How to stay at the forefront of growth in the insurance industry
Over the past few years, the insurance industry has seen rapid growth in the pace of innovation. Daniel Chavenson, VP, Strategy & Corporate Development for Cover Genius, joined other experts in the space to discuss how companies such as Cover Genius have stayed at the forefront of this growth, in the OnRamp Insurance 2022 panel, “How to Keep Up With the Change of Pace”. The conversation kicked off with panelists talking about why the industry is seeing this shift, with Daniel explaining that a more efficient transaction process has led to a better customer experience.
He elaborated, citing the specific example of the First Notice of Loss (FNOL). Historically, when customers would have to report a loss, they’d often have to pick up the phone and ring a call center. Insurtechs like Cover Genius have streamlined the process, using real-time data to facilitate the first notice of loss instantaneously without having to go offline. In fact, Cover Genius can facilitate the entirety of the transaction lifecycle, from first notice of loss to claims payouts, all through a single API.
The panel also discussed where they thought this growth was poised to go in the next couple of years. Daniel explained that embedded solutions have helped mitigate several of the problems that have plagued the insurance industry, which has largely been fragmented and expensive. Embedded protection drives better economics for the entire ecosystem with more predictable margins for insurance carriers and better customer experiences, so moving forward, the embedded approach will only see more growth. This could be new lines of business in existing industries or expansion into other sectors such as auto and mobility, gig economy, and neobanks, to name a few. Panelist Alexander Traum, Special Counsel for Cooley, noted that in the past year, the question of embedded insurance was the number one question he’s received from clients and potential clients, reflecting the growing interest in the offering.
The panelists left the audience with their advice to people in the industry about setting a culture that can thrive with this rate of change. For Daniel, the most important piece to maintaining the pace of change at an insurtech, specifically, is collaboration between the insurance subject matter experts and the Product and Engineering teams. Collaboration can either speed up innovation or lead to a stalemate, which is why it’s imperative to foster a collaborative culture from the top.
Key Highlights
0:25 Introductions
2:50 Over the last number of years, we’ve seen a bit of an existential shift in growth in our industry. What do you think is driving this new rate of change we’ve been seeing recently?
4:45 Can you give any examples of a time that you guys have taken something out to streamline, reduce redundancies?
9:35 We work in a very highly regulated, risk-averse industry. Can you give us some examples of what you’ve seen be effective, where regulatory, legal, and compliance can actually aid in the acceleration and ability to respond to change, versus being an encumbrance?
11:50 Speaking as somebody who’s in the trenches as an entrepreneur, talk to us about your experience in navigating regulation and risk aversion but still to ensure that your team can execute and launch something new into the market.
15:10 How do you keep track of all the signals in the market? How do you and your firms keep track of what trends to follow and what to actually pay attention to and respond to?
20:08 How are we seeing the rate of change progressing now with distribution, and where do you think it’s headed in the next couple of years?
23:45 What advice do you have to people in this industry about setting a culture that thrives with this rate of change?
28:40 What do you think you have most to offer to anyone in the audience who wants to accelerate their ability to respond to the volatility and velocity of the industry? What do you think your firm can do to help the ecosystem keep pace?