We are gathering up more Predictions for 2022, so let’s kick off this one with some comment from Ashleigh Gwilliam, Insurance Success Director at Artesian : DueDil.
“As economic recovery accelerates and the market begins to soften, 2022 will be a year of massive growth in terms of both demand and revenue. There will of course be challenges to contend with, such as prolonged emergence from the pandemic, sustained inflation, ESG concerns, increased cyber threat, and rapidly evolving customer needs and preferences.
Success will depend in no small part on how effectively brokers and underwriters manage their investment in both people and technology.
Attracting talent will be harder next year, but thanks to accelerated digitisation during Covid-19, brokers and underwriters increasingly can apply technology brilliantly to every aspect of their role, even remotely, thereby assisting with retention.
The most technologically advanced businesses will realise the competitive advantages of harnessing data, automation, and predictive modelling. They will improve underwriting and pricing accuracy with richer assessment of risk, enhance distribution, deliver more personalised customer interactions, differentiated experiences and a value-based understanding of needs, and improve onboarding speed. They will also be better able to rise to the challenges of regulation and compliance, and augment existing policy information with both structured and unstructured intelligence to build an early warning system for claims and emerging risks.
2022 will be an exciting year for the UK insurance market, but it will also be a year when the tech savvy and nimble reap the greatest rewards, whilst those slower to catch on will suffer from diminished relevance.”
GENASYS TECH
“Meanwhile Andre Symes, Co-CEO at Genasys Tech sees more investment in insurtech and protecting IP;
Having reached a record-high of $10.5BN in the first nine months of 2021, in my view it’s a given that the global investment in insurtech will continue on its upward trajectory fuelled by the non-public market. While the likes of Hippo, Oscar and Root have all failed to realise their IPO price, we saw stand-out businesses like CFC, Zego, Bought by Many and Envelop all attract significant investment from PE firms in 2021 and I think we’ll see more of the same in 2022.
And on the back of Sure closing on $100M in Series C funding in October, the signs are there that businesses are getting more serious about embedding insurance capabilities to augment customer service, underwriting and claims rather than focusing purely on the sales process. For me, that represents a hugely exciting leap forward for the industry.
Finally, I believe that we’re going to see further intellectual property value creation via collaboration rather than bespoke coding. Using off-the-shelf platforms as the solid foundation and layering on elements of the insurance eco-system will enable insurance businesses to create unique propositions that will truly stand-out rather than yet another ‘me-too’ offering. ”
AETNA
Finally, let’s check in with Aetna, who can see rapid growth in telehealth after Covid19;
“The impact of technology on the health insurance sector is going to be profound over the next year and beyond. In 2020 and 2021 telehealth services really took off, as the pandemic forced us all to rely on the flexibility they offer. The acceleration in the roll-out of these services allowed people to experience a new form of primary care which still proved to be safe, helpful, reliable and ultimately, more convenient.
We’re likely to see a continued focus on these services into 2022, as people realise that in-person health consultations are not always required. As a result, there is likely to be a reduction in the number of claims made and costs endured by health insurers. People are also more likely to feel empowered to self-manage health concerns, given the ease and flexibility digital services provide.
In the next year, we can expect to see health insurers continuing to provide their members with truly accessible telehealth services, and monitoring new and emerging health conditions post-COVID. For instance, the impact of long COVID, which is currently not fully understood and hard to predict.
People have grown to trust telemedicine, and this provides a platform for further growth and adoption. The provision of accessible, consumer centric health care that fits neatly into people’s everyday life will be central to this. Additionally, AI will continue to revolutionise remote diagnosis, and enable people to be more engaged in their own well-being. The challenge for insurers will be developing the right funding environment to accommodate these newer technologies.”
THE BROKER LANDSCAPE
Chris Kenning, CEO Stubben Edge Group,
Will there be more broker consolidation in 2022?
“In a word yes. We will still see a lot of consolidations because of the cash available via private equity, but access to this this stream will be dictated by changes in interest rates. However, we believe there will also be a number of brokers who will want to go the other way, some who have been bought out and who will want to set up on their own again, with access to better tech, capacity and data, rather than the regulatory, compliance and financial support they currently get through their buyouts.
“There is a huge pool of untapped entrepreneurial talent in brokerages that have been subsumed by larger groups. Talent which we will empower to start, run and grow their new businesses in 2022 when we launch our new network.”
How data insights can fine tune your insurance offers
“This is something we are very excited about at Stubben Edge and which will power our new offering, launching in the New Year. Indeed, our recent acquisition of Akoni and its open-banking software means that adding this capability to the insurance application process will enhance the data we can capture and enable our broker partners to tailor their offerings and unlock increased insurance capacity. We’re very excited to harness this, so we can help brokers, IFAs and third-party partners drive their business growth further in 2022.”
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