The immense and rapid development of technology increases exponentially every year. An entirely unpredictable future lies before us, characterized by three-dimensional printers, autonomous vehicles, augmented/virtual reality and who knows what else. With technology only becoming more prevalent, it is of the utmost significance the insurance industry implement it accordingly—and to its advantage. In light of such, I have taken this opportunity to highlight a few particularly exciting cutting-edge trends in the insurance community:
Internet of Things
The Internet of Things is fast becoming well known through the insurance world. Breading, in particular, expects IoT to be wholly embraced by commercial lines insurers first. Since personal lines insurers rely on consumer adoption to fully leverage technology, commercial lines companies have considerable leeway to assign devices to customers.
Drones
Six percent of insurance companies are already taking advantage of drone technology. These companies include but are not limited to Erie insurance, Allstate, and USAA. Generally, the drones are used in order to streamline the claims process. According to SMA, “virtually ever P&C insurer” will take advantage of drone technology within the decade.
Autonomous Vehicles
Any list of technology and the insurance industry would be incomplete without mentioning autonomous vehicles. The talk of the land right now, they are currently being tested in Pittsburg by Uber as part of a driverless car initiative. Clearly, insurance companies are sure to be impacted by self-driving automobiles and need to account for such.
Wearable Devices
Wearable devices are fast becoming commonplace in contemporary society. Although life insurance is already adjusting for such, it is the P&C industry that stands to be affected the most by such wearable developments—considering they are especially concerned with workers’ compensation and other commercial lines.
Artificial Intelligence
Many insurance companies recently announced various artificial intelligence initiatives. Such technology has the capacity to streamline internal processes and thus produce significantly more revenue while reducing overhead. Once the technology is more refined, it is likely companies will use AI for consumer-facing campaigns.
The world is perpetually moving and forever changing. It is up to capitalism to develop along with it—lest it be relegated to the past and with it, insignificance.
