The INSURTECH Book

Digital Transformation in Insurance – Four Common Factors from Other Industries

By Alex Ruthemeier

InsurTech Facilitator and Co-Founder/Operations, ONE Insurance

and and Dr Christian Macht

Board Member, VAI

We are living in the age of digital transformation. Like every age, it has its very own specifics, as well as effects for the economy and society. The authors have identified four common, underlying factors we see in common among already heavily-impacted industries. These factors are outlined with respect to their potential impact on insurance, which can be seen as a late adopter to the emerging technological and digital advancements:

1. From non-transparent markets to customer transparency.
2. Substitution of middle man – direct producer-to-customer connection.
3. From many scattered players with high margins to few scaled players with low margins.
4. From supply-driven (company focus) to demand-driven (customer focus).

Let’s look at each of these in turn.

From Non-transparent Markets to Customer Transparency

In the past, customer market interactions, whether buying services or trading goods, were portrayed by the limited possibility to compare these with local agents or retailers. With the emergence of readily accessible information, this local focus widened and allowed for 24/7 active comparison and competition, e.g. via online direct sales or price comparison sites. In most Business to Customer (B2C) areas, the customer is now also able to validate a purchase intention based ...