Last week we held the innovation and insight occasion in Boston exactly where we discussed creative disruption and emerging technologies and their effects on the insurance sector.
Since coming back to the UK a couple of press releases and blog posts have caught my eye that feed well into this discussion. The 1st is from Robert Scoble, amongst other items a technologies commentator and blogger. His post, 2012 brings a pause in the disruption sounds contradictory to our view but a fast read of his post gives a great view of the level of modify we’ve seen in the final 8 years. Think back 8 years, to the telephone you had, the way you interacted with the World wide web – with the Tv even. In the last 8 short years we’ve observed the birth of the social web, the rise of the wise telephone, of apps (and their stores and markets), of gesture based interactions (the Wii and then Kinect were launched in this timescale) and now the IPO of facebook which launched in 2004.
The pause in disruption points to a lack of jaw-dropping disruptive technologies at the commence of 2012 and a consolidation in the industry, a refining of these hugely disruptive themes into concrete business models and a maturing therein. I have to agree. CES 2012 saw bigger TV’s, TV’s with gesture control and additional merging of mobile, tablet and laptop devices. Even Apple, the wonderful innovator, presented the iPhone 4S as some thing they could ship in massive numbers rather than go for massive adjust. One particular technologies I would watch is 3D printers, which are still gaining ground slowly but largely in geek and maker communities – given yet another decade and less costly prices I assume this will seriously disrupt insurance and retail models. For now, we may be waving phones to make payments and having screens we can bend and see by way of – but consumer electronic developments in the last 12 months lack the technological disruption of past years.
This pause is great news for the insurance coverage industry in that tends to make this the ideal time to step back, take a appear at the opportunities and possibilities these wonderful waves of alter have on our organization models, our merchandise and the way we interact with consumers.
Insurers across the globe have currently produced excellent strides in interacting with consumers through social networks and understanding how to leverage them. Insurers are also experimenting with apps, mobile and connected devices. Telematics looks set to enter the mainstream in several markets, where the question is less how must we do it but now which approach.
It was interesting also to see these articles regarding AXA, repositioning it is brand as innovative within the UK, making use of social technologies and games to educate corporations on the value of insurance. Possibly not the 1st insurer, but the articles are indicative of latest and continued investment in this theme from the insurance coverage business.
The latest past – whether you call that 8 years, a decade, two decades – this brief time has been an extraordinary period of adjust, insurers are currently disrupting their business and Celent contends there is no greater time to review how the business can leverage adoption of emerging technologies to creatively disrupt not only their internal perceptions and process, but the whole market place.
