New technology as an opportunity in the insurance industry

Since April of 2015, Karsten Schmitt has worked at adesso insurance solutions as a Senior Business Development Manager. In particular, he is responsible for the areas of policy management and claims management composite as well as the intelligent structuring of data. We interviewed him regarding the topics of artificial intelligence and new technology in the insurance industry of the future:

The technological possibilities are developing faster and faster. It is nothing new for some consumers to be able to control their own home while on the go – the so-called "Internet of Things". Is this type of new technology even relevant to the insurance industry, Karsten?

Definitely. We conducted a study regarding the future of composite insurance over the past year based on a representative survey of experts. This showed us that in particular topics such as "IoT", meaning the "Internet of Things", artificial intelligence and cloud computing will have a significant influence on the development of composite insurance.

What exactly do these types of developments mean for the future of insurance?

In order to determine the effects these technical innovations will have, we have to first take a look at how they work. In order to lock your door while on the go, for example, you need sensors that initially detect the current situation. Data is gathered here that makes it significantly easier, for example, to detect burglaries or to even prevent them. The insurance company can process the claims in a significantly faster and simpler manner based on this data. Or it is also possible to create risk assessments that can be used to create individual tariffs adjusted to fit the specific policyholder. And this is where the topic of artificial intelligence comes into play: the identification of fraud attempts becomes significantly better through the detection of patterns. The possibilities are diverse and this is just the beginning.

That all sounds very positive for insurance companies. Are there areas that insurance companies should nevertheless not disregard?

Of course. Customer expectations have changed enormously with the new technical possibilities. "Amazoning" is a fitting key word. Customers are used to getting anything they want whenever they want it – and this being independent of where and how they request it. I am in a new city and I book a room quickly through the AirBnB app. I want to try out a drone, but not buy it? Then I simply rent it quickly and comfortably for a few months through providers such as Otto Now. Expectations that insurance companies are confronted with have changed with these possibilities. If you do not fulfill these expectations, you run the risk of scaring off customers. That is one point.

Another point is that insurance companies are confronted with completely different types of claims. The "burglars of the future" are no longer in front of the house, but rather sitting on their computer and access data from their victims and use this to get their money. This is already going on now and will certainly increase even more in the future. And of course policyholders want to take out insurance against these types of new claims.

What can insurance companies do to be prepared for the future?

A big point here is definitely the right technology and handling it correctly. In order to be able to reasonably analyze the increasing volume of data, clouds and the right IT strategy are indispensable. You have a big advantage here if you know how to correctly handle these enormous volumes of data. It is not a very simple task, but insurance companies do not have to solve this alone. In order to save time and money, for example, it is possible to cooperate with InsurTechs and FinTechs. They already have the right knowledge and take an unbiased look at the new challenges. This is a significant advantage for the insurance companies. But with the support of experienced IT service providers as well, insurance companies can take on the challenges and open up new possibilities. adesso insurance solutions is currently supporting Provinzial NordWest with the establishment of the new direct insurance company andsafe and is providing the complete application landscape from the cloud.