In this webinar, ITL Editor-in-Chief Paul Carroll interviews Scott McArthur, Chief Revenue Officer at Statflo.

They cover:  

--How texting enables the sort of easy, two-way conversation that customers want, getting away from email blasts and snail mail. 

--How other industries can serve as a model for insurers on leveraging front-line employees, rather than expensive call centers. 

--How texting (with its 90%-plus read rates) can combine with emailing and calls to let insurers learn about key life events for customers. 

---

Speakers:

In the consulting work my partner Chunka Mui and I have done with senior management at major companies over the past dozen years, the most useful strategic planning tool we've developed is what we call a "future history." I'd like to try to apply that tool broadly, to the entire insurance industry. And I'd like your help.

A future history is a narrative written as though we're living five years, 10 years or even further in the future. A group -- usually a team of executives -- picks a point in time so it's close enough to today to be useful for planning purposes but far enough out that their thinking can go well beyond the three issues that most strategy discussions generally wind up focusing on: this quarter, next quarter and the quarter after that. The group then imagines what a perfect form of its business or industry might look like at that point in the future. This isn't done as an exercise in fantasy: The idealized form needs to be plausible based on trends in technology, in the economy in general, in behavior by customers and competitors, etc. Once the group narrows in on a plausible vision of nirvana, someone writes a "history" set on that date in the future that describes how the company or industry got there from here, as though it's already happened.

The future history not only gives executives unusual license to raise their sights but also gives them a story that organizes their thoughts and that they can easily remember and rally around -- one CEO, of a major insurance company, brought out his future history every year at his leadership meeting so they could track progress. Turning a vision into a narrative also can point out flaws in the logic -- "We need HOW big an increase in market share?"

Having published bits and pieces of a vision for the insurance industry for eight years now with ITL, I've taken the liberty of writing a future history for the insurance industry, set 10 years from now. I attach it at the end of this piece and very much hope you'll read it and react to it. You can reach me directly at paul@insurancethoughtleadership.com, or you can contribute to a public discussion at our page on LinkedIn. You can follow the discussion on LinkedIn; I'll also report back once the idea has taken more shape based on feedback.

First, some background on some general technology trends that I believe are in play, beyond what we're seeing about digitization, artificial intelligence and more in the day-to-day coverage of the insurance industry. Some of these may seem a bit far-out, but I assure you that I can back up what I'm about to say -- and, as I said, future histories are about really raising our sights and thinking big.

The trends are seven of what I call the Laws of Zero, which I've developed with Chunka and another longtime friend and colleague, Tim Andrews, in a book being published today. The book -- A Brief History of a Perfect Future: Inventing the World We Can Proudly Leave Our Kids by 2050 -- is set much further in the future than what I've written about insurance and focuses on how to tackle broad, societal issues such as healthcare, climate change and disinformation, but the Laws of Zero apply to all industries and will have major impact long before we hit 2050.

By a Law of Zero, we're referring to anything on an exponentially declining cost curve. When you look at that curve over a bit of time, the cost seems to be headed toward zero -- and anything that costs nothing is an infinitely(ish) available resource to throw at problems and opportunities.

Computing power is the area we're all most familiar with, because we've been experiencing the benefits of Moore's law ever since Intel co-founder Gordon Moore posited in the 1960s that the number of transistors on a computer chip (roughly a proxy for its processing power) would double every year for at least a decade. As those doublings have continued (sometimes faster, sometimes slower), we now have iPhones that would have been able to manage sending 120 million Apollo missions to the Moon and back -- at the same time. A gigabyte of memory cost more than $300,000 in the early 1980s; today, a gigabyte costs a fraction of a penny, and you'll soon be able to buy an iPhone with a terabyte of memory (1.024 gigabytes).

But that's all in the past. Now, as strategists, we need to imagine the future. What will computers, phones and other electronic devices look like in a decade when they are perhaps 30X to 50X as powerful as they are today, at no increase in cost? Surely, something new will arise for us as individuals, beyond texting and TikToks, but what will it be? And what new business models might become possible for insurers?

Computing is just the first Law of Zero. We also argue that communication will follow a Law of Zero (providing infinite(ish) bandwidth at zero(ish) marginal cost). Information will, too. The tiny satellites being launched by the dozens by SpaceX and others will blanket the globe with cameras and with communication capabilities, meaning everywhere will be within reach and can be monitored continually. Sensors and cameras, which just need a little solar power, a battery and a small antenna, will be capable of reporting from anywhere. Sensors on and even inside our bodies will let us and our doctors monitor our health in startling new ways.

Genomics is declining in cost and increasing in capability far faster than even Moore's law would suggest. Some 25 years ago, techniques would have required 86 million years to sequence an entire human genome. Today, that can be done overnight. And progress won't stop there, either -- an attachment is being developed for smartphones that will allow for sequencing a genome anywhere, any time, almost instantly. The implications go way beyond healthcare, too, reaching into almost every area related to biology.

We also posit Laws of Zero for energy, water and transportation. These are a bit squishier than those for computing, communication, information and genomics, but they're real and important.

Solar power costs, for instance, have already come down so fast that it provides the cheapest electricity. Soon, it will be cheaper to build new solar and wind capability than to buy coal and gas to fuel existing plants. Solar and wind will always carry a cost -- as will the batteries needed to store the power, and the reimagination of the grid that will have to occur to incorporate so much more renewable energy -- but carbon-free energy sources will be abundant and very cheap. So, people will be able to be profligate with their use, much as people now think nothing of using once-expensive bandwidth to watch football games on their phones.

Once energy becomes extraordinarily abundant and cheap, much of today's problems with water disappear. Some major cities, including Capetown, South Africa, have gone through water crises even though they sit cheek by jowl next to an ocean, but infinite(ish), carbon-free energy will make desalination feasible at scale. Some technologists have even made progress at using solar power to condense water out of the air and may be able to do that at enough scale to supply individual households -- as a demonstration, one company set up a water fountain in the middle of the Atacama Desert in Chile, the most arid spot in the world outside the polar deserts.

With transportation, even though autonomous vehicles will never be free -- they'll still need to be built and managed -- they will take away so many considerations of time and distance that they, too, can be seen as following a Law of Zero.

Some of these Laws of Zero are recursive. For instance, computing power has improved so much that it is enabling artificial intelligence that is designing specialized chips for AI, which will make it more powerful and let it design better chips... and so on. Many are mutually reinforcing: For instance, AI is allowing many genomic processes that used to be done in the lab to be done just as accurately on a computer, meaning that testing and progress can occur at the speed of silicon.

That's enough for now on the Laws of Zero. (If you want to read more, I'd encourage you to read this article that Chunka wrote for the International Insurance Society, a sister organization with ITL, or, of course, to grab the book, where we spend some 50 pages exploring the topic.)

The question now is: How do those Laws of Zero combine with other innovations in insurance to help us design a near-perfect form of insurance by 2031?

In another article for the IIS, Chunka suggests questions, including the following, to help guide our thinking on where to focus our innovation thinking:

• What are the most pressing protection gaps in the communities you serve? The candidate list is not short. Natural catastrophes like wildfires, heat waves, earthquakes, pandemics, flooding and other extreme weather events loom large. Long-term climate disruptions such as a rise in sea level, temperature shifts and droughts will be more severe. Additionally, technology-related risks like cybersecurity and large-scale technology failures could be more disruptive.
• How might those protection gaps evolve, especially for the most underserved?
• How might leading-edge tools enabled by the Laws of Zero be applied to better model risks?
• How might these tools transform every aspect of the insurance value chain, including product development, marketing and sales, underwriting and pricing, claims and customer service?
• How might early lessons from innovators and early adopters around the world be adapted to your community’s evolving challenges?
• How might your organization evolve to help markets and customers better understand their risk profiles and increase resilience, mitigate risk and reduce losses?
• How might your environmental, social, governance (ESG) strategy evolve, and what progress should be made in the allotted timeframe?

When I combined those questions with the capabilities of the Laws of Zero and other innovations, while trying to break free of the constraints we all know the industry faces and confront in our daily work, here is how I imagined an article on a near-perfect insurer appearing in a newspaper (electronically, of course) in 2031:

Insurer Sets Record for Market Value

PHILADELPHIA – Sept. 21, 2031 – The stock price of Transformative Insurance (better-known as TI) rose 3% today, making it the first insurance company to surpass $1 trillion in market value.

“They were the first in the insurance industry to figure out that nobody wants to buy insurance, while everybody wants to be safer,” said Steve Bern, a securities analyst at XYZ Research Corp. “For decades – actually, centuries – insurance promised people peace of mind and indemnified them after a loss. Well, nuts to that. Why not prevent that loss in the first place?”

Loss prevention has been the key at TI for a decade now. It basically aggregated the property/casualty industry’s data and sold services that helped car owners avoid accidents, let homeowners spot leaks before any damage could occur, warned business owners about situations that endangered employees and much more.

Sam Conroy, an analyst at ABC Consulting Group, said, “It wasn’t easy getting insurers to share their data. They aren’t known for sharing. But TI offered insurers a two-fer. Insurers would reduce the size and number of their claims by letting TI aggregate risk-related data, and – this was the big one – insurers got a chunk of equity in TI. TI basically operates as an industry consortium.”

TI, in conjunction with all the major players in the insurance industry, has drawn on the Laws of Zero to deploy a wide array of technology in pursuit of risk reduction.

For instance, TI worked with auto insurers to spread technology pioneered by Nauto, which has tiny cameras mounted in the windshield that monitor both the road and the driver at the same time. These devices were initially deployed by fleet owners, who wanted to be able to check on drivers while going beyond measures such as hard braking – that hard brake might be a sign of inattention, or it might be a sign of an alert driver who saw a deer darting across a road. But the devices now do far more, because of the data and connections that TI provides.

The devices know where blind intersections and other trouble spots are, based on insurers’ accident data, and can warn drivers as they approach, especially if the camera shows the driver being inattentive. The devices now communicate with each other and can even create warnings in real time if a car up ahead hits an ice patch.

“Remember all those 30-car-and-truck pileups in the Tule fog in Sacramento in the winter?” Conroy asked. “No more. As soon as a crash happens, every car behind it gets warned to slow to a crawl and avoid the accident. Your car can now see around corners, too. No, it can't really, but a car around the corner from you can see that a car is about to run a red light or stop sign and instantaneously tell your car to halt until the bozo clears the intersection.”

TI also helped spread technology developed by Notion, which allowed for smart homes without all the installation costs that came with many early devices. The technology allows for a homeowner to place an inexpensive sensor (now costing only a few dollars) anywhere there might be a leak or at any door or window that the homeowner wants to monitor. The sensors communicate wirelessly with a hub in the house or apartment, which then connects with an app on the homeowners phone and, perhaps, with a professional service if the sensors are being used for home security.

“Uptake was swift for a reason that didn’t even occur to me,” Conroy said. “I figured people would like being able to spend a few dollars to prevent a potentially catastrophic leak, and they do, but they really liked that they could be notified when that front door opened and shut at 3:15, so they knew their kids were home safely from school. People wound up using these devices way more than they used any insurance app I’ve ever seen.”

TI has begun to expand into offering home maintenance advice – but very much as a trusted adviser and not, like some other companies, as a front for selling appliances or repair services. TI sensors monitor key pieces of equipment, such as a water heater, to watch for potential leaks. The company also recommends other home maintenance when it can present an argument that the homeowner will likely save money. In addition, TI has drones that can provide annual or semi-annual inspections that look for problems with gutters, roofs, etc., and has access to satellites that can monitor homes daily.  

On the commercial side, TI offers a service that uses cameras -- now so cheap that they can be anywhere -- to evaluate workplaces for situations and practices that pose dangers to customers or employees, drawing on its definitive, continually updated data on previous claims. TI advises clients on how robots could take on dangerous tasks or can be used to make environments safer for customers – such as by using ultraviolet light to disinfect hotels or restaurants. In addition, TI steers clients toward exoskeletons that workers can wear to take over lifting tasks and prevent soft tissue injuries, which used to afflict so many workers.

“TI basically pulled off an Uber or an AirBnB,” said Debbie Colker, president of DEF Research Inc. “TI is a classic example of what Silicon Valley would call an ‘asset-light’ company. It doesn’t have to carry all the risk capital that the insurers and reinsurers have on their books. TI just manages the data and provides services that customers value very highly.”

TI’s success comes at a time when the entire industry is undergoing a technology-driven transformation that, among other things, has pushed operating costs down more than 50% in the past decade.

“I think the last fax machine just got crushed and dumped in a landfill,” Colker said.

Simply moving to a digital form of the business – accelerated greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 – took out much of the cost. Artificial intelligence, including robotic process automation, accomplished most of the rest. Blockchain contributed mightily, too, by providing an easy way to securely share masses of data that previously required waves of phone calls and emails.

"Lo and behold," Colker said, “making operations so much more efficient greatly narrowed the protection gap. Customers now get maybe 80 cents of each premium dollar back in a claim paid, rather than 60 cents, as they used to, because all those unnecessary costs are gone. Customers are still paying for peace of mind, but only about half as much as they did – now giving up only 20 cents of each premium dollar, rather than 40 cents. And they like that change. A lot.”

The transformation began in distribution but quickly moved into claims, then took over in underwriting – and now is cycling through the industry again.

Simple digitization drove the initial change in distribution because it allowed for reaching customers in more efficient and even new ways – including through comparison sites, through social media and through platforms where brokers could place applications for insurance and have multiple insurers quickly bid on the business. Insurers could not only make their offerings more broadly available, far beyond the reach of a series of small offices in strip malls, but could allow customers to do research and begin the buying process online on their own – an especially important feature for younger prospects.

The pandemic in 2020 and 2021 accelerated the need for digital interactions, and the industry later settled into a hybrid, with digital increasingly carrying the load but human agents available whenever they were needed. Chatbots expanded the range of digital interactions, beginning by handling routine inquiries but gradually developing a more sophisticated range – again, always with human experts as a backstop. Robotic process automation now handles most of the coordination of the sales work, and e-signatures and e-payments removed a huge chunk of the paperwork. AI, meanwhile, makes agents much more accurate at identifying prospects.

The digital fervor spread soon enough to claims, where AI caused an even bigger change in the early 2020s than occurred with distribution. In the vernacular of the time, the claim became the boss of the process. Rather than think about a claim as a sort of folder passed down the line from person to person to person as it went from first notice of loss to payment, AI made the claim the central point and sent queries off to people and data bases – including a blockchain – as required to keep things moving along as quickly as possible.

The AI also continually sorted through claims in a sort of triage, paying some immediately because they seemed clean and because the cost of paying was lower than the cost of assigning an adjuster, while referring others to experts or fraud investigators. Parametric insurance, which is increasingly popular, requires that some claims be paid instantly, if, say, rainfall is below a certain level in a farming area.

“There was a lot of focus in the early 2020s about having AI generate an estimate on something like an auto claim, and that was certainly cool,” said Ruth Sze, the leader of the auto consulting practice at JKL Corp., “but the AI maybe saved an adjuster half an hour, and, truth be told, the estimates weren’t initially very accurate. Letting those involved in an accident take pictures shortened the process a lot more. And the really important change was putting the AI in charge; that cut many days out of an auto claim and slashed costs. In 2020, there were a billion days in the U.S. between when auto claims were filed and when they were paid. Now, we're down to single-digit millions.”

Underwriting came next. Based on the Laws of Zero for computing, communication and information, underwriters can now pull together information almost instantly, greatly accelerating the process, while AI has expanded access to lots of new sources, including unstructured information like photos and videos, as well as old, handwritten documents. Many types of commercial insurance can now even be initiated on a self-service basis by the customer, a la auto insurance starting in the 2010s. Customers can get an instant quote online and adjust coverages themselves to see the effect on price, before a broker gets involved to answer questions and review the coverage.

“Now the renewal process is starting back at distribution,” Sze said, “because the traditional part of the industry is finally stripped down to its digital essence. When you think of indemnification, there is a customer, a yes/no mechanism for deciding whether someone gets paid and, finally, capital. That’s it. Just those three elements.

“And now we’re free to pull capital from anywhere — insurers, reinsurers, the capital markets, wherever. We can have any kind of yes/no mechanism, whether that’s an adjuster, a parametric trigger or anything else. Distribution can be anything – and we’re seeing that. Traditional barriers are breaking down between, say, health and life insurance sales – both want to keep you healthy, right? Life insurance can be part of wealth management. Auto insurance can be sold along with an auto, home insurance along with a home. And so on.

“I’ve always thought the truest form of synergy was, ‘Do you want fries with that?’ Well, now everybody is asking on the industry’s behalf, ‘Do you want some insurance with that?’”

***

I realize this is far longer than my usual missives, but I didn't see any way to do this more succinctly. There's a lot going on here. I hope this stimulated your thinking and really do hope you'll either offer thoughts on how this hypothetical TI might be even better -- don't worry, I have a thick skin -- or suggest other avenues to pursue.

We have almost immeasurable capabilities that we can use to transform insurance, and, if we get the vision pretty much right, we can start planning now for 2031 rather than just waiting until we get there before really figuring out how to take advantage of what the Laws of Zero will deliver.

Cheers,

Paul

Over the last 18 months, insurers were pushed to communicate, service, process manual payments and win new business without risking the health and wellbeing of those accustomed to an in-person operating model. 

With mail systems under significant pressure amid severe weather and a notable increase in volume, the need for safe, efficient, user-friendly digital payment options has skyrocketed. Individuals and small businesses have faced immense financial stress due to the global disruption and economic downturn of the last 18 months, only amplifying the need to simplify payments. 

Payments are at the center of the insurance industry, both for customers paying premiums and insurers disbursing claims. Yet in 2019, 52% of payments were made by check versus 22% across other sectors, signifying the need to overhaul payment processes for insurers.  

Policyholders expect carrier interactions to mirror the same level of experience that leading online vendors have achieved, and insurtech can deliver the secure, easy-to-use digital payment options customers want.

Insurtech also improves policyholder retention by simplifying carriers’ most frequent engagement point with insureds — premium payments — and increasing customer satisfaction, while driving significant expense reduction. Most carriers report that more than half of their incoming calls are billing-related. Providing various, easy-to-use payment options and self-service capabilities reduces calls dramatically, freeing call center personnel to focus on more valuable activities. 

To reduce expenses, accelerate collections and meet customer demand, insurers must integrate intelligent payment communication engines with dynamic reminders and personalized customer interactions. This will help reduce late payments and costly cancellations for non-payment of premiums. Some of the principal features to look for in an insurance platform include:

• Auto-renewal
• Omni-channel payment options (ideally offering the same superior user experience across each channel)
• An engaging policyholder interface
• Intelligent communications
• Innovative agent portal tools
• Secure payments

Why Now?

The unexpected challenges driven by the pandemic demonstrated that companies that had already made significant investments in digital transformation were far better equipped to pivot and adapt to new operating conditions. Insurance companies that are slow to digitize and modernize their customers' experience will lose policyholders to more agile, customer-centric competitors. 

See also: Did You Use the COVID Down Time?

One customer that chose to leverage payments technology experienced a 151% increase in online payment adoption, higher customer satisfaction, a 15x increase in paperless enrollment, an average decrease of 15 hours per week spent on payment reconciliation and a decrease in mailed payments, all within 12 months of implementing insurtech. 

Even if many insurance policies don't ever result in a claim, all policies involve billing, payment and collection—customer-facing moments of truth shared by every agent and company. Insurance providers that create a compelling and practical customer experience during these significant moments will emerge with notable competitive advantages in a fiercely aggressive industry.

Within the insurance industry, the personal lines sector has frequently been the pioneer in building and enhancing digital capabilities. With increasing demands from both policyholders and distribution partners for digital solutions, technology innovation was and remains imperative to both staying relevant and increasing market share. Simply put, insurers that do not continue to prioritize their digital capabilities risk being left behind or, even worse, becoming obsolete. Distribution partners, including retail agencies, brokers, wholesalers or MGAs, are currently focused on two key areas – user experience and ease of doing business. They are looking to partner with insurers that reduce friction points, increase efficiencies and provide self-service digital offerings to both agents and policyholders.

Furthermore, the channel strategies of personal lines carriers are continuing to evolve. A recent SMA Research report, “Channel Strategies and Plans for P&C Personal Lines: A View of Today’s Environment and What’s to Come,” highlights key channels that insurers plan to expand over the next several years, including insurtechs, agents/brokers and affinity partnerships. To examine the digital capabilities required to both support and expand these channel strategies, SMA recently surveyed carriers focused on the personal lines market. The research looked at the current state of digital capabilities offered to distribution partners, the technology and business/cultural roadblocks to digital adoption and insurers’ plans for building or enhancing new digital capabilities.

SMA’s research tracked 14 different digital sales-oriented capabilities and 18 servicing capabilities. Starting with a carrier’s satisfaction with the current state of offerings to their distribution partners and subsequently examining their future tech investment plans, this report provides an in-depth look at where the personal lines industry is today in terms of digital capabilities and where it is headed.

See also: Pandemic Reshapes Personal Lines Plans

With respect to sales, insurers reported the least satisfaction in the areas of appetite and submissions. On the servicing side, where many personal lines insurers have historically focused on enhancing digital capabilities, satisfaction was higher. But satisfaction still varied based on capability, indicating that insurers recognize the need for further enhancement. When looking at future investment areas, self-service capabilities and the user experience of both the agent and policyholder are front and center.

The flurry of new channel strategies and digital projects clearly indicates that the pace of innovation within the personal lines distribution space is not slowing. Insurers must remain close to the evolving market and to changes in the needs and expectations of distribution partners. It’s an exciting time because there are numerous opportunities for growth, the potential to truly increase efficiencies and the need to transform the user experience.

For more information on personal lines distribution expansion strategies, see our recent research report, “Distribution Technologies for Personal Lines: Carrier Progress and Plans.” SMA is also introducing a new research series with perspectives from the distributor viewpoint. A regular series of research reports will be published based on surveys and interviews of agencies, brokers, MGAs, and others in the distribution channel, including insights from ReSource Pro’s large footprint of distribution clients.

Much of life happens at work. Even if employees are more transient than ever, swapping jobs for greener pastures, they are still working eight-plus hours a day, committing the greatest part of their waking hours (and their most productive hours). While at that company, most have a sense of loyalty. They will do their best to make sure that their employer does well.

While they are loyal, working hard and identifying themselves with the company, they also are looking for “what the company can do for them” – including what benefits are offered to them. The crazier life gets, the busier employees become, and, as they adapt to life changes, the more interested they are in benefits that will provide them what they want and need, save them time and not take too much time to research or purchase. What they want are benefits that make sense for them and can be purchased in ways that make sense. And that gives group and voluntary insurers a whole new challenge. Create relevant products that make sense on every level. Offer products that fit each unique life. Then offer them where life happens — at work.

How to do all that?

Celent recently released a report commissioned by Majesco, Next-Gen Platforms in Group and Voluntary: Exploiting New Opportunities Across the Worksite Ecosystem. At the same time, Majesco started a series of blogs and conversations that are yielding some truly fascinating insights, not only about why insurers should consider entering the Group & Voluntary market but why Group & Voluntary current market opportunities may be a sufficient motivator for insurers to adopt a next-gen platform approach to technology. Once we have examined the research, I think you’ll agree with me that there has never been a more opportune time to develop a Group & Voluntary strategy and an accompanying platform strategy.

Timing and approach and data

In my last blog, we listed out a number of reasons that Group & Voluntary Benefits are like the new “Wild West” of insurance; it seems like anything and anyone can get involved because the territory is opening up. A market shift, generational shift and technological advancements have changed how an insurer can develop and market their products through the worksite channel. Let’s look at a traditional example for comparison.

Celent’s report discusses traditional “life-event” marketing. (See Figure 1)

“…many of the life events that ought to trigger an opportunity to engage, such as a promotion or the birth of a child, often get missed when using traditional methods. Employer systems, when coupled with other data, can be a great source to identify and then tailor a solution that meets the exact need at a point that counts.”

Figure 1

So, where traditional insurers rely on agent fact-finding or on less-detailed data from market lists, employers know the facts and, in many cases, are already using those facts to establish patterns of wellbeing for the employee. In fact, it’s in the wellbeing area that Group & Voluntary Benefits insurers may find their best product opportunities.

See also: What Is Happening to Life Insurance?

The wellbeing at the end of the rainbow

Instead of just asking the important question, “What do customers want,” the more relevant question in Group & Voluntary Benefits is, “What kinds of wellbeing are companies promoting these days?” Insurers need to follow the wellbeing rainbow to figure out just what sorts of products and hybrid services employees might find useful as they pursue wellbeing across physical, mental, financial and lifestyle.

As Celent points out, this search for wellbeing fits most employer benefit portfolios.

“Today, most employee plans extend beyond insurance to provide more holistic wealth, health and protection services. Increasingly, these services promote wellbeing, reward loyalty (through retail store discounts etc.), and serve to increase the employee's purchase power (such as leveraging government tax-efficient plans in some territories to purchase healthy living equipment, such as ‘bikes for work’).”

By looking at the benefits portfolio, in line with employee wellbeing and a new source of excellent data for life event-driven marketing, Group & Voluntary Benefits insurers should consider the types of innovative products that will be demanded. Many times this product looks less like a simple standalone product and more like a hybrid product that may include multiple coverages, multiple partners, incentives, data-linked pricing and some element of lifestyle wellness. Celent calls this a diversified play.

“Increasingly, it involves not just a converged product set tailored to meet a specific customer need but also a mechanism to drive regular engagement (via an associated rewards program) or active wellbeing with the associated risk mitigation benefits (such as an incentive program driven by IoT-based devices designed to drive active lifestyles or nudge financial prudence, such as IRA top-ups).”

Which way is the door to entry?

Once an organization has established that it has a product concept that might fit the employee benefits landscape, it’s time to understand the distribution landscape. In most cases these are the doors to entry. According to Celent, “Group & Voluntary players have the opportunity to extend their reach through either staking out a position in distribution or partnering with these players in addition to broadening their relevance through diversified plays.”

The Celent report illustrates several partnership models that range from partnering with adjacent group and benefits providers and connecting through application programming interface (API) integrations through becoming the center of a voluntary benefits ecosystem, with various options in between. Insurers need to consider what role they will play as they consider an array of partnerships that will deliver the products demanded by customers. It all boils down to strategy. Where can a Group & Voluntary Benefits insurer positively contribute to and succeed in the overall benefits scheme?

A very long engagement — the opportunity to keep the customer

In traditional Group & Voluntary Benefits products, portability wasn’t much in demand.  As I pointed out in my last blog, people stayed at their jobs longer – often their entire career – and, if they didn’t, most insurers and systems weren’t prepared to turn a group or voluntary product into an individual product with the flip of a switch. Today, if a benefit works for an employee, they may wish to keep their coverage when they leave – or if they operate as a gig worker for the company. This is pushing Group & Voluntary Benefits players to figure out how to engage employees and then help them make seamless transitions between jobs or gigs.

This is where the idea of partnership becomes a vital element for capturing Group & Voluntary Benefits opportunities. In many or most cases, insurers that are looking to create products in the well-being space may find their best partnership opportunities within the realm of insurtechs and well-being platform startups. (See Figure 2)

Celent states that, “Partnering is a rational alternative response to deliver a more rounded customer proposition fast and is the dominant strategy being adopted by firms active in the employee benefits market.”

Figure 2:

This kind of partnering requires cloud-based, real-time services, facilitated through API integrations and normally in touch with both the worksite plan orchestrators (Benefits Plan Administrators) and the insurtech wellbeing and engagement players. This is a real hurdle!

According to Celent, “For Group & Voluntary insurers operating in this market, operating models are often hampered by legacy infrastructures where different underlying systems service different products are then glued together at the front end, resulting in an inconsistent customer experience depending on the product sold…. Longer-term investment in technology and the adoption of an open ecosystem mindset are essential to really take advantage.”

See also: Designing a Digital Insurance Ecosystem

The next-gen ecosystem — an opportunity enabler

The timing is right. The opportunity to partner with benefits distribution players is better than ever. The ability to engage customers with better data and then keep them with portability is a real opportunity that will continue to grow through innovation. The whole premise hinges, however, on one decision. Are insurers ready and willing to adopt a next-gen ecosystem approach and prepare their organization with the platform architecture and cloud-supported strategy that is necessary to move ahead?

In the not-so-distant past, group and voluntary benefits were known for their stability and consistency. The players were known. The products were established. Benefits packages didn’t vary much from year to year. The employee was simply concerned with the cost of premiums, particularly for medical, versus their annual pay increase. Group and voluntary benefits insurers lived in a semi-blissful state as brokers working with HR teams acted as agents, bringing in cafeteria-sized groups of policyholders.

The market wasn’t easy to enter. There were far fewer voluntary products than there are today. The top insurers cornered the market. They knew how to please employers, how to make a profit and how to protect their turf.

Then, a dam broke. First the ACA changed healthcare. Then came insurtech. Now, the convergence of talent competition, tech advancements, wellness initiatives, wealth management and multi-generational employees with varying different needs and expectations has made group and voluntary business into a new land of prospecting and opportunity.

Boardrooms started buzzing with rumors of gold in the hills, only they weren’t rumors. Voluntary and group benefits were and are a real area of financial opportunity. The top players still exist, but a growing number of insurers are entering the market, expanding the products they are providing and creating options in how they are packaged to meet the unique needs of a highly diversified and competitive employee base. 

What’s so wild about group and voluntary benefits markets?

Majesco recently commissioned a Celent report to assess the opportunity as a part of our thought leadership and strategic marketing to provide another point of view on the future of insurance. We wanted insight on the opportunities, the technology platforms and ecosystems required to capture the market opportunities now unfolding. What is shaping the new need? What is today’s employer looking for? What is different about life for today’s employee? How do any of these answers relate to core platform development for next-gen group and voluntary benefits?

See also: Benefits of Deploying a Hybrid Cloud

Next-gen core platforms as an answer to channel expansion (and everything else)

At Majesco, we talk a lot about convergence and its impact on insurance. Real innovation happens at the point of convergence. Right now, all of the factors we list below are real pressures and opportunities creating points of convergence. These points all touch on issues that can be solved with a next-gen platform approach.

• New generation of customers – Millennials and Gen Z can shift ownership. This new generation of customers has the potential to turn the downward tide of insurance ownership over the last few decades. From a high in the mid-1970s with 72% of adults and 90% of households with two parents owning life insurance, that figure has fallen to a 50-year low; LIMRA’s 2010 life insurance study found only 44% of U.S. households had individual life insurance. Our health, wealth and wellness customer research highlights the demands from this new generation of employees. But do insurers have the products, value-added services and customer experiences they demand and expect?
• Employees shifting jobs. A Forbes article highlighted that the recent Prudential Financial’s Pulse of the American Worker survey noted that one in four workers are looking for new employment post-COVID. Nearly 80% are looking to employers for solutions to alleviate financial stress with benefits such as retirement plans, health, disability and life insurance, paid family medical leave and emergency savings programs. 40% of workers were more likely than a year ago to consider a job that offered better benefits. Is there a disconnect where employers could provide a broader set of benefits that meet this new expectation?
• Employers' desire to broaden benefits packages without increasing the HR workload. Talent is in short supply. Unemployment is the lowest it has been in over 12 months. Employers are in recruiting mode. With only so much they can offer in wages, they are moving to benefits and perks to make their companies look attractive and family-friendly. This means channels are opening for new and existing products.
• Employers' desire to hold on to their most valuable asset – employees — while keeping them safe and healthy. Whether an employer is self-insured (using large health insurers for repricing) or relies on employee population health to keep corporate premiums down, all are looking for ways to use perks and benefits to keep their employees healthy and foster wellbeing. Telematics and digital engagement are necessary to measure and make improvements.
• Benefit platforms in expansion/transition mode. Digital open enrollment, online benefit experiences and umbrella apps that contain all of an employee’s benefit information are on the rise. Add to this the demand for different plans to meet the diversity of employees – sometimes across four generational groups. To get invited to the platform party, insurers must be ready to play in the digital ecosystems that have already been created by some of the large benefits consultancies. Platforms and partnerships are lead players in the future of group and voluntary benefits insurance.
• New types of insurance. The economy is changing. Supply and demand are inconsistent. COVID-19 is still affecting customer behavior. Global politics seem unstable. Cyberattacks are frequent and disruptive. Individuals are looking for some stability for their finances. According to Aon, in 2020-2021, voluntary insurance offerings among employers grew 27%. Accident insurance, legal, identity theft, hospital indemnity and auto/home insurance all grew over 30%. This is astronomical year-over-year growth — a true Wild West scenario! And don’t forget about the gig employee ---where benefits could be gig on and gig off. Insurers can now look at any area of financial risk and consider where they may be able to create a product that will sell — if they are prepared to plug their systems and processes into platforms and ecosystems.
• Insurance purchase through employers. Even traditional products, such as auto and home insurance, are seeing an uptick in the group and voluntary benefits channel. The draw isn’t just a better group rate, but that premiums can be taken from paychecks. Employees can enroll and “forget about it.” It helps them manage their overall financial and risk needs, rather than working with multiple insurers or agents. This, in turn, drives up loyalty to employers. The more attractive services that the employer can provide, the more difficult it will be for employees to job hop. Who is out there creating the next new insurance hub or employer aggregation tool for P&C and other traditional products?
• Advanced data analytics. An employee is already a “known” person. They are somewhat vetted by their employers to be stable, reliable and less prone to risk. Product design and mix are in constant flux as insurers add more attractive products and product features to their portfolios, driving the need for more advanced data and analytics to understand what employers, sponsors and participants find appealing and to drive greater participation, enhance customer experiences and enable new products and services.
• Digital engagement. The importance of digital capabilities is now core to insurers' offerings, regardless if they are group benefits or individual products, to drive simplicity, participation and growth. The promise of digital engagement is a two-way channel — better communication into the insured employee and more informative data coming in from the employee. Digital engagement and data analysis can create another loyalty bridge between insurers and employers as they both begin to see the positive effects of understanding the employee population.

There are dozens of additional reasons that next-gen core platforms are going to rewrite group and voluntary benefits insurance, but the most basic is this:

Technology has advanced to the point that it fits the gaps created by convergence issues.

Every customer, employer and insurer need can now be met with next-gen insurance systems that are designed to fit. Insurers needed systems to be adaptable enough to create products and flexible enough to stand alone or fit into partner platforms. They needed solutions that would provide the same high-level digital experiences that they may be giving to individual policyholders who purchase through agent, broker or online channels. They also needed systems that could effectively move from “group” underwriting and purchase to “individual” underwriting, purchase and administration. This would allow for policy portability and a greater degree of population understanding and control.

Is there a formula for group and voluntary benefits success?

The answer to the Wild West in group and voluntary benefits is to digitally prepare for rapid flux.

 

Last week, we debuted our “Connected Insurance” webcast series with ““DISRUPTION: Technologies Transforming the Industry.”  I had the pleasure of serving as host and moderator, and by all accounts the session was well received. 

Our underlying theme for the session was how digital technologies, including AI, are transforming the insurance economy. More broadly, our expert panelists shared their perspectives on the state of digital transformation across the auto insurance ecosystem and views on  the technologies poised to revolutionize how the process works near- and long-term.

Participants represented four key inter-dependent industry segments:

• Collision repairers/MSO (Matt Ebert, CEO, Crash Champions) 
• Auto insurer claims management (Scott Kohl, AVP Claims, Kemper)
• OEM parts distribution (Dan Ducharme, senior manager, wholesale parts, VW America)
• Insurance economy platform provider (Marc Fredman, chief strategy officer, CCC Intelligent Solutions)

The premise of the session was this: A billion days elapse every year between when auto claims are opened and when claims are resolved. Consumers are losing patience with industries that don’t keep pace with modern experiences, and disruptors stand ready to deliver change. 

Several important observations became apparent as the discussion unfolded:

• Technology has and will continue to transform how business is conducted in every segment; the rate of change is accelerating and presenting its own challenges, including shortages of skilled staff 
• The new technologies having most impact across the entire ecosystem are telematics, auto photo inspection and computer vision, advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) and electric vehicles (EVs)
• The companies in all four segments are focused on exactly the same outcome but are achieving it in different ways – they seek safe and proper repair of damaged vehicles, resulting in a positive customer experience and ultimately brand loyalty and retention 
• The collision repair industry has changed most dramatically over the past decade, driven by consolidation financed by private equity investors
• Digitization of the thousands of steps involved in the auto claims process, and integration between segment participants, is enabling the customer experience associated with auto claims to begin to approach the “Amazon standard" 

At the industry segment level, the following panelist comments struck me as particularly insightful and informative:

Collision Repairers/MSO

Matt Ebert noted that the new technologies are definitely making the “front end” of the auto claims process faster, but the offset for collision repairers is that the greater complexity of vehicles (e.g., ADAS) creates new challenges for repairers; even what used to be a simple bumper repair may now involve scanning and recalibration).  

Matt also pointed out that repairers are affected by the large number of different repair requirements from carriers and OEMS and often find themselves “in the middle” of the dynamics that exist between some insurers and OEMs. On the subject of OEM certified repair networks, Matt said that, while his participation in these programs helps brings some incremental repair volume to his repair shops,  particularly for higher-end vehicles, to him right now participation is more about credibility with insurers and consumers.

See also: Key to Transformation for Auto Claims

Auto Insurer Claims Management

Scott Kohl made the point that what was only recently thought of as innovative in auto claims is now table stakes and that planning cycles that used to be in the five-year range are now only two to three years. He added that there is a constant need to be ready to pivot quickly in response to events and market changes. He also stressed the importance and value of using AI to connect the supply chain for multiple use cases including automating accident management triage, parts ordering from real-time first notice of loss (FNOL) and total loss identification and resolution as that percentage continues to rise toward 25%.

OEM Parts Distribution

Dan Ducharme also referenced automated parts ordering using on-board vehicle telematics to pre-position parts inventory based on vehicle and damage detail and geo-location to reduce overall “keys to keys” time for customers. He also reinforced that auto makers are focused on keeping customers for life, which further emphasizes the importance of customer experience and satisfaction.

Insurance Economy Platform Provider

Marc Fredman pointed out that while some of us talk about emerging technologies and future auto repair process capabilities, a good deal of it is happening and available today; he indicated that CCC has 30,000 customers using their technology across all segments represented here. Marc also indicated that the building blocks for an Amazon-like experience exist today, as exemplified by the CCC Engage and CCC Car Wise solutions in use in approximately 25% of their shops for sharing photos and estimates between consumers, insurers and shops and enabling insurers and consumers to schedule repair appointments. He said that over 200 million shop calendar entries have already been made in this way. Marc also said that insurer adoption of digital solutions is significant, with some insurers managing 25% to 30% of assignments. Other examples of digital building blocks already in market include 50 million text messages that employ AI and enable insurers to better manage claims intake and provide text messages to consumers tracking repair status and “ready for pickup” notices.

The Amazon-like Auto Claim Experience

Having worked in the claims technology space for more than 35 years, I find it stunning to look back and realize all the improvements that technology has already enabled. It is even more exciting to realize how much more improvement can be expected and see the rate of that change accelerating. This change is driving collaboration and cooperation between key participants in this extensive supply chain to a level until now unimaginable. 

The final pieces of technology required to achieve the long-elusive goal of delivering straight-through-processing of auto claims are now falling into place. A couple of prime examples include artificial intelligence and computer vision to assess damage and produce estimates from photos and digital claims payments speeding settlements to insureds, vendors and lenders. 

A truly Amazon-like auto claim and repair process is finally at hand.

Traffic is back. Are insurers ready for the inevitable rise in auto accident claims?

Motorists filed fewer claims during the pandemic, as lockdowns reduced the number of cars on the road. Data from Allstate, GEICO and Progressive show that claims frequency fell by 27% to 30% in 2020 for physical damage claims and 25% to 30% for bodily injury.

But those numbers don’t tell the whole story. Driving in the U.S. became more dangerous last year. As traffic volumes declined, risky driving behaviors, especially speeding, surged – and so did traffic fatalities: up 8% in 2020 over 2019 in total numbers and up an astonishing 24% per 100 million miles driven. 

The grim trend has continued this year. For the first five months of 2021, motor vehicle deaths increased 21% over the same period in 2020. 

At the same time, those in insurers’ supply chains and at many tier-two and -three carriers have reduced staff. Some fear that if reckless behaviors persist (and even if they don’t), claims will surge even after the country begins to return to normal. There is already evidence that an increase in claims has begun.

This could swamp insurers’ capacity to respond in a timely manner and ultimately increase premiums. Insurers can prepare for the future by taking a few measures, such as: 

Continuing to roll out straight-through processing (STP) for low-complexity claims

Carriers learned that the claims process can be simplified through an integrated partner ecosystem by providing the right digital tools for their insureds. This moves simpler claims through the process with little intervention, allowing adjusters to focus on the more costly, complex claims. By implementing true STP automation in key claim activities (e.g,, first notice of loss (FNOL), document management, customer communications, fraud and subrogation predictive analytics and payments) and across certain claim types, carriers can enhance the customer experience while increasing efficiency. That’s a big reason why adoption of STP is rising across all lines of business.

See also: Power of Partner Ecosystems

Using chatbots, texts and apps to facilitate a quick and frictionless claims experience for customers and service providers 

Customers have become more willing to engage digital tools during the claims process, which allows them to participate in creating their own claims experience. These solutions drive down cycle time, which is a primary driver in customer satisfaction. They also free employees so they can use their greatest assets -- empathy and emotional intelligence – to enhance customer experiences. For example, Indian insurer Bajaj Allianz lets customers submit photos of vehicle damage via a mobile app. The insurer uses AI and machine vision to provide claim assessments within 20 minutes. If the customers agree, the funds transfer straight into their accounts.

Providing risk management advice such as storm alerts and hazardous road warnings to help customers avoid losses in the first place.

Insurers can channel this advice to customers via apps to encourage safe driving or to protect their insured property. They can even nudge customer behavior by rewarding them for being safe. As our recent paper, Insurance in the Age of Instinct, noted, insurance touchpoints will become fluid, varied and responsive and ultimately allow experiences and services to be tailored to the individual. Using data to assess risk in real time by predicting the likelihood of adverse events transforms insurance models from claims-paying activities to claims-prevention services.

Springboard for innovation

But why stop there? Now is the perfect time for insurers to consider even more transformational strategies, such as shifting from traditional actuarial underwriting models to pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) models. In 2020, most new vehicles sold in the U.S. could connect to the internet, compared with just 5% in 2016. The real-time data on driver behavior provided by telematics improves on legacy actuarial underwriting models by providing more accurate rating risks and taking the subjectivity out of underwriting a policy.

Insurers have taken notice. PAYD is gaining momentum – one tier-one carrier had six times more interest in its pay-per-mile program in 2020 versus 2019.

Other transformational strategies gaining momentum include parametric insurance, which is tied to indices like wind speed or precipitation, rather than losses sustained. 

The most forward-thinking insurers will adopt all these innovations, and more. But the most successful companies will be the ones that also reskill and upskill employees to master the new technologies and roles. Lifelong learning is a requirement in an industry that is becoming more dynamic by the day. A workforce that is adept at acquiring new skills is now a big competitive advantage. And remember, the more an insurer is known as a believer in lifelong learning, the easier it is to attract a new breed of talent to the industry.

See also: Innovation in Fraud-Detection Systems

As we continue to grapple with the pandemic, it’s important to recognize and adapt to the new normal. By adopting innovative technologies and new ways of working and learning, insurers will be ready for an increase in claims -- but more importantly, will be prepared to capitalize on opportunities emerging in years to come.

What single problem must all engineers solve? Hint: The answer is so simple, you can’t even see it.

The paradox of invisibility

A firefighter may be worth a million dollars per hour when there is a fire and her or she courageously saves lives and salvages property. The value of the firefighter is derived from the severity of the fire. On the other hand, a fire protection engineer can design a thousand buildings that will never burn. But, in the absence of the fire, the true economic value of the engineer cannot be measured.

This is the paradox of invisibility.

Much the same can be said of aircraft that do not crash, bridges that do not collapse and pandemics that do not spread.

What single problem must all engineers solve?

Answer: Engineers remove risk from complex systems. That’s it. This simple fact is true for every single engineer and may even serve as an adequate definition for “engineering” at large. Engineers increase human productivity by reducing the risk to human life and property when confronted with the natural constraints such as gravity, temperature, impact, etc. The value of engineering is literally immeasurable in the absence of the disaster. Hence, it’s a problem so simple you cannot even see it. 

But wait, risk can be measured! Insurance companies and financial institutions do it all the time. It turns out that engineers think along the same lines as all risk managers and may deliver solutions that integrate seamlessly into the same computational analysis.   

Engineers resolve risk in three ways

Engineers follow a similar thought pattern when addressing problems as the actuary in formulating insurance products. This is so natural that we often don’t recognize what they are doing it.

1. Engineers invent ways to identify and define the existence of a peril.
2. Engineers invent ways to reduce the probability that the peril will manifest. 
3. Engineers invent ways to reduce the severity of consequences if the peril does happen.

Each of these actions is identifiable, verifiable and measurable. Each – separately or together -- can increase the efficiency of existing insurance products and facilitate the creation of new or expanded insurance products. Engineers validate the data that insurance depends on. Once validated, the risk resolution may be duplicated endlessly for similar risk exposures and standardized at near zero marginal cost.

See also: A Quarantine Dispatch on the Insurtech Trio

The Innovation Bank

At the Innovation Bank, we are setting up a network platform that uses a combination of game mechanics, blockchain technology and actuarial math to decentralize the engineering and science professions. In the case of fire protection, the Innovation Bank would curate the validated claims of all fire protection engineers, which can be analyzed to estimate how much risk has been removed from the “fire economy.” This value can be represented as a cryptographic token (on a dedicated blockchain) that may be purchased by banks, insurance companies, municipalities, corporations and property owners to access the database to better understand their specific risk exposures. The value of the tokens compensates the engineers to perform more comprehensive fire safety surveys and mitigation strategies. This positive feedback loop eventually can reduce total risk to near zero.

The world is on fire

Fire is only one peril related to one engineering discipline. The reality that confronts civilization today includes multiple complex global systemic risks affecting nearly every facet of life on Earth. These include climate change, pandemics, political instability, grinding debt and wealth inequality. 

To untangle every contributing risk exposure and replace it with comprehensive solutions that do not break the bank, we hope to introduce a parallel financial system that hedges the one currently being stretched to the limits. A digital token that represents engineering and scientific risk mitigation would be mutually convertible with national currencies and therefore taxable and transparent to regulatory standards. The two currencies would hedge each other.

Conclusion

The insurance industry faces daunting challenges, including inflation risk, cyclical risk and a plethora of systemic risk exposures. Fortunately, the single problem that all engineers can solve is the reduction of risk – if that reduction can be measured. 

The Innovation Bank could be finished within a matter of months for mere Satoshis on the dollar. 

Please continue reading articles from the Ingenesist Project at https://ingenesist.com. Our juried paper published by the American Society of Professional Engineers may be found here: The Innovation Bank; Blockchain Technology and the Decentralization of the Engineering Professions. Also, please see our other publications at: Select Publications and Lectures.

The Talent Crisis — and Opportunity Paul Carroll, Editor-in-Chief of ITL A recent survey by PwC found that nearly two-thirds of employees in the U.S., including executives, are looking for a new job. That number is stunning. It suggests that insurers need to play some serious defense, to keep employees happy and on board and to keep competitors from poaching talent. But it also illuminates an opportunity to play offense. If lots of employees are looking for a new position, then, by all means, let’s go get the best we can. continue reading > Majesco Webinar Tune in to this month’s webinar as industry experts reveal insights to next-gen distribution management that will help insurers grow and retain their distribution channels.  Register Now SIX THINGS Embedded Insurance Reaches Tipping Point by Meitav Harpaz Embedded insurance is the way forward for many online businesses to offer confidence to consumers in these uncertain times. Read More Growing Number of Uninsurable Risks by Barry Rabkin Uninsurability of certain risks has been happening more frequently over the decades -- and cyber risks look like they may not be insurable. Read More Climate Change and Product Liability by Christopher McKeon Climate change risk is emerging within the product liability discipline in a pattern seen previously with mass tort litigation. Read More Digitizing Reshapes Home Insurance by George Hosfield A survey of the top 50 U.S. property insurance carriers shows how digital disruption, innovation and the pandemic are affecting the industry. Read More Blockchain Smooths Subrogation by Sanjeev Chaudhry Blockchain is poised to rewrite the rules of competition in subrogation by streamlining operations, enabling data to be shared seamlessly. Read More Time to Rethink the Approach to Risk? by Bethany Greenwood A major survey finds that the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns have transformed business leaders’ views and expectations of insurance. Read More Minimize Fraud, Lower False Positive Rates and Increase Automation for Low Value High Volume Claims Using Halo Based AI Sponsored by Daisy Intelligence This whitepaper explains how using Halo-based AI minimizes insurance fraud, increases automation, lowers false-positive rates and delivers excellent financial results. Read More MORE FROM ITL Resilience Ratings: Triple-I Unveils Way to Measure Communities’ Risk Levels Peter Drucker once famously said that “what gets measured gets managed,” and the Insurance Information Institute is unveiling measures for U.S. communities’ resilience against natural disasters. In this webinar, ITL Editor-in-Chief Paul Carroll and the Triple-I’s senior economist, Michel Leonard, discuss what the measures cover, how individuals and communities can use them and where the Triple-I will take them from here. Watch Now SEPTEMBER FOCUS: Life Insurance   "...It seems to me that the lines will increasingly blur between life insurance and financial management, given that life insurance is an important financial asset; people often think about their finances, and life insurance can become a natural part of that focus. I could also see the trend toward embedded insurance expanding the life insurance market — why couldn’t a term life policy be, for instance, embedded in a mortgage when someone buys a building, to make sure the purchase is secure even if something happens to the buyer? Over the years, I’ve had people tell me life insurance is boring. I don’t see it that way at all." Keep Reading Partner with ITL to create expert thought leadership content. Custom Content Promoted Content Display Advertising Custom Webinars Monthly Topic Sponsorships ITL Partner Packages and more Learn more and get the 2021 Media Kit GET INVOLVED Write for Us Our authors are what set Insurance Thought Leadership apart. Get Started SPREAD THE WORD Share Share Tweet Forward SUBSCRIBE TO SIX THINGS