Emerging and evolving technology is affecting practically every industry sector you can think of. At Blockclaim, we have seen first-hand that the InsurTech sector is a case in point, and every technological advance opens up exciting new possibilities for insurers. Here, we take a look into the crystal ball and consider some of the hot trends that are likely to have a significant impact on InsurTech over the rest of 2020 and beyond.
Leveraging unstructured data
To date, the field of insurance analytics has been predominantly concerned with structured data. This is information that is supplied directly by the insured, and includes things like name, age gender and so on. It can be seen as low-hanging fruit in as much as it is easy to access and use. However, it only gives broad-brush information.
Unstructured data represents a major step forward and includes a customer’s written reports of incidents giving rise to a claim, social media data, multimedia and lots more. When added to the structured data, it brings the whole picture into sharper definition and provides the opportunity for value-adding insights about market trends. It also delivers new opportunities in fraud detection.
The speed at which IoT, machine learning and AI technology is advancing opens up new worlds of possibilities in unstructured data analytics.
Adding value through digital FNOL
First notification of loss (FNOL) is the initial step that gets the claim processing machinery in motion. Digitization of this step serves to accelerate the claim process, increase efficiency, reduce costs and improve customer experience. In other words, it is a win/win for both the insurer and the insured. Digital FNOL can be split into three distinct areas:
- Communication – fast, simple and effective transfer of information between the insured and insurer, for example via mobile apps.
- Information – images, video and location-based data can be instantly captured and transferred.
- Analytics – the above factors combine to provide insights for insurers relating to incident severity as well as potential fraud flags. Data can also be stored, sorted, filtered and analysed to deliver trend-related insights.
New mobile possibilities with 5G
Today, smartphone penetration stands at around 85 percent of the adult population. We take it for granted that we can use social media, do our banking, even watch TV shows from our mobiles. Yet if you think back to the age of WAP before 3G, this would have seemed like science fiction. The transition from 4G to 5G is going to be equally profound, and will make our smartphones even more powerful.
This means that every aspect of InsurTech needs to have mobile platforms front and central to its thinking. In particular, though, the faster connection speeds and reduced latency that 5G brings will provide the technological ecosystem for such technology as augmented reality (AR) to achieve its potential. In the property and automotive sectors, for example, this goes beyond the claims process. It also opens the door to more accurate quoting and the opportunity for insurers to provide a tailored product for every customer.
Get in touch with us to see how our AI solutions can help your claims and fraud teams.
