Stephen Applebaum

The 125-year-old, $300 billion U.S. auto insurance industry is caught between runaway inflation and strained consumer wallets.

Some insurtechs will struggle, and there will even be some fatalities, but most are making the necessary adjustments and operating successfully.

Outsourcing has moved front and center as the P&C industry transforms to manage today’s new realities, but it has become much more sophisticated. 

No one is happy with the current, cumbersome approach to auto claims -- and a key technology has finally arrived that will digitize and speed the whole process. 

Insurers need partnerships with fully integrated national providers with deep expertise in medical, record and investigation management, bolstered by new technologies. 

Cloud-based platforms will let auto insurers make a critical pivot away from purely reactive claims response and processing to claims minimization and avoidance.

As digitization, mobility and connected vehicle technologies transform auto insurance, a better FNOL solution is now critical – and it's here.

Technology and weather science have evolved to help warn of approaching events, giving advanced notice to people to alter course and relocate to safety.

Barring another “black swan” event like the pandemic, the automotive ecosystem of 2030-2035 will be virtually unrecognizable from today.

Insurtechs and carriers both need to take the time and make the effort to understand one another’s needs, capabilities, constraints and strategic objectives.

Here are our top wishes for 2022 that will alleviate barriers to innovation and adoption and foster breakthroughs.

For as much coverage as telematics has received for decades, its impact is just beginning to be understood.

Despite Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg's claim that insurtech is just hype, the movement is real and important and exciting and valuable.

Work will never resemble what it did in the past, and there will be no “all clear” signaling the end of the pandemic.

Digitization of thousands of steps and integration among participants is enabling an “Amazon standard" for customer experience.

The connected insurance industry of the future will look nothing like it did in the last millennium.

Now that conditions are beginning to settle, we need to look at 2021 as a “rebuilding” year; more of a reset than a resumption of what was.

"Connected auto, home and business insurance models will begin to see meaningful adoption in the next 12 months."

Today, insurers succeed by offering products. In the future, insurers will win by providing access to risk prevention and assistance services.

A shift toward greater corporate and social responsibility and empathy in general is underway, and 2021 will bring a great global reset.

Insurance is at the forefront of the environmental, social and governance movement, which may usher in a Second Age of Enlightenment.

Those that solve for the dynamics of the many opportunities are likely to be the future industry leaders.

Protection products will increasingly have to be dynamic, meeting the needs of each individual as preferences and life circumstances change.

Patterns are emerging out of the fog of this pandemic and paint a clear view of the future of insurance, leaving only the timing uncertain.

Events have forced C-suite leaders to realize that their digital transformation efforts need to be expanded and accelerated to light speed.

There are two extremely different states existing within the insurance ecosystem: larger, well-funded participants and then all the rest.

Non-insurance competitors such as Amazon, Google, Tesla, Comcast, General Motors and many others are not standing still, and neither should insurers.

A supercharging of trends has produced almost touchless processes for claims and cut cycle times to minutes instead of days.

As much as we all wish coronavirus had never happened, it has supercharged innovation in the insurance industry.

If two or more insurtech solutions combine to solve multiple challenges, it is easier for insurers to commit.

The right approach to claims can turn average competitors into industry leaders and ensure longer-term success.

New capabilities for interoperability in the claims ecosystem are leading to at least a dozen profound changes.

In claims, and across the entire industry, the pace of technology-driven change is accelerating. Insurers must think differently.

Having a major insurer disappear seems impossible, but that's what everyone thought about Atari, Kodak, Commodore, Polaroid....

We need a global set of rules on permissible uses of personal data, and the insurance industry would gain much by taking the lead.

The next iteration of the business of insurance may cause even more fundamental upheaval in the C-suite than already endured.

A network partnership of complementary services will begin to deliver customer experience excellence approaching Amazon's.

Property insurance is being transformed because of drones and other new sources of high-resolution images.

The mobility-insurance market can become one connected ecosystem to the benefit of all participants.

In spite of all the accident avoidance technology in newer vehicles, auto accidents have increased 14% over the past two years.

Until recently, telematics just supported the interesting and novel little corner of auto insurance known as usage-based insurance. No longer.

"Collaboration" actually does not begin to convey the looming and enormous demand for working together that IoT will require of all participants.

Auto insurers and auto makers, once basically adversaries, are beginning to cooperate and partner around many emerging opportunities.  

Finding the balance between efficiency and the human touch in the claim process will separate tomorrow’s leading brands from their competitors.

What is at risk of being overlooked in the rush to a streamlined claim process are the individuals who at critical times need a personal touch.

The missing piece has been what happens immediately after an accident occurs and before your insurer starts to handle your claim.

The complexity across literally hundreds of jurisdictions make compliance daunting for even the most seasoned claim professionals.

Analytics represent the industry’s best -- only? -- path to success and survival in a rapidly transforming world.

The whole auto ecosystem is in upheaval, and firms need to face up to the new realities through a systemic reevaluation of their roles.

As auto insurance premiums dwindle, carriers will have to devise new strategies, such as helping drivers avoid accidents.

The surge will continue, creating advantages for well-capitalized players and raising challenges for smaller competitors.