.jpg)
Insurers need to utilize emerging technologies to create personalized, real-time products and services in order to remain competitive in the “post-digital” era, according to a report from professional services firm Accenture.
The report revealed that 67% of insurers are already using emerging social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC) technologies, as well as advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), to build products or services that boost the frequency and quality of customer engagements. Another 29% are planning to do so in the next year.
However, the report warned that that use of technology alone is no longer a differentiating advantage but rather the price of admission.
“Canadian insurance companies are now at a turning point, facing change, disruption and opportunity,” said Susan Johnston, who leads Accenture’s Insurance practice in Canada. “The leaders must move beyond merely gathering data and turn to AI to improve the granularity of their forecasting, and weave real-time risk protection and mitigation services into the customer’s everyday life.”
The report also suggested that failure to master emerging technologies will leave insurers unable to serve even the most basic demands of a “post-digital” world and prevent them from preparing for the next wave of digital disruption.
“For insurers to excel in the “post-digital” environment, they’ve got to become more agile and implement SMAC as a core competency before they can rotate to newer technologies, including distributed ledger technology and AI,” said Jim Bramblet, who leads Accenture’s Insurance practice in North America. “They’ll also need to carefully choose the customized and on-demand customer experiences they want to target and work backwards to map out how to get there, determining which ecosystem partners they need and where their place in that ecosystem will be.”
