Citing the current period as “akin to the calm before the storm,” InsNerds.com offers eight forces that will change the insurance industry:
- Systems changes: Insurers ripping out old, outdated systems and moving to modern computer systems.
- Telematics and Usage-based Insurance: Pay-by-use is being enabled by technology like Metromile and InsureTheBox that track driving, monitor systems inside vehicles and other devices.
- Specialist wholesalers: Insurance wholesalers who work on only one product, especially on the corporate side of the business where they provide coverage that can be hard to otherwise find.
- The Internet of Things: More tracking, but this time for devices inside the home, the office and the plant. The widespread use of sensors is creating a new era of data collection.
- Decentralized Value Transfer Systems: Think BitCoin and its brethren that allow for money to be transferred seamlessly and largely without human interaction.
- P2P insurance: Friendsurance in Germany is allowing users to share the risk of their deductible across their social network. It can lower premiums.
- The sharing economy: When no one owns cars, what kind of insurance will they need.
- Wearables: Fitbit started this, but there’s a lot more to come as smartphones and other devices track our movements, habits and health, information that can inform insurance pricing and decisions.