enough qualified experts to meet the demand. The question remains as to whether the industry would be well prepared in the face of significant and multiple incidents. 
4. Partnerships and collaboration in insurtech are still a major focus compared to disruption. The problems in the insurance industry are bigger than what one company can fix on their own. ITC is really about connections at the end of the day and what partnership opportunities may come from these connections and it was highly evident that most attendees were certainly making the most of it. 
5. There is growing focus on moving insurance from the transactional product based offering towards a more purposeful offering, encompassing elements of prediction and risk mitigation as well as protection. The challenge remains how insurance brands generally migrate towards becoming a go-to brand and transforming a ‘need’ to a ‘want’ and how further value is brought to the customer which in some cases, will likely be through insurtech partnerships.
6. Culture is on the tip of all incumbents’ tongues and the idea that all insurance companies out of necessity need to and are becoming more innovative. Simply focusing on digital transformation without a focus on cultural transformation is likely to fail. 
7. Insurtech is well and truly cross border. Whilst ITC was US focused, multiple international delegations were present and not being from the US was certainly no barrier to having meaningful opportunistic discussions,
8. Diversity, or lack thereof, is still very evident in this industry both in attendance but particularly looking at the speaker and panel lineup. In saying that, the standout speaker for me across the 2 days was Kara Swisher - more of that please! 

A special thank you to Munich Re and QBE, both founding partners of Insurtech Australia that helped support the coming together of the delegation and program as well as Austrade in the lead up. We look forward to the next one!