Now familiar to most of us, the concept of ‘’tech’’ in our daily lifes is associated with transparency, fluidity and simplicity.  ‘’Tech’’ has not only accelerated the digital economy. It has allowed the rise of new services, established new uses and by doing so it has also created new customer expectations that now set the standards. Digital technology has given us instant access, on demand consumption, automation and, even better, the ability to contextualize. Better processing capacities, the development of algorithms and artificial intelligence, the blockchain – in short, the large-scale use of data, now accessible – has led to the emergence of new players: Fintech, Insurtech, Healthtech, Regtech, etc.

Their motto: “100% digital”. Their vision : transparent underwriting processes, immediacy, compensation in a few clicks, streamlined and seamless customer experiences. But with the introduction of contextualization, others are going further by anticipating and reshaping the insurance product essence.

Contextualization as a factor of preference 

Beyond the digitalization of customer journeys and distribution, the use of data is deeply changing the game. Insurtechs are now able to leverage on the data of a product, the characteristics of a good, a service or even a payment being made to an e-merchant  a travel agency an event distributors, etc., to develop innovative products, improve their promise and enhance the customer’s perception. 

Detecting cyber-harassment to prevent a potential disaster, predicting hail on the day of the Euro final or a week of skiing without snow. These are situations where we value the fact that data anticipates for us ! Even better, what if insurers were able to protect us with no need to  raise the hand ?

By anticipating, these insurtechs become proactive. Both in the design of new products now adjusted to the needs and desires of these modern consumers, but also in their claims process. They are aware of what we want and what we are missing because we have agreed to let them know us a little better in order to finally push services we are interested in. This relationship has a bright future, since according to a recent study*, more than 7 out of 10 policyholders are ready to communicate even personal data (family situation, professional situation, events, life habits via connected objects, etc.) to their insurer, if it allows them to reduce their fees or personalize their contract. 

Based on customer knowledge, product or service purchase situations, key moments in life and protection needs, coverage can then be contextualized and tailor-made. Perfectly suited to new uses and new consumption practices that are ever more mobile, automatic and digital.

In a nutshell, the power of contextualization is already a key element in the transformation of insurance where the battle for customer satisfaction is central. 

Rethinking the value chain in a click

Getting delivered in one click, watching movies in one click, ordering food in one click: we live in a society where “à la carte” consumption has become a standard. We want to access services tailored to our tastes and consumption habits – for everything. This is the battle plan that the insurance industry has to massively deploy in order to fit into the already established norms since the arrival of the uberization phenomenon along with the emergence of NATUs better known as Netflix, Airbnb or Uber.

In Asia, contextual insurance is already well established and is natively integrated into a service or a product during its distribution, since it is primarily an on-demand insurance that is taken out during a purchase. However, it must be combined with innovation at the heart of the product to enable the customer to benefit from a new experience. This is the only way to improve the insurer-insured relationship – otherwise insurance will remain embedded, included as it has been for many years.

The consumer must feel understood and assisted in steps that are often unusual, such as subscribing to a product or  asking for assistance or a compensation Anticipating customer’s needs to make these relationships as fluid as possible  require automation on the insurer’s side and provides autonomy in return on the customer’s side. This is achieved through self-care tools where the customer becomes an actor once again. Levers of acquisition that should no longer be ignored. 

Intelligent. This is how the entire customer journey should be. Protection must be transparent and innovative to make the customer experience complete and offer the consumer automated compensation within the framework of parametric insurance coverage (delays or cancellations of transport, parcels or even the postponement of a soccer match for example – NLDR) or in one click when the situation cannot be anticipated (the breakage or malfunction of our mobile devices – NLDR).

To go further, the next frontier in the anticipation of customer will be in prevention : being able to detect a risk before it occurs to warn the consumer and protect him more efficiently. the customer will then be able to act and prevent the disaster from happening. Once again, tech and data will be at the heart of this process, which will benefit insurers both in terms of balancing their technical risk and in reaffirming their role as protectors, guardians of our wellness.