In a KPMG 2020 CIO Survey, respondents were clear on their IT priorities. "Up to 45 percent of
companies in this sector were planning to accelerate transformation to re-emerge as a result
of COVID-19. Insurers also needed to drive up efficiencies through increasing digitization and
the automation of manual processes such as claims, payments and assessments (a focus for
41 percent of organizations) — in a way that also improved customer engagement (a priority
for 52 percent)."
The Rise of Insurtechs
Insurtechs have been called many things. Attackers. Disruptors. Innovators.
No matter what you call them – insurtechs have stirred up the insurance marketplace in a big
way. And they continue to gain ground. According to Willis Re, a reinsurance broker, global
investment in insurance technology (insurtech) start-ups totaled $10.5 billion in the first nine
months of 2021, a record high level for the period.
Are insurtechs truly competitors to insurance companies? Or are they fulfilling a necessary
role in the insurance value chain such as supporting core operations like claims?
TOUCHLESS CLAIMS | 3
Consider European insurance group PZU which
recently partnered with UiPath, a robotic process
automation (RPA) provider. UiPath helped to
automate several areas of the company -- including
claims. This ranged from simple data entry to a
preliminary analysis of car damage claims.
Phil Edmundson, founder and CEO of Corvus
Insurance doesn't see insurtechs as "the enemy".
"Insurtechs are at times misinterpreted as
competitors trying to steal market share from legacy
commercial insurers and brokerages. This overlooks
how insurtechs are providing a catalyst for the
insurance industry, seeking to fill in gaps in the overall
value chain. The technology introduced by the
companies, and the efficiencies they create,
ultimately realign the benefit to each insurance
stakeholder and enhance the industry at large."
