An Inside Look at the Post-Digital Age for Insurers: Accenture Report

Insurance organizations are taking their first steps into a new age—one that tailors itself to fit every moment. It’s an era when insurance products and services evolve and adapt according to customer behaviors and context—from hyper-personalized marketing to telematics-driven auto insurance that rewards safe driving to parametric travel policies that instantly pay compensation when a flight is delayed for more than two hours.

Source: Accenture | Published on April 10, 2019

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It is an age where digital technology is a strategic priority for every insurance business, as the industry strives to catch up with consumer expectations and the pace of digital transformation in other sectors. Given their collective prioritization of digital technology, every insurance company will eventually converge on the same turning point—one where digital-era technology, which began as a differentiating advantage, is something expected from every business.

So, what will this new, “post-digital” world look like? It will be characterized by companies looking for the next competitive edge, according to the 2019 Technology Vision Report by Accenture.

The post-digital era will be one where each consumer, employee and business partner will seek tailored, contextual experiences, and every moment will represent an opportunity for companies to play a role in shaping it. Insurance organizations will need to deliver not just personalized, but also individualized experiences to meet digitally mature expectations.

Trend 1: DARQ power

Understanding the DNA of DARQ

Distributed ledger technology, AI, extended reality, and quantum computing will be the next set of new technologies to spark a step change, letting insurers reimagine the entire industry and its role in the world.

Trend 2: Get to know me

Unlock unique consumers and unique opportunities

Tech-driven interactions create a tech identity for every insurance customer—key to understanding the next generation of consumers, and delivering individualized, experience-based relationships.

Trend 3: Human + Worker

Change the workplace or hinder the workforce

Insurance workforces are becoming Human+: each worker is empowered by their skills and knowledge plus a new set of tech-driven capabilities. Now, insurers must adapt technology strategies to support a new way of working in the post-digital age.

Trend 4: Secure us to secure me

Enterprises are not victims, they’re vectors

Ecosystem-driven business connections increase insurers’ exposure to risks. Leaders recognize that just as they collaborate with entire ecosystems to deliver best-in-class products, services, and experiences, security must join that effort as well.

Trend 5: MyMarkets

Meet consumers’ needs at the speed of now

Technology is creating a world of intensely customized and on-demand experiences, and insurance companies must reinvent their organizations to find and capture those opportunities as they come.

A post-digital age

Tomorrow’s insurance leaders are already today finding a place among the digital ecosystems of the future and investing in the next wave of emerging technologies. This will give them a head start in the post-digital era—an age with massive customer, employee, and societal expectations, and a time when digital saturation of reality has granted companies the capabilities to meet people wherever they are and at any moment in time