We know the insurance industry is facing change because we can hear the disrupters knocking at the door. Insurers have done a lot toward improving their user experiences – redesigning their websites and giving their web presences a facelift. But there’s more to a user experience than how easy it is to navigate a site.
Consumers expect to benefit from the interaction. They’re no longer content to let carriers dictate the terms of the relationship: how and when they can interact, what products they’ll have access to, and what’s in it for them. Because most carriers have yet to deliver the solution-oriented innovation consumers seek, there is a void that technology start-ups are rushing to digitalize within the life insurance experience.
An evolution from without.
Insurtech start-ups are capitalizing on this innovation vacuum. With our extensive industry experience to guide us, we at LegacyShield believe this influx in tech solutions to be a positive change because it gives consumers more control over their own financial futures, which is our unequivocal mission. The challenge becomes ushering in these new players without losing legacy experience in the process. What I mean is that many disrupters, while highly adept at developing technological solutions and interpreting analytics, often lack insight into what’s right with the insurance industry. For example, these companies tend to undervalue the distributor relationship, assuming that interacting with the customer directly is always best. They simply aren’t aware of what a veteran distributor has to offer the customer in a landscape as complex as insurance. They are causing disruption in the insurance industry but leaving out valuable considerations.
Despite these gaps in understanding, innovators are driving change within the insurance industry – figuring out how to make things easier for the customer (often using Insurtech solutions to make their solutions possible). In the first half of this year alone, Insurtech investments hit $2.5 billion globally, according to a report published in August by KPMG International and CB Insights. The concern is that if insurers fail to integrate tech-driven innovation – real integration, not just lip service – disrupters will circumvent them, and decades of experience and valuable insight will be lost. In this scenario, the consumer loses.
An evolution from within.
Collaboration between traditional insurers and technology start-ups is the best solution for the customer. The incumbents can leverage Insurtech to address their business challenges and thus maximize their innovation potential. In so doing, customers will reap the advantages technology brings without having to sacrifice in-depth industry knowledge.
LegacyShield is uniquely set up to partner with insurers and distributors because it’s a tech solution born of our insurance experience. We’ve spent the majority of our careers in the industry – salvaging and building distributor agencies, leading prominent carriers, and advising clients on estate planning and financial matters. It’s this diverse skill set that enabled us to develop a platform – the only one of its kind – that unites technology and the still-relevant models of old.
