EIS Releases ‘Top 10 Predictions for Insurers in 2024’

Despite the tough year, it’s one that has brought greater clarity on the issues facing insurers and how they can be overcome. Speed of adaptability will become the cornerstone of transformation.

Alec Miloslavsky, EIS CEO, says, “In the rapidly evolving insurance market, distribution expansion, ecosystem building, and embedded offerings will drive transformation agendas next year. These strategic pillars won’t only redefine how insurers reach customers but also enhance the integration of services, delivering personalised experiences at scale.”

Key trends identified by EIS for 2024:

1. The great AI debate will be settled in 2024, moving from a mixture of fear and confusion into a more measured period of incremental action.
   • The focus will be on making sure employees and customers remain in the loop, and human-to-human interactions manifest when they’re needed most.
   • Equally, mitigating fraud, cyber risks, and creating greater resiliency will take center stage.
   • Use cases like preventing human error, reducing claims leakage, and identifying bad actors will proliferate the market.

2. Speed in adaptivity will become the central pillar of transformation.
   • Property insurers with agile ecosystems will adapt to new models of reinsurance services, like the Flood Re initiative, which enables insurers to offer affordable insurance in flood risk areas.
   • Underwriters will adopt new real-time data sources and use AI-driven OpenL-style pricing engines to shift pricing model agility and keep pace. 
   • Motor insurers will gain control of their supply chains, create efficiencies, and improve customer experiences in parallel.

3. Faster-to-market innovation will become the new working model.
   • Full-stack insurtechs offering wholesale coverage will continue to emerge and grow. As will those providing point solutions, particularly those in fraud, FNOL, and reinsurance. 
   • We’ll see more fintech-style acquisitions in 2024, as insurers move on all fronts to build, buy, and partner.

4. Post-pandemic health insurance will take a leap into the unknown. 
   • The shift in customer expectations will require healthcare to get closer to the customer.
   • IoT and smart devices, combined with better ways to use and manage health data, will come online fast.
   • Blockchain technologies will help improve the performance, security, and transparency of sharing medical data in the health care system.

5. Employee-based insurance will become relationship-based.
   • Service optimisation will drive innovation. This will focus on solving legacy pain points like lengthy onboarding, complex data integrations, and low enrollment rates.
   • A growing number of insurers will introduce embedded digital offerings, mirroring the modular approach seen in fintech entities like PayPal.
   • A new generation of workplace benefits providers is emerging, with the US leading the way. A similar momentum is anticipated in the EMEA in 2024.

6. Investment will flow.
   • Insurance will continue to invest in innovation despite economic conditions and uncertainty. It is an uncorrelated business, and uncertainty is one of its drivers.
   • As inflationary trends ease and investment performance strengthens, as is anticipated, access to credit will increase and shareholder pressure for dividends will diminish.

7. Propositions that match individual customer profiles will flourish.
   • Insurers will shift towards customer-centric business models and offer tailored and modular insurance products that require a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences. 
   • Digital platforms will enable direct-to-consumer propositions, allowing for a more granular understanding of customer profiles. This, in turn, will support modular product offerings.
   • Digital transformation will further enhance distribution by enabling consistent and personalized interactions across multiple touchpoints, improving customer engagement and satisfaction.

8. Analog life insurers will be in a race for digital.
   • Transformation in the life sector is set to accelerate at pace.
   • The business case for digitization is now vastly improved, with lower costs of change making new digital technologies a much safer bet.
   • We anticipate the rise of permission-based, fintech-like services that ensure an individual’s protection adapts to life’s evolving demands. 

9. Significant regulatory change will continue to push insurers to re-evaluate their business models as they adapt to the new standards. 
   • The introduction of more rigorous regulatory requirements will continue to drive the shift towards a more transparent, customer-focused approach.
   • The shift of focus from short-term gains to long-term sustainability and consumer trust will continue
   • Those that proactively integrate these regulatory changes into their strategic planning, using them as a springboard for new product development and enhanced customer service, will emerge as leaders.

10. In 2024, the industry will enter a transformative phase where agility and customer-centricity will be the key differentiators in the competitive global marketplace.
    • Insurers will boost their online and mobile distribution footprints, while widening market access through strategic partnerships.
    • We’ll see deeper integrations with value-added services and the use of AI and big data to enhance customer engagement and service personalisation
    • More insurance offerings will be integrated into partner platforms, and data analytics will allow for more precise risk assessment and coverage customisation

“Speed of adaptivity will be the defining characteristic of 2024,” said Rory Yates, EIS SVP Corporate Strategy. “The headwinds the sector is facing and the changes required to confront them are multifaceted. Only those ambitious enough to adapt will move from the slow to the fast lane of change, accelerating past competition at a blistering pace.”