Catching the Consumer Data Wave: a New Opportunity in the Insurance
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Cognizant 20-20 Insights Digital Business Catching the Consumer Data Wave: A New Opportunity in the Insurance Ecosystem With the profusion of insurance consumer data coming online, the role of data intermediaries is emerging as a key player in the insurance ecosystem. Insurance distributors are especially well-suited to take the lead in analyzing user data and sharing insights to drive innovative product offerings and growth. Executive Summary The eruption of customer wellness and activity data insurance industry is at the cusp of disruption, driven captured by wearables, lifestyle apps and other digital by a combination of nimble start-ups using emerging platforms presents a tipping point for the insurance technologies and new data sources to serve evolving industry. Today’s digital generation expects brands to customer preferences. This is pressuring insurers to use consensual data to enhance their experience by change how they approach product design, pricing and offering more personalized services and offerings. The distribution in ways that leverage all available data. February 2019 Cognizant 20-20 Insights Yet, most insurers are unprepared to access and and share insights to help all stakeholders across use this data to offer personalization, based on the ecosystem enhance their services and offers, individual risk assessments or anonymized profiles, thus providing new growth opportunities. and support customers through their various Insurers would benefit in many ways as they insurance needs and policy lifecycle. Moreover, improve the risk profiles of customers, delight them insurers are not equipped to receive and analyze in new ways, enhance product innovation and reap incoming data flows from myriad digital platforms. economic advantages through more targeted Likewise, device manufacturers are ill-equipped to spending and claims efficiency. This new ecosystem share user data directly with the myriad of insurers would create growth opportunities industry-wide across geographies. as it accelerates the insurer’s journey toward real- This predicament presents an opportunity for time underwriting and loyal customer renewals. a new player in the insurance ecosystem: the Such a distributor-driven ecosystem would require data intermediary. With a focus on the Asia- effective collaboration among insurers, policy Pacific region, in this white paper we examine the makers, regulators and cybersecurity experts to underlying forces causing this data dilemma and ensure a robust framework — one that benefits the need for an investment in creating a common customers and protects data privacy rights. We data-warehousing platform ideally positioned also explore the possible challenges, focusing on between the data receiver, such as a wearables the evolving regulatory landscape in particular, and manufacturer, and the insurer. We posit that a envision a way forward for the industry. distributer-driven platform should analyze the data 2 / Catching the Consumer Data Wave: A New Opportunity in the Insurance Ecosystem Cognizant 20-20 Insights Four forces driving the data dilemma Throughout the Asia-Pacific region, the insurance solutions across many product categories, and industry faces data headwinds — all brought on by insurance shouldn’t be an exception. Insurance changes in consumer behavior and technology customers lack a variety of policy options that adoption. The four forces most significant to account for their lifestyle choices, general health, insurers are: and social and financial behaviors. This is where technology can play a leading role. Southeast ❙ Explosion of digital data: Data monetization Asia is fast embracing digital innovation spurred will become a major source of revenue for by the Internet of Things (IoT) and smartphone insurers, as the world creates 175 trillion adoption. China is home to many dynamic digital gigabytes (175 zettabytes) by 2025, up from 33 innovators and a leading investor in emerging zettabytes in 2018, according to IDC.1 technologies.3 Singapore has its Smart Nation ❙ Increased wearables adoption: Consumers are initiative.4 Malaysia launched the world’s first increasingly adopting gadgets and connected digital free-trade zone.5 Thailand has outlined devices to monitor activity and behaviors. In its Thailand 4.0 vision that aims for greater emerging markets, inclusive of Asia-Pacific economic prosperity through innovation, (excluding Japan), the wearables market grew technology and creativity.6 All combined, this 14% in 2018,2 as basic wristbands remain in high region presents fertile ground to create a new demand and smartwatches gain traction across insurance ecosystem to capture, mine and act the region. on this massive data trove to offer a deeper ❙ Expected personalization: Today’s consumers view of consumers as they gravitate to online receive personalized offers and customized insurance and request more personalization. Drivers for data monetization CUSTOMER WEARABLES INSURERS DIGITAL DATA PERSONALIZATION UPTAKE GO DIGITAL EXPLOSION Customers expect In APAC, the wearables Insurers leverage Data monetization a personalized market grew 14% in massive data for becomes a key revenue insurance product that 2018, and global advanced analytics driver, as the world reflects health, social shipments are and machine learning. creates 175 trillion and usage behaviors. expected to exceed gigabytes by 2025. 450 million in 2020. Figure 1 3 / Catching the Consumer Data Wave: A New Opportunity in the Insurance Ecosystem Cognizant 20-20 Insights ❙ Insurers go digital: In China, online insurance The predicament created by these forces presents sales of life and non-life products are expected a timely opportunity for a new breed of data to hit $145 billion by 20217 — up from $45 billion intermediaries that can help insurers by collecting in 2016. Online insurers and conglomerates, and analyzing data spread across the insurance such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, are ecosystem and ferreting out intelligent insights to investing in technology, joint ventures and offer as a service. By leveraging technology across acquisitions to strategically expand their the value chain and partnering with organizations insurance industry footprint. Insurers recognize such as automobile companies, smart home the need to take advantage of this wealth of data appliance manufacturers and gadget/wearable to support personalized services based on real- manufacturers, insurers can create a more time customer profile/behavior/habits to launch data-driven industry ecosystem that enables real- new and innovative product segments, such time underwriting, customized policies, smarter as on-demand insurance that targets next-gen distribution, better service and faster claims customers, and to satisfy customer desires resolution while also optimizing costs. Similar to for faster, more proactive communication the way the cab-hailing industry has transformed and service. through intelligent use of customer data, a data intermediary with actionable insights based on various data sources has the potential to redefine the insurance landscape. Customer journey map: current state It would have The quotes do I have been exercising been good if the not reflect my and improving my health data actual health health, but I don’t tracked could be parameters. see any quantifiable used to minimize financial wellness the tests needed benefits. in the health check-up. POLICY AGGREGATOR SITE INSURER Liu Wang is a 30 He checks out He starts Liu’s colleague Liu searches Liu does not Liu schedules After one year, year old fitness reviews and tracking fitness suggests he for a health understand a health Liu is ready to enthusiast. He is features of parameters purchase a insurance plan most of the check-up at the renew the policy looking for a dierent health using the health insurance through various insurance designated and despite fitness band apps/wearables wearable device. policy to aggregator sites. comparison hospital and maintaining an (including the and purchases manage parameters completes the active lifestyle, associated app one. unplanned listed on the policy admin the renewal features) to health and aggregator sites, process to quote doesn’t track his vital medical but selects one become account for it. health stats. expenses. of them anyway. insured. Figure 2 4 / Catching the Consumer Data Wave: A New Opportunity in the Insurance Ecosystem Cognizant 20-20 Insights Who should act as data intermediary? The insurance industry ecosystem includes many While any entity that has wide access to data can types of players, but only the most qualified candi- provide a data intermediary service, we believe that dates should assume the role of data intermediary. a distribution system that intermediates between Many insurers are keen to use insights from the the customer and insurer, such as a large brokerage data provided by external digital platforms but firm or a national distribution channels, and has would rather not invest in the skills and resources access to various data sources can more readily to create an in-house system that would process all step into the data intermediary role. the consumer data residing in various systems and Distributors interested in assuming this role data marts outside their business.8 In addition, some should exploit the opportunity by enhancing their large insurers, due to their inherent size and legacy digital capabilities to meet the evolving needs of systems, might find it difficult to adopt emerging customers. This sentiment