From attracting and retaining more customers to expanding insurance products and online services, it’s critical for insurers to embrace the adoption of digital technologies to remain competitive and increase their market share.

The following are five insurtech trends that have become widely adopted by carriers and agencies over the past year and are predicted to continue into 2023.

1. Hiring a solutions provider. Not sure where to start on your insurtech journey? Today, many carriers and agencies are partnering with solutions providers to help them identify key areas that will benefit most from insurtech capabilities. Providers can also help with the integration of programs and processes — with new or existing legacy systems. Enlisting the help of a solutions provider allows a business to get up and running with insurtech initiatives quicker — without having to tackle the entire process on their own.

2. Greater adoption of insurance application programing interfaces (APIs). Today’s competitive insurance landscape requires carriers and agencies to be more agile and provide a seamless omnichannel experience for customers. As a result, the use of APIs will continue to grow as the need for digital integration increases. In the insurance industry, APIs are enabling the development of new digital products and services such as real-time quotes, chatbots and other digital customer service tools. Another way to think of APIs is as if they are the drivers of a car, seamlessly connecting the agency with its customers, and customers with products and services.

3. Increased cybersecurity capabilities. You’d have to be living in a cave not to know that the insurance industry is a prime target for hackers. Moving into 2023, we’ll see more insurtech capabilities aimed at helping insurers and agencies combat cybersecurity issues to better protect the loss of vital information and to provide greater protection of sensitive customer data. 

4. Continued improvements to usage-based-insurance (UBI) technology. In its infancy, UBI technology (think Progressive Insurance’s Snapshot device) experienced its fair share of rough patches. From ease-of-use challenges to convincing consumers that it was a good thing to have their driving habits tracked to help control their premiums, UBI technology has come a long way. Over the next several months and into the new year, more insurtech developers will be concentrating on ways to improve UBI technology and develop new products that will provide consumers with greater flexibility, more discounts and improved use-friendly experiences that they can feel confident engaging with.

5. More embedded insurance products and services. Embedded insurance is technology that makes it easier for consumers to shop, pay for and secure insurance products for a point-of-sale experience — much like what happens now in the retail and financial industries. According to The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience, embedded insurance is “[t]he real-time bundling and sale of insurance coverage or protection while a consumer is purchasing a product or service, bringing the coverage directly to the consumer at the point of sale.” Simply put, it presents consumers front and center with opportunities to instantly secure insurance — even if they don’t realize that they need coverage. For example, purchasing travel insurance immediately after booking a flight online or extended warranties for large appliance purchases — online or in a store — can be suggested. 

About FastrackCE

Fall has arrived! If you need to complete your insurance continuing education credits before the end of the year, FastrackCE can help. Now you can get all your life and health and property and casualty continuing education credits done in one place and at your convenience. We offer online courses in most states, covering a broad range of topics, including most of the state-mandated courses such as ethics, flood, long-term care and annuity training.