INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Insurance Digital Experience Study: J.D. Power
P&C insurance companies have improved in many of their digital offerings—particularly mobile self-service functionality—but according to the J.D. Power 2019 Insurance Digital Experience Study, insurers still come up short when compared against mainstream digital consumer companies in ease of shopping and servicing their policies, household-level policy management, and social media usage. Read more.

New Small-Medium Business Market Reality Demands New Insurance Strategies: Majesco
Majesco has released a new research report, Building the Business Model for the Next Generation of Small-Medium Business Leaders, underscoring shifts in behaviors and expectations which will require insurers to rethink their business to retain their customer base and capture emerging growth opportunities for this underserved and growing market. Read more.

Chisel AI Launches Submission Triage For Carriers
Chisel AI, a technology provider for the global insurance industry, is pleased to introduce Submission Triage, an AI-powered intelligent workflow that enables commercial insurance carriers to auto-route and auto-decline submissions, dramatically expanding their quoting and underwriting capacity without adding staff. Read more.

Information Builders Introduces Omni-Insurance
Information Builders, a leader in business intelligence, analytics and data management solutions, has announced the launch of Omni-Insurance, a data and analytics hub that provides property and casualty insurers with business-ready data to help them transform from a product-driven to a customer-driven enterprise. Read more.

ENCON Launches Next-Gen Platform For Brokers
ENCON Group Inc. has announced the launch of V², a next-generation digital platform for brokers to procure commercial insurance. The new platform is the latest technology innovation from ENCON, a subsidiary of Victor Insurance Holdings. Read more.

Equisoft, Humania Offer Financial Advisor Platform
Equisoft has announced the launch of an innovative solution developed in collaboration with Humania Assurance – a turnkey, targeted email marketing platform for financial advisors that integrates directly with Kronos Finance, a Customer Relationship Management software (CRM) used by over 12,000 advisors across the country. Read more.

Consumers Want Rewards For Data-Sharing
Insurance carriers' customers are purchasing and using connected devices in ever-increasing numbers and generating information about themselves and their lives – a hidden gem for insurance carriers. But can carriers influence consumers to share their data? Aite Group's new report offers fresh insights into consumers' willingness to share data with their carriers in exchange for rewards. Read more.

BrokerLink Acquires Alberta-Based TSG Insurance
Thomson Schindle Green Insurance & Financial Services Ltd. have announced they will join BrokerLink, one of Canada's largest property and casualty insurance brokerages. The transaction was effective May 1st. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read more.

Travelers Offers Real-Time Customer Alerts
The Travelers Companies Inc. has announced that independent insurance agents who use the EZLynx Management System will now be notified instantly when their Travelers personal auto insurance customers make a policy change in the MyTravelers® self-service portal. The EZLynx Management System dashboard is updated in real time when a customer adds or removes a vehicle, modifies a deductible, changes their address, adds a driver or makes other modifications to their policy. Read more.

Canada Protection Plan Announces AI Solutions
Canada Protection Plan, a leader in No Medical and Simplified life insurance, is pleased to announce new innovative AI-focused initiatives to support its advisors, including the Advisor Assist Program and integration with Amazon Alexa alongside its new proprietary AI Assistant for Advisors, “Emilie.” Read more.

Canada Protection Plan Launches Elite Term Life
Canada Protection Plan, a leading provider of No Medical and Simplified life insurance, is pleased to announce the launch of Express Elite Term, a no-medical life insurance product. Read more.

Swiss Re, Airbus Aerial Team On Flood Modeling
Airbus Aerial and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions have announced a collaboration that will help companies efficiently identify flood risks and more accurately predict weather-related flood damage. Under the collaboration, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions' flood assessment tool, FLOAT, will be powered by Airbus Aerial's drone imagery and data. Read more.

Aon, CoverWallet In Commercial Partnership
Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions, and CoverWallet, the market-leading digital insurance company for small businesses, have entered into a commercial agreement to serve clients in Australia. The parties are in the process of expanding this partnership to additional geographies, including North America. Read more.

Canadians Worried About Autonomous Vehicles
Most Canadians are concerned when it comes to new vehicle technologies that are slowly changing the way we drive, according to CAA research that points to a need for more consumer-friendly information. Read more.

Update On Sale Of Echelon To CAA Club Group
Echelon Financial Holdings Inc., which has historically operated in the property and casualty insurance industry in Canada, is pleased to confirm that final regulatory approval has been granted for the sale of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Echelon Insurance, to a subsidiary of CAA Club Group. Read more.

Fraudulent Applications Rise Sharply: Aviva UK
The value of fraudulent claims detected by Aviva – the UK's largest insurer – fell by 11% in 2018, but the scale of insurance fraud is still substantial and the total value of liability fraud increased by 20%. Read more.

More Canadians Need Time Off Work For Disability
The number of Canadians who need time off work due to a disability is on the rise, yet disability coverage continues to decline, according to a new RBC Insurance survey. Read more.

Financial Incentives Motivate Consumers’ Fitness
More than two-thirds of Americans say an incentive of as little as $2 per day would motivate them to devote at least an hour each day toward improving their health, while nearly 60 percent of people say they would be more likely to participate in a fitness routine if the program offered an opportunity to socialize or make friends, according to a new nationwide survey. Read more.

Three-Quarters Of Drivers Are Distracted: IBC
IBC is releasing the results of a survey on distracted driving in order to encourage drivers to adopt good driving habits. 75% of drivers said they were distracted at the wheel in the past six months, even though 90% of drivers were aware that accidents caused by distracted driving can drive up auto insurance premiums. Read more.

“Distracted Driving Kills”: SGI Campaign
SGI is launching a distracted driving awareness campaign to coincide with the June Traffic Safety Spotlight on distracted driving. SGI's poignant campaign has a clear message: distracted driving kills – don't miss out on life. Read more.

“Insurance In The Platform Economy”

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Digital transformation starts with a digital omni-channel Customer Communications Management (CCM) strategy. And it doesn't stop there.

A digital-first mindset helps to support customer experience (CX) improvement.

Warren Lederer, COO at Madison Advisors, will discuss “Adopting A Digital-First Mindset To Improve Efficiency & Customer Experience” at ICEF2019.

You will learn:
• Why digital transformation strategies need to incorporate business processes;
• The difference between omni-channel and multi-channel – and why it matters;
• Best practices for success & lessons from failure;
• Why automating back-end processes is important;
• Where and how automation can improve CX.

Visit insurance-canada.ca/icef for all the details.

Featured job opportunities:

Business Development Executive
ClearRisk
Toronto, ON

Account Manager – Commercial Lines
NFP Canada
Toronto or Kitchener, ON

The InsurTech Spotlight features insurance practitioners and InsurTech(nology) providers which are – or are becoming – InsurTechs. In the spotlight this week are:

Volyse
Volyse – Virtual Travel Health, with you every step of the journey. Volyse makes sure travelers are well equipped for their travels. Our aim is to facilitate and innovate access to health support for travelers. We are a multidisciplinary team of travel health providers who are passionate about preparation and prevention. Through our mobile app, we equip you with information, personalized consultations, prescriptions and expert advice before, during and after your trip. We are committed to providing you continuous, reliable and personalized care straight to your fingertips wherever you are in the world, to minimize your risk and maximize your enjoyment of your precious travel experiences. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.

From Doug Platforms to Ecosystems? In today's Intersection blog, above, Strategy Meets Action partner Karen Furtado asks this question about core systems: “Are we in the late innings of yesterday's game or in a brand new digital game?” It was only a decade or so ago that a new breed of insurer core systems emerged. They promised functions which took advantage of new underlying technologies. Many insurers have implemented or are in the process of doing so. New technologies continue to arrive and the advantages they could bring to insurance – more efficiency, greater precision, enhanced communications and engagement – are being explored and developed by InsurTech start-ups and incumbent core system providers. We see ongoing announcements – 1,100 APIs for EIS Group, verified “integration” of partners by Guidewire, etc. (and BMS vendors are in a parallel game) – that illustrate the migration from a rich single platform which performs most functions to an “ecosystem” of functions which can be called upon as needed. Innovation continues. But what does the new game look like? Explore the new insurance horizon at ICEF2019, and learn about the imperatives for competing successfully in the Platform Economy. Doug Grant, CIP Partner Insurance-Canada.ca