Nick Lamparelli joined Gilad and the InsurTechLA community for an unscripted InsurTechTalk. In this broadcasted event, Nick was in the interviewee's seat. We had the opportunity to learn about Nick’s day job and dive into flood insurance and how to build insurance programs.
The 1996 movie ‘Scream’ taught us one thing: Don’t answer the phone! And much like the characters of that movie, so to insurers should heed this advice when engaging with Millennials.
A startup has a life but the people who breathe life into it…, well, they usually don't.
People like the idea of a startup. It is romantic. The excitement diminishes when they find out the extent of their responsibility and compensation. Basically, most people really want to work for Google. Google is a multibillion-dollar behemoth that has all the risk management tools and processes to support it. And yes! They still have all the perks and cool parties at the end of Google I/O.
The entrance of startups to the insurance industry, nearly four years ago (2015), introduced a change, innovation, that made all the components, whether they are linear or passive, to react. The new teen spirit that the startup introduced acted as a step function that increased the value of the industry. The input may be a nice and clean function. It has a ripple effect that affects the entire pond until is converges on the new and higher level.
Andrew Egenes is Co-Founder and Head of Product for Layr.
Layr is an AI-powered business insurance platform that automates the role of brokers and underwriters which enables small business owners to purchase insurance tailored to their company in minutes while performing the most common insurance-related tasks from a simple self-service portal.
James is the Founder & CEO of MEETIG8, Australia's first online marketplace for Risk, Compliance and Internal Audit short-term gigs. MEETIG8 enables companies of all sizes to connect directly with vetted independent specialists and boutique firms for Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, and Internal Audit…
Thomas (Tommy) Ashman, co-founder of Slingshot Aerospace, joined me for a fireside chat on Geospatial Insights and the insurance.
The audience enjoyed learning about Tommy's background and personal journey into entrepreneurship. Starting from his air force service to meeting his co-founder, Melanie.
Another journey that we talked about was the journey of building the company and the product. Many startups start in one direction and then pivot the product to find a market fit. Slingshot started with a mission to help vineyard owners to produce better wine. A mission that resonates with many readers.
Slingshot was part of the TechStars LA inaugural class. We touched lightly on the fundraising effort and didn't go into details because at the time of the chat they were close to close a large seed.
Frictionless customer experience is the future of insurance customer engagement. Today, the interaction with insurance comes at the cost of mental effort, and sometimes pain. Insurance companies that manage to smooth the customer's interaction gain a new 'value proposition' that they can offer to the customers. The customer journey doesn't start from the "search for insurance policy", it starts from understanding the risk and reason for purchasing an insurance policy. One journy ends after a customer purchases a policy, another journey ends after the customer recovers her loss.
This technology is not going to replace the human insurance agent. In the next couple of decades the number of the insurance agents will decrease as the Millennials matures, Gen-X retires, demand changes and the technology evolves. However, today's artificial intelligence (AI) can not, yet, provide a warm shoulder, a hug and an empathy.
Adam Gabrault, VP at VirtusaPolairs, talked with the InsurTech Los Angeles meetup about the technology that powers the frictionless user experience and mapped the journey that a customer takes to purchase an insurance policy.
The frictionless customer experience is crafting the digital paradigm. E-Commerce, social networks and media had cracked the code - one tap to buy, one swipe for love and recommended content is a scroll-down away from you. Although it has been 10 years since the mobile revolution, the financial institutions and insurance companies have a mobile presence because "everyone else has an app". Luckily there are FinTech and InsurTech that act as path finders and introduce a mobile first with less friction service as Mint, Lemonade, Acorns and Trov.
I will start with the disruptive concept that demands restructuring of insurance carrier product lines and IT infrastructure and that is - shift from policy-centric to customer-centric approach. Instead of selling the insurance product that you have, sell what the customer wants and needs.
During his talk at the InsurTech Los Angeles meetup Adam pointed seven additional actions:
It starts by creating personas and addressing their needs. Let's take John as an example:
Migrate the discovery from searching the web to an optimized mobile experience. There are opportunities here for InsurTech startups to develop services that can recommend customized coverage for the user.
Instead of filling a form and waiting for a sales representative to call you back and then repeat the form's questions, integrate identification systems and allow the customer to scan her/his ID card.
An agent will consult the customer on the best policy for him. Does the agent need to be a human or can it be an AI? For companies that positioned themselves as a premium service and use agents as the main distribution channel it will be a human that utilizes AI apps for efficiency.
Instead of the website, or the agent, try to up-sell and cross-sell other products to the user, a personalized app or agent will guide the customer.
Move from endless paper forms to readable language (less legal) and e-signature.
We can make it by reducing the friction in various points of engagement. It is not important to address the side of the insurer as well and provide customer service and the insurance agents effective tools to make their work productive and helpful.
