Insurers in the InsureTech and Services Jungle

In the blog post "Making claims: Innovative software for modern customers" Yannik Bohlmann has already discussed service provider connection with 3C. In this article, the topic will be examined more in-depth, quite independently of claims processes. The market for InsureTechs and (claims) service providers in the insurance industry has been growing steadily in recent years. There are currently a good 180 startups alone that are introducing new ideas and innovations into the insurance industry and claim to want to play a significant role in shaping it. InsureTechs such as OnPier or Miss Moneypenny are closing a gap between insurers and end customers by offering new services in the area of B2B2C platforms. In addition, there are established service providers such as Experian or 3C, which offer direct services such as scoring services or claims settlement networks for insurance companies. Due to the mass numbers of InsureTechs, this means various issues for insurance companies:

• Which service providers or InsureTechs should you bring on board so you do not lose out to the competition or to create a USP for your own company?
• How much effort must be invested in this?
• What priority does bring them on board have over other software projects

Scarce IT resources

But what does the increasing number of these service providers mean for insurance companies. A multitude of services ultimately also requires a multitude of interfaces to be linked. Especially with today's shortage of skilled workers, especially in the IT sector, there is the issue that in addition to IT projects that have been scheduled for implementation for quite some time, additional IT projects may now be necessary to connect these interfaces. In recent years, there has been a wave of modernization among insurers in the health insurance sector. Now this is hitting composite insurers. Many insurers are currently replacing their host systems, developing new customer portals or application lines. This means that the already scarce IT resources are tied up in internal projects for the (not) foreseeable future. This contrasts with the above-mentioned development in the InsureTech sector. In order to take full advantage of such services, business analysts, developers, and especially testers are needed to clearly specify, develop, and ultimately test the complete end-to-end process. The lack of resources is probably also one of the reasons why InsureTechs have so far proven to be less disruptive. Furthermore, connections like this always come with the risk that the originally envisaged goal is not achieved and the desired added value fails to materialize.

in|sure Ecosphere as accelerator

The question is how long this situation will go on for and how insurers will position themselves in the future. In the composite insurance sector, we are observing a genuine change, and the demand for applying such services is increasing. That is why we are increasingly working with InsureTechs and providing interfaces to them as standard that can be easily used. Using in|sure Ecosphere opens up the possibility of breaking new ground and collaborating with InsureTechs without having to rely on IT resources that are not in the group or otherwise utilized to capacity. The interfaces available in|sure Ecosphere can thus be easily used in a field trial. If bringing them on board brings added value, the field test can be extended to other areas. If the results turn out to be unpromising, the insurer has lost nothing and the IT costs invested were not in vain. In the future, we will continue to monitor the market and check which interfaces to new InsureTechs make sense and are worth including in the standard. These may then potentially also become available as part of in|sure Ecosphere's standard releases.

Would you like to learn more about the in|sure Ecosphere? Feel free to contact our expert Michael Rabin, Senior Business Developer at adesso insurance solutions.

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