Act now or get left behind, warns start-up founder

The industry is waking up to the need to change but insurers that don’t move now, risk getting left by behind by competitors that act first.

Matthew Wardle, co-founder of insurtech start-up Kasko, explained that while the consumer impression of the industry is pretty low, insurance is a vital and socially beneficial.

“The reality is that even though consumers may like to see faster change and better user experiences, they will have to continue buying insurance,” he said.

Kasko is one of more than 20 start-up attending the annual Intelligent InsurTECH conference on October 3 in London. Click here to find out more.

He acknowledges that the world of insurance is slow to change, but that change is actually happening, and both small and large insurers and insurtechs are “raising the bar” in terms of engagement with customers and product delivery.

“Sitting back and waiting to see what others do, or waiting until old legacy systems are updated (into what will likely be newer legacy systems) will cost insurers dearly in terms of customers,” warned Wardle.

Insurers need to launch new products, engage with customers in new ways, and test what works and what doesn’t, in order to be successful.

He added: “This approach of ‘fail fast and learn fast’ is only feasible if launching products and testing them becomes quick and simple.”

That is exactly what Kasko helps insurers achieve. The London-based start-up has built an insurtech platform that helps bridge the gap between insurers and the digital world.

“Insurers and reinsurers know that they have been slow to embrace technical innovation and you can really notice that there is a shift in attitude now,” he added.

According to the founder, insurers are attempting to update or even overhaul their legal systems in a bid to provide consumers with better products and to embrace developing technology.

There are two types of IT development, explained Wardle.

First, there is development of the core, backend system which takes up a lot of IT resources, but doesn’t require an abundance of input from the business.

Second, there’s business related IT work such as launching new products and engaging with consumers in better ways and offering them better services.

“This work drive is critical for the business to stay competitive and attract and retain customers. Since a lot of IT resources flow into the first, core platform work, there often aren’t enough resources for business projects,” said the co-founder.

There’s also various ways insurers tackle the challenge of launching new products: in-house IT, working with large back-end systems and IT consultants, or through vendors or insurtech business.

The first two tend to be very slow and expensive, explained Wardle, while the latter two can sometimes be faster, but are often restricted in terms of product flexibility.

Kasko bridges the gap, by allowing product development in a quick and IT resource light manner.

Wardle added: “In effect we enable the insurer to embrace technology and define and execute their digital strategy.”

Kakso’s platform acts as a middle layer between insurers and the digital world, helping insurers launch and test new omni-channel insurance products solutions in as little as one to two weeks.

“Our solution is truly scalable, since products can be fully sandboxed (not requiring any insurer IT involvement) or fully integrated into existing core systems (which we have a lot of experience with),” he said.

Kasko can also act as a sort of “App Store” for insurtech solutions, as those can be integrated into products launched on the platform, without touching insurer systems directly.

The start-up has exciting plans in terms of building out the platform, giving product managers within insurers more autonomy to launch products by themselves.

“We are also building out more solutions, to address new parts of the insurance value chain. The key for us is to engage with as many insurers as possible and to be their go-to-partner for all aspects of their digital strategy,” concluded Wardle.

Kasko is one of more than 20 start-up attending the annual Intelligent InsurTECH conference on October 3 in London. Click  here to find out more.

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