This past Wednesday was the first day of spring…yay!
If you live anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic region, you may have been celebrating the occasion with a nice, steamy hot mug of cocoa. After shoveling your driveway. Because it snowed. A lot.
Now, I’m not one to get all upset about some spring time snowfall. Let’s be honest with ourselves here…it’s not the first time that this has happened.
In fact…I’ll prove it.
I remember being at home on April 9, 1996 to watch the Yankees open the MLB season against the Kansas City Royals. Andy Pettitte was on the mound for the Yankees. Joe Torre was starting out his first of many, epic years as the club’s skipper. And what was falling from the sky? In April?
You guessed it! SNOW. And here’s the video evidence:
So, next time you freak out about a “light dusting” in the middle of March…just remember, the Yankees spanked the Royals 7-3 in the Bronx during a snowstorm in April…on their way to winning the World Series. If they can pull that off…you can handle shoveling a driveway, ya’ bum!
Here’s this week’s top insurance news stories to help keep you warm.
Insurtech: A Catalyst for Insurers’ Wider Innovation Journey
Good new, everybody! Insurtech is seeing increased adoption.
Bad news, everybody! Insurance customers may not start seeing the benefits of Insurtech adoption for a few years yet. Oh…and America is also losing its edge in the Insurtech revolution.
At least that’s what this new report and blog post from the fine and tremendously intelligent people at global consulting firm, Accenture, seems to imply.
According to Accenture’s analysis of data from CB Insights, the number of Insurtech deals rose by 39 percent in 2017, with the total value of Insurtech funding reaching $2.32 Billion.
However, the report also claims that, “In spite of this activity, the way the insurance industry currently views and leverages startups makes them far less effective – as a force for transformation and innovation – than they could be.”
The study attributes this to a few different factors.
First, many insurance companies still need to fix underlying challenges in their business before Insurtech can really benefit them. Second, many insurance companies are looking to Insurtech as a “magic bullet” that will eliminate all of their challenges, and not putting in the time and effort necessary to make the organizational and business changes necessary to create lasting improvement. And finally, many insurance companies are kind of old school, and are afraid of change.
Check out the blog post by clicking the link above, and be sure to check out the entire report for even more interesting, Insurtech findings!
Maiden Announces Expansion of Technology Innovation Initiative
Maiden Re, a global reinsurance provider to the property and casualty market, is doubling down on innovation. The company announced earlier this week that it’s expanding its Technology Innovation Initiative with the launch of a customer-focused innovation solutions team.
This new team will be headed by Maiden’s SVP of Corporate Development, Colin Fitt, and will serve to help the company’s insurance customers identify emerging technology, engage and access the application of the technology, and leverage new technology to achieve their strategic goals.
According to Mr. Fitt, “As we look to the future, the scope and speed of technology changes will continue to increase. It is Maiden’s strategy to provide our clients with the visibility, insight, and access to deploy effective technology to create and maintain a competitive advantage.”
UK Insurtech Flock Launches Pay-As-You-Fly Drone Insurance
If something is expensive and could, potentially, crash – there will invariably be someone trying to sell insurance for it.
A new startup Insurtech company based out of the UK called Flock is…FLOCKING…to get a cut of the fledgling drone insurance market (see what I did there?).
The company is offering people that fly commercial drones the ability to purchase a tailored insurance policy for each of their flights directly through an app on their mobile device.
The company utilizes predictive risk data and location information to analyze the flight area for a drone. The risk for that flight is then assessed and analyzed, and an appropriate policy is generated for the user.
All joking aside, this is a pretty cool concept that is utilizing some exciting technology to fill an ever-increasing niche in the marketplace. Kudos, Flock!
