Palgrave Studies in Financial Services Technology Insurance Transformed Technological Disruption Michael Naylor Palgrave Studies in Financial Services Technology Series Editor Bernardo Nicoletti Rome Italy The Palgrave Studies in Financial Services Technology series features original research from leading and emerging scholars on contemporary issues and developments in financial services technology Falling into broad categories: channels, payments, credit, and governance; topics covered include payments, mobile payments, trading and foreign transactions, big data, risk, compliance, and business intelligence to support consumer and commercial financial services Covering all topics within the life cycle of financial services, from channels to risk management, from security to advanced applications, from information systems to automation, the series also covers the full range of sectors: retail banking, private banking, corporate banking, custody and brokerage, wholesale banking, and insurance companies Titles within the series will be of value to both academics and those working in the management of financial services More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/gp/series/14627 Michael Naylor Insurance Transformed Technological Disruption Michael Naylor School of Economics and Finance Massey University Palmerston North, New Zealand Palgrave Studies in Financial Services Technology ISBN 978-3-319-63834-8 ISBN 978-3-319-63835-5  (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-63835-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017948716 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic 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International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Contents Exponential Change Key Technological Disruptors 15 Types of Insurance 41 The Impact of Disruptive Technology 47 What Insurance Companies Need to Do 93 Impact by Type of Insurance 175 The Dynamics of Decline 209 The Response of Incumbents 221 Regulatory and Legal Issues 263 10 Consequences for Insurance Workers 281 v vi     Contents 11 Impacted Occupations 297 12 Conclusion 321 Useful Sources 325 Index 335 List of Figures Fig. 1.1 Fig. 1.2 Fig. 1.3 Fig. 1.4 Fig. 1.5 Fig. 2.1 Fig. 2.2 Fig. 4.1 Fig. 4.2 Fig. 5.1 Fig. 8.1 Fig. 8.2 Fig. 8.3 Fig. 8.4 Linear vs Exponential change What we expect based on where we are at the moment vs what the future is actually like Hype vs Product maturity © Gartner, used with permission Gartner Hype Cycle phases © Gartner, used with permission Exponential change and the Hype-cycle A dynamic node network Neutral Network Fixed vs marginal cost diagram Changes in the spread of insurance rates Possible insurance ecosystems Market Entry Dynamics Stages of Digital Disruption The Digital matrix © Boston Consulting Group, used with permission The Action Space for Digital Transformation © Boston Consulting Group, used with permission 10 11 27 28 49 84 160 230 235 238 240 vii Exponential Change Introduction Insurance has traditionally been a very conservative industry, and this includes conservatism in the way it has used information technology This conservatism applies to both companies’ interactions with clients and to interactions within the company This conservatism is about to change as the insurance industry is currently on the crest of a combination of technological advances in technology which, when combined, will utterly disrupt the current insurance industry and its interactions with clients, and disrupt up to 80% of current insurance job activities Coping with this challenge will be the key insurance management issue for the next few decades, and success at adapting to technological disruption will be the defining characteristic of industry survivors Some of the elements of the disruptive technologies have been around for a while; others are new, whilst some are not yet useable Each of these technologies has individually, as yet, not had much impact on insurance, and this has lolled the insurance industry into complacency This complacency is starting to crack with the insurance consultants from 2015 waking up to the possibilities, so that by 2017 discussion © The Author(s) 2017 M Naylor, Insurance Transformed, Palgrave Studies in Financial Services Technology, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-63835-5_1 2     M Naylor of technological disruption was the fashion No commentators, however, have realized that it is the combination of these technologies which is the disruptor, not the impact of each individually No commentator has realized that when added together, the small impacts of each technology will combine to create utter disruption in the insurance industry, so that insurance will emerge as an industry transformed While these technologies will disrupt all industrial and service sectors, PWC (2015) and the World Economic Forum (2015) argue that in the next decade insurance will be the most disrupted of all the major service sectors This disruption is not a once-off; it will be continuous and geometrically increasing challenge, that is, the rate of change will increase, so disruption will increasingly increase Insurance companies who not respond dynamically will not survive as the ability to respond innovatively to disruption will become as vital in insurance as it has in mobile phones The key management skill in the future will be the ability to fundamentally transform companies so that they are able to cope with continuous change Most current insurers will struggle with this, resulting in a sector ripe for disruptive external entrants Disruption is also occurring because customers’ experiences with technological leaders in other sectors are transforming their expectations of insurance customer service Consumers not now judge their customer experience of an insurance company against that of other insurance companies, but instead judge it against their superior experiences with digital leaders such as Amazon Yet insurers still tend to benchmark themselves against other insurers instead of benchmarking against possible external disruptors Who would have guessed that the PC manufacturers would create a product which would destroy incumbents in diverse industries such as telephones, diaries, maps, and photography? Insurers need to understand the scale of the transformation needed or risk being left behind This meta-study outlines the key disruptors, outlines how these will impact on the insurance sector, including advisers, and what insurers will have to to survive It is vital to understand that these changes will not occur as a stand-alone Uber moment, but will consist of a series of increasingly high waves of disruption There is no end point - the ... changes, some insurance companies, and their workers, will not be The question is: ‘what is the likely impact of the looming technological disruption on the insurance industry, on insurance advisers,... Exponential Change Key Technological Disruptors 15 Types of Insurance 41 The Impact of Disruptive Technology 47 What Insurance Companies Need to Do 93 Impact by Type of Insurance 175 The Dynamics... 80% of current insurance job activities Coping with this challenge will be the key insurance management issue for the next few decades, and success at adapting to technological disruption will