Some comment from EIS after Amazon finally dips its toe into the world of insurance. It’s been a rumour for some years and fair to say that some brands and brokers fear the power of Amazon when it comes to marketing GI policies in particular. Here’s some thoughts from EIS.
“When new players of the size and savvy of Amazon breach our walls, insurers can feel their tea cups rattle. The unsettling problem is that insurers have historically underutilized access to the customer by thinking about their business as books of business and pools of risk rather than looking from the perspective of customer need. In order to compete with new entrants like Amazon, they need to change their perspective. I think of this as the Amazon business model: “I’ll sell you whatever you want, as long as I have a relationship with you. I’ll even sell someone else’s product until I figure out how to make it myself, but I recognize that my most important asset is my relationship with you.”
Among the most important capabilities needed today are the ability to quickly manufacture a product, combine it with others, put it into any distribution model – be it agent, aggregator, online, or embedded in buyer journeys – and also customize it for personalized user experiences.
Whatever insurance business segment you’re in, insurers need to adopt the current technology and IT practices that leading customer-facing companies use. The closer to Amazon or Netflix you are, the better. That implies a certain approach to technology, but also methodology and decision making in the organization. Insurers need to think like tech companies: fast, agile – even better, think of themselves as technology companies first, and insurers second.
From an infrastructure perspective, insurers are beginning to understand that the platform-based technology championed by the consumer tech titans should be at the center of their ecosystem, because carriers cannot operate as hermetically sealed businesses—they must have a way of absorbing external partners and technologies. Their core systems can be that platform. Their role and their architecture has changed. They should no longer be viewed as a backend admin system, rather a manufacturing and customer engagement system.”
Jess Hurley, General Insurance Market Lead, EIS
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