It has taken a while for banks and insurance firms to fully embrace fintech innovation, due in part to the amount of legacy systems in place, the heavy dependence on historical data, and the low risk appetite for new insurance-related products at most traditional firms. However, rapidly changing customer behavior, the availability of smart devices, and innovation ecosystems achieving scale provided the industry with a much-needed push in 2016 (and beyond) to adopt insurtech in a huge way.

Key Findings
Consumer behavior has shifted to accentuate the sharing economy, and the products/platforms that best encompass these new behavior patterns are likely to be the most successful.

One of the largest emerging areas within insurtech in 2016 was the development of apps and devices that monitor how consumers behave and make purchases, mainly driven through IoT.

Policy management is a key theme stemming from most new insurtech developments, enabling consumers to personally manage and take more control of their insurance dealings.

Start-ups are encouraging consumers to move away from traditional insurance practices through the introduction of peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms, where liabilities and risks are managed by the individual(s) instead of the insurer.
Synopsis

Insurtech and Customer Services: Lessons for the Incumbents" provides an in-depth analysis of recent developments in the insurtech space and the impact on the insurance industry. The report discusses how mainstream insurers are embracing new technology and how these new innovations could revolutionize many of the long-standing systems and processes within general insurance. It also looks at how insurers could benefit from the types of propositions offered by these new tech groups and the opportunities that may exist in the form of partnerships.