October 06, 2022

Insuretech Connect is one of the world's largest and most important conference of the year about the future of insurance. Insurers and insurtech, technology companies dedicated to the needs of the insurance market gather and meet for three days in Las Vegas. More than 4,000 industry professionals, all decision-makers about the future of insurance from all over the World, discuss and share their latest innovations and solutions to better protect the end clients.



CEO of UrbanSky, Andrew Antonio, at Insuretech Connect 2022
 

Prevention is the rising obsession for insurers. Beyond the old job of predicting risks and compensating policy owners when a damage happens, insurers want more and more to prevent the damage from occurring in the first place. It changes the attitude of insurers: From being passive and waiting for claims, insurers always use innovative ways to be proactive and prevent the problems from happening in the first place. Preventing risks is much more cost-effective than having to repair them.
 



Panel at Insuretech connect about shared-value insurance programs.
 

At Insuretech Connect, Vitality, Dacadoo, and Optimity are all providers offering to Life and health insurers to empower their clients with apps and incentive rewards system when they complete healthy activities: a workout session, a good night of sleep, the completion of a nutrition lesson, a health check, etc. All these activities participate in the excellent health of the users, who end up being less likely to get sick or die early.

Indeed, what customers are looking for is ideally that the problem does not arrive at all, not to receive compensation if it does. It also changes the expectations of customers towards insurance companies. Instead of thinking that the interest of the insurer may not be aligned with their own interest, in fear that insurers may be reluctant to accept their potential claim and do anything to deny them, clients can receive concrete benefits to reduce their risks and improve their life. 

These shared-value insurance programs, enabled by technology, transform a long-term, abstract, passive life insurance product for older clients into a short-term active benefit, capable of attracting younger prospects.

If the incentive programs applying the behavioral science principles become more and more popular, risk prevention is not only related to individuals’ physical health. Cyber risks and Climate risks are other types of risks where technology can empower prevention.

Climate risks were the hot topic of Insuretech Connect 2022, and preventing them is also a priority. Natural catastrophes becoming increasingly numerous and severe, become primary risks for insurers.

Urbanski is a startup that pitched at Insuretech Connect startup competition. Urbanski is collecting images and data of the Earth using small stratospheric balloons with zero-emission and at a fraction of the cost of pictures collected by satellites, aircraft, or even drones.

The startup aspires to evaluate the damages better when they occur but also better predict the risks and eventually help to better prevent them by regularly screening the areas over time thanks to AI to recognize risk factors evolution.

For our health, cyber security, and even our planet, technology can help insurers prevent the risks that we face and fully protect the end customers.

The need for strong action to protect biodiversity, fight against global warming and reduce inequalities was more evident than ever in 2021. As a long-term investor, we believe that positive impact on society and the planet should be embedded in how we manage the savings entrusted to us by customers. We deepened our commitment to help tackle climate change by joining both the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) and the Climate Action 100+ investor participation initiative.


Saar Bar, Co-founder & CEO of Surance.io
 

Cyber insurance is also a rising topic. Israeli startup, Surance.io wants to offer cyber protection to individuals as a benefit of their homeowner or device protection plans from $25 per year. And beyond being able to recognize and assess the cyber-attack and facilitate the claim process, the startup also offers to protect the end-users better from the cyber-attacks. The app installed on the user’s smartphone can detect potential breaches, suggest solutions to improve defense, and helps fight the possible attacks if they happen. The startup says that it can eradicate 70% of cyber-attacks.

In order to meet these needs, for customers of Carrefour and Atacadão – part of the largest retail group in Brazil – BNP Paribas Cardif has launched Digital Life and Personal Belongings Protection, the first insurance in Brazil that indemnifies the customer in case of theft of belongings, withdrawal/purchase under duress, as well as financial losses resulting from online data theft. This new product also offers a digital ecosystem that includes online monitoring with alerts and guidance from a specialist in case of leakage or misuse of personal data, educating customers to help them more effectively identify and deal with fraud situations. These services are available to customers from the first day of their insurance contract and not simply triggered after a claim. Their use is unlimited, 100% online and without additional cost.

Prevention, advanced technologies or incentive rewards have punctuated this edition of Insurtech Connect and are already the priorities of insurers for the months and years to come.