Houston and Harvey. Florida and Irma. The West and the Wildfires. Hail in the Midwest. Floods in the South. Will 2017 set a new record for catastrophe claims? According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), 2013/14/15 and the first 9 months of 2016 were welcome respites from insured disaster losses, totaling between $13 billion and $18 billion. This is far lower than several other periods in recent history. These would include Sept. 11 in 2001 ($39.5 billion), Hurricane Katrina in 2005 ($77 billion) and 2011/2012, which were among the costliest years in U.S. history with $35 billion to $37 billion in losses. The Insurance Information Institute points out that the long-term trend is for more, not fewer, costly events. Preliminary estimates by AIR Worldwide have placed the low end of 2017 damages at over $115 billion accounting only for damage from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. When catastrophes hit, they hit insurers hard. They decimate the lives and livelihoods of individuals and families, but they can also wreak havoc on the systems and reputations of those who will be trying to assist in the restoration and rebuilding. Insurance executives are undoubtedly wondering if they are prepared enough, what they can do differently and what they can improve before the next natural disaster strikes. Customer service and marketing are worried about retention rates, service ratings and net promoter scores.  Operations is concerned about scalability during claims events. Finance is (understandably) concerned over losses. In my next three blogs, we will take a close look at holistic claims preparedness. How can we use catastrophe preparations to improve our customer value, save customers from additional loss and lessen claim impact on both the insured and the insurer? Claims Pays Back What is important to remember is that from a satisfaction standpoint, one claim or a tremendous number of catastrophic claims both have the potential to positively or negatively impact satisfaction, retention and recommendation. According to a 2016 J.D. Power post-claim survey of auto insurance customers, 84% of delighted claimants will definitely renew their policy and 83% will definitely recommend their insurer. Among displeased claimants, 12% will definitely renew and 7% will recommend their current insurer. What does this tell us? It suggests that any effort aimed at improving the claims experience through catastrophic preparedness isn’t effort wasted if the catastrophes never come. These efforts will bear fruit in loyalty and recommendation — the positive results of a thoughtful, “rethought” claims value chain. See also: Harvey: First Big Test for Insurtech  Adopting a Holistic View of Claims What does a catastrophe-prepared insurer look like? How can we use our new knowledge of catastrophic events and our years with fewer claims to ready ourselves for those times when we will be inundated? What can we do to give customers a superior claims experience from pre-claim through restoration — anytime — even outside of catastrophic events?  What new technologies can change and enhance the process? Some years ago, customer-focused business practices came into vogue and most insurers started paying attention to every area of the organization and its relationship to the customer. What many didn’t realize was that this shift was never-ending, because shifting demographics and customer expectations would continually be in flux. Very few insurers realized quickly that claims is perhaps the most vital front-line touch point because of its overall power to drive loyalty. This caused their definition of the scope of the claims process to remain limited. (“People make a claim. We assess the damage and pay the claim. We use technology to quickly assess and pay.”) In reality, claims has become a hotbed for opportunity, where a holistic vision of a technologically-advanced process can truly revolutionize everything from damage impact to efficient and effective replacement and restoration. In its depth and breadth, claims is no longer claims at all, but it encompasses everything that flows from prevention to protection to assessment and restoration. Where Technology Intersects with Catastrophe The process opportunities lie in the places where technology can be employed to achieve cost-savings and improve satisfaction. Just considering the possibilities can be overwhelming. Here is a tiny sample of places where technology can be employed to rethink the claims process.

• Global Information System (GIS) data to identify and predict impacted customers.
• Rules-based alert libraries, cross-referenced to policyholder property and contact data
• Drone views of property pre- and post-catastrophic events.
• Redundant and cloud-based operations and communications for reduced business impact
• Artificial Intelligence to predict likely post-catastrophe fraud scenarios.
• Adjuster mobilization, prioritizing and routing.
• Multi-touch communication plan and CRM that weaves human contact and digital contact into a cohesive approach (No claimant left untouched.)
• VR educational simulations to walk claimants through a process they may have never encountered.
• And there are so many more…

The simple exercise of walking through the claims process with an eye toward streamlining and improving service will yield a long-list of fantastic opportunities for claims innovation. Though every insurer will prioritize differently, we’ll highlight some of the most impactful areas, beginning with communications. Where the Digital Thread Begins You have just received a text from your insurer via a chatbot. “Hail is coming to your area. Place your car into the garage.” The insurer is in touch with current weather, knows your address, knows you have a garage and perhaps even knows where your car is currently parked. That would be a “digital win” and the beginnings of a digital thread that could run through many applications in insurance operations. If we can’t keep catastrophes from happening, we can keep our insureds aware of their potential. We can warn, suggest preparations, suggest evacuation, prepare and send an initial first notice of loss (just in case) and mentally prepare people for what is coming and what is next. This is just the beginning of the digital thread that will impact claims service. There are dozens of these digital threads and we’ll be discussing many of them throughout the course of this series. See also: Hurricane Harvey: A Moment of Truth   We should acknowledge at the outset, however, that no insurer can employ and “conquer” every digital opportunity at once, and every insurer will have a unique perspective on how these technologies should be acquired or employed. In some instances, technologies will be rented (e.g. drones), borrowed (AI) or tested (cloud) before diving into full use. In other cases, digital capabilities will be fully-integrated into operations at the outset. In all cases technology will add a valuable layer to protection and service. In our next blog in this series, we’ll be looking at these layers through the lens of Operations. How will our tech decisions move us toward the optimal claims value chain? How do we need to rethink the holistic process – possibly extending beyond where we have traditionally been?  Can these external disruptions positively impact our internal use of disruptive technologies? How will our internal catastrophe preparations not only create an innovative claims process, but also create a consistent claims experience that will foster loyalty and lift us above the competition? I hope you’ll join me in this relevant and rewarding conversation.

The way mediations start is important. A bad start can result in a lot of wasted time getting to the place you should have been at the beginning. The First Move The best way to start is to start. Don’t be afraid to make the first offer to settle. Setting a settlement floor or ceiling tells your negotiating opponent where you are. Silence can falsely communicate that you are in the same ballpark. Even if your offers did not get a response before, making a new offer now re-defines the settlement ballpark. An offer made “in light of new information” (even if that is simply a reconsideration) is not bidding against yourself. See also: ‘Twas the Night Before Mediation   Start Very Big or Very Small Think about how your negotiating opponent will react to your opening. Your initial offer should not be so ridiculous that your opponent will walk out. On the other hand, research tells us that an extreme number can lead to a final result closer to the speaker’s expectation than does a more moderate opener. Pick the Tiny Issue Seldom does a workers' comp settlement turn on only one issue.  Plan to start with the issue where the parties have the smallest evaluation difference and continue on as the challenge size increases. You may have to skip and come back to the thorniest issues regardless of size. Isolating issues and knocking them down one by one is an effective way to reach agreement.

Traditionally, insurers have siloed lines of business. But that presents a challenge for carriers working to meet the unified, user-friendly expectations of today’s consumers. A functional online portal has increasingly become a baseline expectation of carriers across all lines of business. Planning, design and governance are just as important as development for insurers launching customer portals; building out a successful customer portal means taking the following nine elements into account. Develop from the customer’s perspective. Carriers should consider how the products they offer in specific markets can be brought together in a way that is both logical and consistent with customer expectations. When it comes to defining the term “customer,” it makes sense to look at the individual or entity responsible for paying the premiums and then building from there. Other industries, such as retail and banking, have established effective user interfaces, and carriers should take advantage of the professional support conducted and experience gained in these other industries. Portals should be clean and efficient, expose information rationally, and provide clear direction on how to accomplish key tasks. Make omni-channel an inherent part of the design. Carriers should recognize that customer expectations and preferences for communication channels can vary widely. While websites, mobile apps, IVRs, and call centers are all viable, customers may want to utilize different channels, depending on their needs. Consumers should be able to easily change channels while retaining access to consistent, accurate information. Insurers should consider mobile capabilities from the outset so portals address changing consumer expectations and so that responsive design capabilities can be leveraged. See also: Happy Producers, Happy Customers  Design for maximum leverage across the distribution chain. The architecture of comprehensive portal solutions can be leveraged across the insurance value chain to include multiple distribution partners and business models. Reusability should be the primary focus, with a broad set of functionalities that can then be tailored to specific situations, with underlying functionality to support other touchpoints. A sound approach is through user-driven integration, which enacts product integration automatically when possible but allows customers to enable the process manually for products that fail to do so naturally based on business rules. Create a functional road map. Insurers can create a road map for the future by building a list of the various transactions, both financial and non-financial, that a customer portal should support. This composite list allows for an assessment of the relative complexity of these transactions and the business rules that surround them while providing a visual representation of commonalities and differences between participating organizations. In addition to creating a framework for work prioritization at the beginning of portal efforts, road maps can provide a foundation for regular touchpoints and discussions about priorities moving forward. Build a healthy “household.” A logical construct that allows multiple products to be integrated into a unified whole is a foundational component of any effective portal implementation strategy. In order to create this unifying structure, carriers should reconsider how they think about customer relationships. A common best practice is to look at the relationship from the standpoint of the person being insured, regardless of risk, to create a “customer information file” and a form of a “household.” Carriers should create this person-centric view of information, then integrate that information into any further relationships through an appropriate online tool set—which should be part of the portal. Test often and leverage feedback. Insurers should proactively leverage testing and feedback in the deployment process. By paying attention to users, insurers can follow through on their efforts to design from the customer’s point of view. Incorporation of insights should be done in an iterative manner, should engage sales partners who may already have a perspective on customer needs with respect to self-service capabilities, and should potentially utilize “secret shopper” studies. All of these capabilities maximize the potential for tools to be built from a client perspective, rather than an internal one. Implement a cross-function governance structure. Insurance carriers need to face the reality that creating a unified, enterprise-wide set of outward-facing portal capabilities may cause friction between business units. Typical best practices call for a centralized managerial structure to work with all areas, navigate political and organizational challenges, facilitate priority negotiation, and collaborate with a range of different IT organizations. As with any other tactical innovation initiative, the implementation of digital portal capabilities has the best chance of success through executive sponsorship. Build partnerships for implementation. It is important to consider both internal and external partnerships when approaching a portal implementation. Key partnerships include a managerial structure that crosses organizational boundaries along with third parties or suppliers, such as marketing agencies and consulting firms, focused on communications. A customer-view approach to portal design should be paired with an externally minded approach to implementation and deployment. Involving stakeholders to create a test market can support rapid “test-and-learn” capabilities and allow these stakeholders to become advocates for new capabilities, thus accelerating adoption across the organization as a whole. Plan for the long term. With portals at the heart of a company’s digital strategy, which is increasingly becoming its business strategy, it is critical to have both initial capability deployment and the ability to evolve over time. Product portfolios, distribution strategies, distribution partners, and end-point devices are all subject to change. Carriers need to build their architectures and road maps to support evolving standards. Additionally, building analytical capabilities into platforms is key to provide carriers with the insights needed to precisely target messages to their customers. See also: How to Captivate Customers (Part 2)   Customer portal efforts are continuing. The creation of a strong, customer-facing portal is an effort that defies the term “done.” CIOs implementing a customer portal should recognize that these initiatives will require continued funding, even after they are in production. Carriers will need to pay attention to the constantly changing trends and channels to meet evolving customer expectations.

With the insurtech world descending on Las Vegas next week for the InsureTech Connect event, we will, of course, have a big presence there, and we hope to see you. It's possible to do a lot via email, phone, Skype, etc. these days, but nothing beats face-to-face.

Look for us by the entrance, near the registration desk, where we'll be doing video interviews with luminaries. Our Paul Winston is about nine feet tall, so he's easy to spot. 

You can also find us at the Culture of Innovation panel on Oct. 4, moderated by Chief Innovation Officer Guy Fraker, and coordinating insurtech meetings with insurance regulators as part of the pre-conference agenda on Oct. 2.

We'll be available to do demos of our Innovator's Edge platform, which tracks more than 72,000 insurtechs and other companies that might be of interest for the insurance innovation ecosystem (pioneeers in AI, blockchain, medtech, etc.) and provides tools that can match insurance providers quickly and easily with the most appropriate innovators. Either look for us at our video site or email Chief Technology Officer Joe Estes at joe@insurancethoughtleadership.com to arrange a tour of Innovator's Edge during the conference.  

Next week, we'll send you a guide to insurtechs to check out, based on the Six Innovators to Watch notes we've been generating monthly. If you want to get a head start, the full notes are here: August, July, June, May, April and March. 

In the meantime, please check out these six articles from the past week and visit our website to explore the more than 3,100 articles from our more than 950 industry-luminary authors. As always, please pass this along to any colleagues who might benefit from it. 

Cheers,

Paul Carroll,
Editor-in-Chief

So far, we’ve dealt with two statements: We do good! It’ll just take a few seconds! The claim about incredible speed is part of the premise of many in the insurtech space, but it’s also something that we’ve been dealing with for far too long in insurance. Let’s get into this conversation about money. Statement #3: You’ll save so much money! No one insurer site is to blame for this. There are several insurers that market strictly on price. All you have to do is watch for the ads in the apps you use and the games you play on your phone. (Yes, we all know that you’re playing some simple mindless game on your phone. It’s okay. Just watch when you’re doing it, right?) Implication: Insurance is a product that you shop for based on price. There are no differences in company or coverage. It’s all about the bottom-line dollars. How much will it cost you? You have other things that you want to be doing anyway. Response: Stop it. Just stop it. If you’re selling insurance based on the price, do us all a favor and stop. You’re not helping anyone, even yourself. We should be helping people to buy insurance, not selling them insurance. What’s the difference? Good question. Selling insurance is saying, “I can save you 15%.” Helping to buy is about educating about the things that people need to know about their insurance. It sounds more like, “Yes, we can find ways to save you money today, buy let’s first find out how best to protect you and your family, and then we can talk about ways to save money.” See also: Top 10 Insurtech Trends for 2017   Insurance is not just another product. I can go to the grocery store and pick among products, and often price is the decider. I’ll pick the one that’s about a quarter less than another item. When I do that about 20 times, I realize some savings and feel better about my shopping experience. When I’m shopping for insurance (and, yes, I shop for my insurance, too), I’m looking for so much more than the price. I can do the “compare tool” and get a bunch of quotes for my auto, but what do they mean? What does one cover that another doesn’t? When I last shopped my HO-4, I found a great price, but what sold me was the difference in the policy. The policy I bought included flood as a covered peril, did not have a hurricane deductible (amazing, given that I live in Florida), and allowed me to work from home without any issue. To be fair, I didn’t use an agent mostly because I am such a bad customer to deal with for an agent. I start asking questions and take a lot of time, so I didn’t want to put anyone through that. Every time someone sells an insurance product based on the price, he is devaluing the insurance product. We should be helping people to buy. This requires getting to know the customer, finding out what their real risks are, finding some insurance products that meet those needs and then (and only then) talking about the prices. See also: Innovation — or Just Innovative Thinking?   Insurance companies all over the world are quietly doing good things. Yet, some of our startup friends want us to believe that they’re the only ones that do good. Some companies say that it’ll only take a few moments to get a policy from them. But that’s not the whole story. Eventually, they will ask some more questions. Save some money. Buy your lunch based on who makes the best $5 lunch. But don’t let people buy insurance based on how much it’ll cost them today. This article first appeared at www.insurancejournal.com.

We are living in a period of unprecedented technological change. Building resilience to these changes is becoming increasingly imperative. By 2020, it is expected that there will be tens of billions of devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). New technology means new risks. What if someone hacks a car? Or a power plant? By the same token, financial losses incurred through data breaches are likely to reach trillions of dollars. There are also opportunities. GE estimates that IoT devices will be generating $11.1 trillion annually by 2025, touching 43% of the global economy. Meanwhile, it is expected that 4.2 billion people will be online by 2020, or 55% of the global population, exchanging and sharing goods and information. Mitigating the risks while embracing the opportunities is key. The internet asks a lot of questions of its users. How should the internet interact with nation states? What opportunities can it offer criminals? How should legislation and regulation apply to the seas of data that constitute the heart of the new digital economy? We are still coming to terms with these issues. Building resilient firms that can provide solutions and adapt to these new challenges will be a major task in the coming years. Siloed risk management and recovery efforts will come to be seen as increasingly out-of-place in such a digitized world. To become more resilient in this age of continued digital disruption increasingly means understanding the full scope of cyber governance responsibilities. This means starting with a top-down approach in managing risk at the board and executive level, identifying and protecting the organization’s most critical assets and understanding the impact to the enterprise should they be compromised. It means complying with international regulations and understanding organizational blind spots. And it means adapting to the latest techniques and trends in security and being prepared to respond should there be a failure in any of these areas. Cyber security cannot be approached piecemeal but should be considered holistically, as a challenge facing the entire organization. In Depth If leaders are to make the most of new technology, then they cannot only think about that technology: They need to take into account the business context in which that technology operates and the impact and risk exposure that it can potentially cause to the organization. There are two key areas to consider: the regulatory environment and organizational culture. Regulatory Issues Today’s globalized, digitally integrated world means that most organizations are to some extent international. Whether it’s a business that serves a global market, or a manufacturer hooked into global supply chains, awareness and adherence to local rules and regulations is crucial. The EU is a good case in point. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), due to come into effect in 2018, will require every organization operating in Europe to abide by several regulatory provisions – and this doesn’t just mean companies based in Europe, but also those that offer goods or services to EU markets in a way that involves processing any European-owned data. “GDPR can impose considerable punitive measures on companies that fail to comply with these regulations,” warns Andrea Garcia Beltran, EMEA Cyber Sales Leader, Financial and Professional Services Group at Aon. “Failure to comply could mean fees of up to 4% of annual global revenues, and intensified investigations and auditing in the future.” Crucially, this new legislation will affect “organizations of every size, industry and geography that process data of EU citizens,” says Kevin Kalinich, Global Practice Leader, Cyber Insurance, Aon Risk Solutions. “It applies broadly to personal data, including customer lists, contact details, genetic/biometric data and potentially online identifiers, such as IP addresses. Companies must obtain explicit clear and affirmative consent prior to processing personal data – assumptions based on silence do not comply.” These provisions include the regulation of corporate data protection policies, which means treating data stored on mobile devices with the same precautions as data stored centrally. GDPR also requires the consolidation of data visibility tools and written reporting for data processors, as well as mandating that companies have a data breach notification protocol. However, there are upsides to new regulation. “Compliance will enable firms to update their current process and methodology to assess cyber risks and the related potential business impact,” Kalinich says. “Once compliant, an organization’s total cost of risk could be reduced.” See also: How to Mitigate Cyber Threats The scope and potential severity of the legislation mean that liable companies need to move quickly before the law comes into effect on May 25, 2018, to ensure compliance. In practical terms, this could mean the C-suite assessing their company’s readiness for GDPR, and then putting in place teams that can carry out necessary changes before the regulations come into effect. And the GDPR is just one example, in just one part of the world. Japan’s PIPA, originally implemented in 2003 and due for extension in May 2017, is another. These challenges are global, and regions everywhere will need to come up with appropriate regulatory responses. Understanding legislation like this and building a responsive cyber policy is crucial. Maintaining Cyber Awareness The GDPR determines how an organization will manage, protect and administer data. Such regulations are put in place to protect businesses and also consumers from the damage cyber breaches can cause, Garcia Beltran explains. “And they will be most effective if organizations themselves take cultural steps to acknowledge and take appropriate measures to protect against known and unknown cyber vulnerabilities.” East Asia provides a good example of a region still transforming its attitude toward cyber risks. This can be seen in the gap between the cyber risk faced by leading Asia-Pacific firms and the levels of cyber insurance. Ponemon’s 2015 Asia Pacific cyber impact report found that only 13% of potential losses to intangible assets (i.e., informational and data assets) were covered by insurance in the region, compared with 49% for tangible assets (such as goods or operating technology). “Cyber risk awareness and understanding is still very low, but awareness is growing rapidly over time with incident frequency,” says Sandeep Malik, Asia CEO, Aon Risk Solutions. Numerous studies have shown that the APAC region is the leading source of malicious cyber traffic, and organizations within the region are more likely to be targeted by hackers than in other parts of the world. Despite this growing risk, and with the exception of regulatory initiatives like PIPA, organizations are still working to adapt their strategies to improve their resilience to the threat. In the meantime, the discrepancy between coverage and risk level means that information and system assets are too often exposed without appropriate protection. This problem is compounded by an insurance sector that has historically underserved the Asia-Pacific market in comparison with North America; the reason being that there is much less litigation in AsiaPac, Kalinich says. “While companies in the region are adopting technology at a rapid pace, cyber insurance purchases lag way behind property and general liability insurance even though there are increased cyber exposures, such as business interruption, which could be equal to losses in North America,” he says. Due to this lack of demand, “cyber insurance companies have not flocked to Asia – yet.” The difficulties facing APAC regions are just one example of how approaches to cyber risk need to be understood in terms of organizational culture. Cyber teams would do well to understand any blind spots that might be inadvertently opening vulnerabilities in cyber policy. Not only will this reduce the potential risk, but it should also reduce the cost of cyber insurance. Companies also need to make sure their C-Suite and their cyber teams are speaking the same language – this seems straightforward, but what might seem rudimentary for a cyber specialist may be too technical for a C-level executive. “Experts in this space sometimes tend to use technical language when describing cyber security, which sounds like a foreign language when presented to CEOs and boards. It’s important for information security experts to communicate with executive leadership in terms they can understand and for leaders to become more knowledgeable about cyber security concepts and issues,” says Jim Trainor, Senior Vice President, Aon Risk Solutions and former Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division in Washington, DC. Making sure an organization can face risks effectively means making sure that the nature and scale of those risks is effectively communicated. Four Steps to Reducing Your Cyber Vulnerability There are a number of strategies that can help organizations ensure smooth operations. Leaders should keep the following cybersecurity tips for leaders in mind as they operate in today’s digital, connected and regulated world.

1. Identify your critical assets. Organizations need to identify their most critical assets and have alignment with the board and executive team down to the individuals who are responsible for protecting them. Organizations must assess what data is critical, where it is stored, how it flows across the organization and who really needs access to it. This could include customer data and intellectual property that could be stolen, or operating and manufacturing technology that could be sabotaged. This can help to serve as the foundation for any organization as they develop, test and validate their security program. Furthermore, organizations must recognize the impact to the business should these critical assets be compromised and be prepared to respond to limit the impact to the organization while restoring normal business operations.
2. Conduct a comprehensive risk assessment. Once alignment on critical assets has been established from the top down, it will be easier to pinpoint vulnerabilities and assess cyber preparedness. Organizations should review cybersecurity deficiencies and vulnerabilities across all key enterprise areas including business practices, information technology, IT users, security governance and the physical security of information assets. Risk could also manifest itself as losses due to business interruption or reputational damage.
3. Take a holistic approach to cyber governance. Mitigating cyber risk is not just an issue for tech teams. The scope of risk means that guarding against attacks should involve key players across all enterprise functions and entities. Educating employees and leaders at all levels on the scale of risk and getting in place provisional crisis plans will help build a truly cyber-resilient organization.
4. Keep your defenses sharp. A secure environment requires continuing validation and can become vulnerable in an instant. Deploy techniques such as pen testing or red teaming exercises to ensure your applications, networks and endpoints aren’t vulnerable.

See also: How to Determine Your Cyber Coverage   Rising to the Challenge Addressing ever-changing cyber threats could be a complex task, not least because of the challenges of ensuring sufficient levels of technical knowledge. “Since most lines of insurance base risk, pricing, limits, retentions and coverage on 10 to 20 years’ worth of actuarial benchmarking and specialized underwriting expertise, there is not a lot of cyber risk management experience,” Kalinich says. “Cyber risk management expertise requires a combination of technology acumen, insurance knowledge, understanding of legal and regulatory concepts, quantitative awareness and critical thinking. Given the growing demand, there are unprecedented opportunities in the global jobs marketplace for many new cyber resiliency champions to ensure organizations protect their balance sheets from cyber exposures.” As with everything, a holistic understanding of the challenges – be they regulatory or organizational – and a holistic application of the right solutions will be essential in building resilient companies that can adequately meet the demands of a rapidly changing cyber landscape.

As technology advances, the insurance business is witnessing an important and unprecedented disruption. Policyholders expect carriers to handle claims faster, better and more efficiently than ever before. Because of this, nearly all (89%) of insurance companies expect to compete on customer experience, versus only 36% four years ago. These changes are spurring unprecedented levels of innovation in the insurtech space. Let’s explore three insurance claims cycle trends that will change the way our industry operates: Trend #1 - Decreasing Claims Volumes Technology is making things safer – from driving automobiles to building houses. In automobiles, collision avoidance systems are projected to reduce auto claims by 8%. Plus, innovations such as rear-view cameras, safer designs and better brakes are reducing claims overall. See also: How to Respond to Industry Disruption   Trend #2 - Catastrophe Support Catastrophes and natural disasters create difficult times both for insurers and policyholders. Hurricanes Irma and Harvey remind us of this somber reality. Recognizing the difficulty that catastrophes create, many insurers have created catastrophe response teams to resolve claims quickly. These teams can now leverage insurtech innovations such as electronic claims filing to deal with catastrophe claims more quickly and help put people’s lives back in order. The use of drone technology in the insurance supply chain has also improved our ability to know what’s true after natural disasters strike. Trend #3 - Increasing Use of Sensors Through the Internet of Things (IoT), smart sensors are becoming more prominent across all insurance channels. Sensors monitor data and inform insurers and policyholders if certain risks are increasing. For example, Progressive’s Snapshot sensor monitors driving behavior. Home sensors can detect risks such as heat, moisture and sound. Consider NoiseAware, which allows short-term rental hosts to monitor decibel levels in their homes to deter large, noisy gatherings that can be distracting to neighbors and also lead to damage. Because sensors can reduce claims, they can also reduce premiums. This is favorable to insurance customers. In fact, according to one source, 78% of insurance customers are open to using sensors if they decrease premiums. See also: Preparing for Future Disruption…   Final Thoughts It is clear that technology is reshaping the insurance supply chain. This poses many challenges, but also offers many opportunities. Reduced claim volumes, improved catastrophe response and increased sensor usage will all change the way carriers underwrite, sell and settle. It’s critical for insurers to monitor and respond to these trends as technology continues to evolve. Stay tuned for part two of our series, where we’ll explore three additional disruptive trends.

Insurers should aspire to give their agents and brokers superpowers. Superpowers? Think of the impact of speech-to-speech language translators that free you from having to learn foreign languages. Of GPS car navigators helping you find your way without knowing your way. Or of 3-D printers that enable consumers to produce their own products. Those kind of superpowers. Insurers can deploy technology to empower agents and brokers much more, leading to an even better experience and performance. For instance, by combining and integrating robo-adviser systems with human agents and brokers, insurers can deliver better conversations and higher customer satisfaction, which result in better advice and higher conversion rates. A hybrid model. The best of both world. Connecting online customers with offline brokers and agents Digitization changed the way people research and purchase products. More and more comparison sites enable customers to check prices and services with just a few clicks. Consequently, agents and brokers need to adapt. Yesterday’s tactics become less and less effective, in particular in view of ever increasing customer expectations. But complex insurance products still need extensive explanation, and trust in the insurer. This is where the human factor comes into play. In Germany, for instance, 59 percent of all insurances are researched online, but purchased offline (ROPO), according to a survey by Google and Zurich in 2016. For high value and complex insurance and finance products like health, mortgage and pension insurances, the ROPO share accounts for more than 75 percent of all sales. Best of both worlds The past decade has taught us that insurers need to manage the feelings side of their relationship with customers much better. But with new technologies primarily being used to digitize processes, insurers are in danger to become even less human. Humans inject emotion, empathy, passion, creativity, they are able to smile and surprise, and can deviate from the procedure if needed, which algorithmic systems are unlikely to do at this stage. They have the ability to be kind, honest, friendly, generous, giving; someone who makes time for me, listens to me, keeps promises, goes the extra mile. These talents are essential parts of successful customer engagement. We believe that insurers should create the best of both worlds. By leveraging the latest technologies insurers can create smarter agents and empowered brokers. See also: Insurtech: How to Keep Insurance Relevant   Agent and broker empowerment In this DIA Summer Read we included six insurtechs that insurers should team up with to revamp this channel. Each of these insurtechs supports the agent or broker in different stages of the primary process: 1. LifeDrip offers state of the art automated marketing tools to agents and brokers. 2. Predictivebid built building an advanced AI platform for online customer acquisition. 3. Finanzen.de created an online marketplace for leads. 4. Virado puts the insurance broker back in the middle with an on-demand offer for millennials. 5. RiskAPP allows agents and brokers to seamlessly collect data for risk analysis. 6. Figlo facilitates the conversation between brokers/agents and customers. These six insurtechs have in common that they all give superpowers to agents and brokers. They give access to capabilities that used to be exclusive to large corporations. With the solutions offered by these insurtechs agents and brokers can move to a next level. Next generation brokers We also notice a new kind of broker emerging that taps into the needs of consumers and insurance carriers alike, leveraging to the max what digital has to offer. We included four of them in this DIA Summer Read: 7. Knip: the personal digital insurance manager. 8. SPIXII: an insurance chatbot designed to speak to consumers just as a person would. 9. Bought By Many: grouping together people with a special similar insurance need. 10. PolicyGenius: reveals the gaps and overlaps in your policies. DIA Munich Expect DIA Munich (15 and 16 November) to pay ample attention to insurtechs that make smart agents and power brokers. Agent and Broker Empowerment 1. LifeDrip: The future of life insurance agent’s sales software The world is going mobile but most insurance brokers and agents still use ‘old’ marketing methods to generate leads. It is time for something new and something smarter. LifeDrip, launched by the Seattle based software company Xeddy, is a turnkey, fully automated mobile marketing system exclusively built for the life insurance agent. It provides monthly, custom branded email newsletters and an exclusive agent website for generating client reviews and feedback. LifeDrip captures the fastest growing form of lead exposure, including Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn. It is done automatically and the contacts and the database are continuously synced. Agents don’t even have to think about it. LifeDrip offers a new way to generate leads at a fraction of the cost. The SEO website is registered with Google and built with responsive code so it is viewable on any mobile device. To maximize Social Media marketing exposure all the required content for Social Media Marketing and Email Newsletters is automatically generated and customized specific to the agent’s sales specialties. The Recommendation Engine generates dozens of powerful and real client recommendations. SplashTriggers notifies instantaneously when a prospect is ready to be contacted for the sale and what to sell them. Read more: http://bit.ly/2vniEFD Check demo: http://bit.ly/2irgVOG 2. Predictivebid: the bidding platform of the future for insurance Predictivebid is a Tel-Aviv based tech company, building the most advanced AI platform for online customer acquisition through Search & Social campaigns based on Life Time Value Measurements. They excel in lead generation campaigns, lead quality analysis and lead potential scoring, thereby optimizing the lead process and helping companies lower their acquisition cost by providing higher quality leads with better life-time-value metrics. Predictivebid bridges the gap between online and offline, helping insurers capture consumers online and then directing them to book a meeting with their nearest and most relevant agents. The AI platform connects and tracks potential customers to the right agent nearest to them, based on their location and needs. A costumer can schedule a meeting with an agent, chat with an agent or even send his details so the agent can call him back. Read more: http://bit.ly/2vdced1 Check demo: http://bit.ly/2wmpXC7 3. Finanzen.de: the marketplace for leads Finanzen.de, located in Berlin, Paris, Zurich and Bristol, connects lead generators such as online price comparison sites with lead buyers such as independent financial advisers and insurance companies. More than 800,000 leads are annually traded via its industry leading technology platform, using real time auctions and real time lead delivery. The company also acts as an online broker for P&C insurance products. Thanks to its scalable business model, finanzen.de is ideally positioned to benefit from the digital shift occurring in the European insurance and banking domain and to capture the significant market potential ahead. Founded in 2004, Finanzen.de is one of the oldest and at the same time one of the most successful InsurTech companies. Finanzen.de generates about one million online leads per year for more than 20,000 insurance experts and financial consultants. Finanzen.de informs consumers about insurance and finance topics and offers interested customers free access to the best possible advice. In the search for suitable offers, visitors can perform neutral tariff comparisons. If they find a suitable offer they can close a contract directly online or receive advice from audited and evaluated experts. Read more: http://bit.ly/2nZAR9C Check demo: http://bit.ly/2xrmr6j 4. Virado: One app. 250 niche product insurances for Millennials German tech startup Virado is successfully creating new sources of income for insurance brokers. By offering 250 insurance products, mainly for niche policies on one platform. Targetting German Millennials. For example, insurance for an apartment share, DJ-equipment, or a travel backpack. These kind of products were not available for the insurance broker due to high connection and transaction costs of the insurer. The Virado all in one app for smartphones and tablet is based on Virado technology. The on-demand platform offers insurance brokers structured access to all insurances. Easy. Fast. Free. Virado puts the insurance broker back in the middle. Millennials do not use a traditional insurance broker. They go online to find an insurance solution to fit their lifestyle. The on-demand platform Virado puts the insurance broker back in the middle by giving him the opportunity to not only protect but also to create new sources of income by serving the Millennials with insurance products they need. ‘On the spot’ insurance products will significantly increase the customer’s loyalty and customer lifetime. The tech startup offers also digital business expertise and the app is suitable for the insurance brokers homepage and its own social media channels. Virado is completely free of charge and user-friendly. All the insurance broker needs to do is download the app and register. Read more: http://bit.ly/2w23mbh Check demo: http://bit.ly/2wmAGg5 5. RiskAPP: Risk assessment by agents and brokers RiskAPP is a new Risk Assessment tool created to assist insurers globally. RiskAPP is a unique platform for structured data collection and integrated risk assessment. RiskAPP helps insurers to use captured data from their prospects and clients to sell and underwrite the risks wisely and profitably. The RiskAPP is a complete Risk Assessment tool for the insurer that wants to win his challenges. RiskAPP delivers the most complete risk assessment possible. Through the platform the insurer can offer the most remunerative coverage program giving safety and peace of mind to insurance clients and the insurance carriers. The sales process is now smooth and seamless. When the broker has the first meeting with a prospect, the RiskAPP data collection helps the broker to engage the client. The process follows with the technical inspection where the loss preventionist gathers further technical data that clearly describes the company. RiskAPP, thanks to its proprietary algorithm, processes the data collected and elaborates a detailed report included with automated loss protection recommendations. The insurer now has access to the most complete risk profile of the insured. RiskAPP enables analytics, portfolio management and helps in increasing the efficiency of risk selection. Read more: http://bit.ly/2wDxoon Check demo: http://bit.ly/2vnQtX4 6. Figlo: facilitating the conversation with customers AEGON Turkey uses the Figlo platform to facilitate the conversation between brokers/agents and customers. A tablet app guides the complete conversation and gives a quick and tailored overview of the customer’s financial situation to select suitable products based on the client’s risk profile, to cover possible shortfalls. Uğur Tozşekerli, CEO AEGON Turkey: “Customer interaction and involvement as well as the possibilities for illustration and demonstration of the product benefits dramatically increased. From a customer point of view, using the app leads to better and more understandable advice, focus on the real customer needs and on top of that faster service. Straight through processing results in more efficiency and speed of delivery. Apart from a significant improvement of conversion rates the deal size increased between 10 to 45%, depending on the product category. At the same time the operational costs decreased by 18% due to decrease in rework and paperwork. The ROI was already positive in the first year of deployment.” Quote is from our new book ‘Reinventing Customer Engagement’ Next Generation Brokers 7. Knip: The personal digital insurance manager Knip is a ‘mobile-first’ digital insurance broker with a simple and transparent solution to insurance; bundling all the customers’ insurance products into one app. Even if these products are from different insurers. An easy-to-understand overview shows existing insurance policies, tariffs and services. One click opens an entire insurance policy. So the important information is always at hand. After an automatic analysis, new customers receive individual recommendations based on their existing insurance portfolio. Upon request, the Knip insurance experts offer professional consulting, analyze tariffs and services and detect individual savings and optimization potential. As the consultants receive a fixed salary and no commission whatsoever, they can provide independent and honest insurance advice. The app is designed to automatically detect individual’s insurance gaps and recommend essential insurance. Knip allows users to change their tariffs, close new insurance contracts and cancel old policies with a simple click. Read more: http://bit.ly/2wxi65i Check demo: http://bit.ly/2vXA7YK See also: What Incumbents Can Teach Insurtechs   8. SPIXII: Making insurance simple, accessible and personal for everyone London based startup SPIXII is on a mission to make insurance simple, accessible and personal. It starts by redesigning the way people buy insurance. SPIXII, named after a family of Brazilian parrots that spell out the co-founder’s names, has almost entirely done away with the human component of selling insurance. It is an automated insurance agent, a chatbot accessible via messaging platforms or via a native mobile app. Its app creates a WhatsApp-like chat on a smartphone where a robot will ask simple questions and figure out what the user needs. Built on principles of neuro-economics and the integration of user data with contextual data from multiple sources, SPIXII is an insurance chatbot designed to speak to consumers just as a person would. Read more: http://bit.ly/2xrFfT9 Check demo: http://bit.ly/2sxsubF 9. Bought By Many: grouping together people with a special similar insurance need Bought By Many uses a combination of search engine optimization and social media to group together people who have similar insurance needs --such as diabetic travelers, pug owners or homeowners in flood risks areas. They present that group’s requirement to the insurance industry and negotiate on behalf of the group to bring them a better deal than they can get on their own. A better deal might be better pricing, it might be more tailored benefits, or it might be both. Once they bring the offer back to the group, individuals buy directly from the insurer on the better terms that Bought By Many negotiated for them. Creating a win-win for everyone. Insurers only write the risks that they want and members of Bought By Many get a better deal. The company finds niche groups by looking at Google search data to see which niches have high volumes of search queries. There is also a data entry box on its website letting people submit their own policy ideas. They then validate those segments through social media and engaging with niche blogs, Facebook groups and other stakeholders. The site makes it easy for users to use social media and invite friends to join via Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and the like. Having established the market, the company works out the group's specific requirements and then approaches the insurance companies to negotiate a deal on a policy. Bought By Many suggests to insurers to split the usual broker fee in three parts: one third for the Bought By Many members to get a better benefit, one third for Bought By Many and one third for the insurance company, because Bought By Many want you to want to do this business. Read more: http://bit.ly/2wmz8CB Check DIA keynote CEO Steven Mendel: http://bit.ly/2v4hvrz 10. PolicyGenius: revealing the gaps and overlaps in policies PolicyGenius for instance addresses the uncertainty of consumers with regard to gaps and overlaps in the various policies they have purchased over time. PolicyGenius offers a highly tailored insurance check-up platform, where consumers can discover their coverage gaps and review solutions for their exact needs. PolicyGenius’ online store includes solutions from life and long-term disability to pet insurance. Quoting engines offer side-by-side comparisons of tailored policies. PolicyGenius is backed by AXA Strategic Ventures and AEGON’s Transamerica Ventures. What would happen if AXA and AEGON would open up the PolicyGenius platform to all its brokers and agents in all countries she has a presence? Read more in our new book ‘Reinventing Customer Engagement’.

In a world wrestling daily with the threats posed by terrorism, war and political instability, we can often forget the dangers posed by the planet itself, in the form of natural disasters and extreme weather events. Aon’s Annual Climate and Catastrophe Report from its Impact Forecasting team found that the planet suffered more than 300 natural catastrophes during 2016, which collectively caused around $210 billion of economic damage, the seventh highest annual total on record. It is becoming a truism that the world we live in is getting more unpredictable. But in one very important way, that trend is going in reverse. When it comes to weather, we are finally beginning to get our collective heads around a system of historical complexity. Better data tools are already unlocking new potential, improving our resilience to weather-related risk and at the same time, opening new opportunities. Better data means better understanding of the scale of the risk, which can help reduce the impact of climate-related disasters through improved planning. It means having a greater ability to develop products like micro-insurance to help some of the world’s poorest. It can even help improve investment returns by better predicting the energy output of renewable energy projects. Humanity has been trying to find ways to influence or predict the weather since prehistory. But it’s only the emergence of big data and predictive modeling that is now truly giving us ways of understanding and mitigating the worst impacts of the weather. We live in an age of continuing unpredictability, but we have more solutions than ever before to help deal with these unknowns. The Ascent of Data Tools In the last few years, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and more sophisticated forms of data collection have provided an array of tools to help manage unpredictable events, and these are improving all the time. For instance, tools can combine information obtained from sophisticated satellite and on-the-ground data collectors, that visualize data in a way that can be quickly translated into action. “These kinds of tool are enabling opportunities to understand the impact of weather on property and people in new ways”, says Brad Weir, Head of Aon Benfield Analytics, APAC. For example, Rick Wall, exposure analyst at Talbot – which operates in the Lloyd’s insurance market – refers to a project he worked on with Aon when he was previously studying at University College London. Wall describes how “Aon was able to help insurers and aid workers in Cambodia create risk maps to identify the potential impact of flooding on local communities”. The teams created models that took into account both weather data and a range of social data, including the age and income of populations, to determine which groups were most at risk. These models could then help relief teams allocate resources in the event of catastrophic flooding. See also: Big Data Can Solve Discrimination   Better Data Analysis Means Greater Resilience The applications of these catastrophe modeling tools need not only be applied to natural disasters. A variety of industries, from agriculture to energy, can benefit from detailed insights on everyday weather trends. For instance, there are agricultural regions from India to the U.S. where small changes in climate can have serious economic consequences. A slow wet season can cause sickness in cattle, and make them less fertile, significantly reducing farmers’ assets. Specialized microinsurance packages can help small-scale farmers cope with these losses, but providers also need to be confident in the accuracy of their information, to prevent their low margins making such offerings unsustainable. This precision can be achieved with new and innovative recording techniques. Reviewing the weather alone may not be enough to give a truly granular insurance value to a farmer’s assets. Looking at other indicators can help give a more contextual picture of how climate risk is actually impacting on farmers’ bottom lines, and how effective coverage can be provided. For example, a cow’s rib cage stands out more when it is malnourished. Integrating seemingly obscure data like this helps us get a more contextual picture of the potential economic impacts of climate risk. With emerging data and tools, insurers are now able to analyze the weather risk exposure of extremely small areas, so farmers can take out insurance policies that can help them overcome weather-related liabilities where previously they may have gone bankrupt. Optimizing Power Generation From Wind, Wave And Solar Understanding and hedging against climate risk with such detailed data points can also have more directly commercial uses. Many forms of renewable power – such as wind, wave or solar – are what is known as ‘variable’ power. This means that they are highly dependent on the environment in which they operate. Wind farms don’t operate when the air is still, wave power generators fail to deliver if the sea is calm, and solar farms are of little use if it’s cloudy. Understanding the weather in advance can help power generators anticipate and plan for these risks, which is important when establishing risk profiles at the funding stage. For example, by running historical weather data through data tools, a wind-farm operator could calculate wind speed trends on a particular patch of land (and even at a particular altitude above the ground), allowing them to determine where to site plants for maximum efficiency. This also includes making sure winds are not too strong, as too much activity can damage the mechanisms of a wind turbine – or even destroy it completely, as in the recent case of a snapped turbine in Nova Scotia. This data can then be used to demonstrate to investors their likely returns. If a prospective wind farm operator is going to get financing, they can apply these data tools to their site to map the risk of weather variability. By understanding the likely energy output based on historic data, you can also build in financial mechanisms to hedge against losses – for instance, if a wind farm doesn’t get X amount of wind hours per annum. Understanding risk is good for business. Using Data to Meet the Climate Challenges of the Future We are living in a time of unprecedented technological advancement. By leveraging the power of data tools and predictive modeling we will be able to uncover deeper insights than ever before. And in an age of persistent climate risk and increasing demographic pressure, having a clear vision of what we might face has never been more important. “It is impossible to predict the future. But we know that there will inevitably be major weather and environmental disasters next year and beyond,” says Steve Bowen, Director and Meteorologist, Aon Benfield. “As computational weather forecasting capabilities accelerate and become more precise, this will only increase the importance of better communicating imminent or future hazards to those living in vulnerable locations. This understanding will help us better prepare and ultimately improve a global awareness to the growing risks of natural catastrophes and the impact of the weather.” See also: Strategist’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence   Talking Points “We don’t need an army of actuaries to tell us that the catastrophic impacts of climate change will be felt beyond the traditional horizons of most actors – imposing a cost on future generations that the current generation has no direct incentive to fix.” – Mark Carney, Governor, Bank Of England “The distribution of climatic events is not fair. In our 20-year analysis of weather extremes nine out of the ten most affected countries are developing countries in the ‘low’ or ‘lower-middle’ income category. The results of the Global Climate Risk Index remind us of the importance to support resilience policy, to mitigate the negative effects of climatic events on people and countries.” – Sönke Kreft, Executive Director, Munich Climate Insurance Initiative

America’s employers are facing a serious drug problem. A 2015 survey of 200 Indiana-based companies conducted by the National Safety Council and the Indiana Attorney General’s Office indicated that a staggering 80% of the state’s employers have had problems with employees abusing prescription opioids such as Vicodin and OxyContin. “We would expect very similar results in many states,” said Deborah Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council. The Illinois-based nonprofit organization focuses on preventing injuries and deaths at work and in the community. “This is not a local problem. This is a national problem, and it’s very important for employers to understand that this is an issue that they need to pay attention to and not put their heads in the sand.” Prescription painkiller abuse has reached epidemic proportions across the United States. In addition to endangering the health and well-being of millions of employees, opioid abuse is costing employers billions of dollars in absenteeism and lost productivity, and growing evidence suggests that opioid abuse also affects many unemployed individuals. “Beyond the loss of productivity, prescription drug abuse can cause impairment, injury and may lead employees to bad choices, such as theft and embezzlement from the employer,” said Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller in a news release about the December 2015 study. See also: How to Attack the Opioid Crisis   Employers Feel the Pain On average, opioid misuse costs the U.S. economy $55.7 billion a year, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Employers bear the burden of nearly half of that cost, with an average of $10 billion lost every year from missed work and decreased productivity alone. Prescription drug abuse has two effects on an employee’s medical costs. First, employees who abuse opioid drugs have significantly higher costs for pharmaceuticals than non-opioid users. Costs for opioid painkillers rose 11.5 percent in 2014, according to pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co. As a result, workers’ compensation claim payers spent an average of $1,583 per injured worker for prescription drugs in 2014. Furthermore, opioid abusers have significantly higher healthcare costs than non-abusers — $10,627 higher annually — according to a research article in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy. The Illusion of Relief While highly effective in the short term, opioids are also dangerously addictive. This is because opioids produce a sense of pleasure due to their effect on brain regions involved in reward mechanisms. Adding to their danger is the fact that opioids tend to induce tolerance, which means that over time larger and larger doses are needed to achieve the initial effect. A 2015 Healthentic study on the cost of painkiller abuse borne by U.S. companies found that for pain related to common workplace injuries such as soft-tissue injuries (bruises and musculoskeletal problems that affect muscles, bones and joints), opioids are no more effective at reducing pain than over-the-counter alternatives such as Tylenol, Advil or generic ibuprofen. Less risky treatments for pain include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, nerve blockers and other medicines including anti-seizure drugs and antidepressants which have pain-relieving properties. Other important options for managing the pain of workplace injuries include physical therapy, massage and acupuncture. It is also vital to treat any concomitant depression in the injured worker, as depression makes pain feel more acute and causes the sufferer to feel hopeless and helpless. Steps Employers Can Take Employers have a variety of options to ensure the long-term health of employees while improving productivity and lowering employment costs. The first is to demand adherence to evidence-based prescribing guidelines for pain treatment from all participating providers in their medical, workers’ compensation and occupational health programs. There is technology available now that can alert payers to providers who prescribe according to current treatment guidelines and those who don’t. Employers also should educate employees about the risks of opioid drug use to help prevent drug misuse. For example, employees should know that a substantial subset of opioid users become addicted with their very first prescription, so care is warranted to ensure that patients with chronic pain know both the advantages and disadvantages of taking opioids right from the start. Lastly, employers should provide confidential access to treatment for employees who find themselves in a position of opioid dependency. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) or wellness programs should be able to connect employees with effective treatment programs for their opioid use disorder, their depression and whatever else is impeding their ability to full productivity. See also: The True Face of Opioid Addiction   The Connection With Unemployment A new study suggests unemployment also might be one of the factors behind the dramatic rise in opioid use disorder. The paper, published by NBER, finds that as the unemployment rate increases by one percentage point in a given county, the opioid death rate rises by 3.6 percent, and emergency room visits rise by 7 percent. Rather than more people getting injured when jobs are scarce, the authors suspect that the increased use of painkillers is a “physical manifestation of mental health problems that have long been known to rise during periods of economic decline.” Depression and pain go hand-in-hand, in other words: “Not only does depression make people more sensitive to pain,” they note, but also, “opioids have been shown to help relieve depressive symptoms.” Pain, opioids and depression are all interrelated and all must be managed to achieve what both injured workers and payers would regard as success. One can conclude from all of this evidence that opioid use disorder is increasingly rampant among both employees and those who are unemployed. Opioid misuse now may be a national problem, but the solution needs to start locally. Employers are uniquely positioned to demand accountability from providers and to join with their neighborhood social service agencies and nonprofits focusing on the opioid issue collectively to intervene in and reduce the prevalence of this debilitating epidemic.