Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Werner Rapberger
The future of auto insurance with self-driving cars
With Tesla’s announcement that it has launched its own insurance offering and the new insurtech Avinew’s entry into the market, a great debate ensued on whether self-driving cars will kill the industry as we know it, or present new opportunities for carmakers and insurers to come together. The great debate this year involving self-driving cars has been whether the new technology will completely disrupt or present new opportunities for the auto insurance industry.
Insurers should look at drones as part of a bigger ecosystem
Commentary Insurance organizations should view drones as part of a wider set of such disruptive technologies as IoT, blockchain and AI.
Seven ways to master cyber resilience in insurance
A comprehensive study from Accenture Security estimates that it will take two to three years for insurers to achieve mastery in cybersecurity. But what does mastery look like, and where should insurers prioritize their efforts to achieve it? Cybercrime can be extremely expensive. The 2017 Cost of Cyber Crime Study from Accenture Security found that the potential scale of cyber crime is rising, costing on average $2.4 million to address a malware attack.
What microservices and blockchain mean for insurance
Ecosystem partnerships are a growing trend in many areas of global business, including insurance. Such partnerships offer attractive benefits to insurers, like increased access to data, more personalized products & services, improved customer experiences, and new marketing opportunities. These partnerships are based not only on strategy, products and services, but also on merging technology and sharing platforms.
$375 billion in new insurance revenue up for grabs—if you are a ‘living’ business - Accenture Insurance Blog
Accenture’s Insurance as a Living Business report estimates that there is $375 billion in new insurance revenue up for grabs by innovation leaders to 2022. But to take advantage of these emerging opportunities, insurers need to become ‘living’ businesses—customer-centric, hyper-relevant, agile, vital and innovative. Where are the growth areas for new revenues and how can insurers realise the vision of becoming a living business?
IoT and connected insurance innovation – the best of the 2018 Efma-Accenture Awards - Accenture Insurance Blog
Doing what I do – I lead Accenture’s global offering development for connected and IoT insurance – I headed straight for the connected and IoT insurance solutions. My top three picks are: The standout feature of all of these solutions is that they leverage technology to address real and evolving challenges in ways that deliver significant value for customers. Breaking away from the pack to capture new revenues requires a new mindset.
Data-Driven Cyber Insurance Underwriting is Still Elusive
A carrier’s sustained profitability hinges on precise underwriting—but is that happening in the current cyber insurance market? Right now, data-driven underwriting in cyber insurance is elusive, and at some point losses will catch up with carriers that aren’t using risk-based pricing. It’s impossible to predict the point at which losses exceed premiums. But the pivot might come sooner, rather than later.
Insurers are Improving the Customer Experience with Seamless Integration
The lines between people’s business and personal lives are blurring, and insurers are joining the wave of technological advancement that is supporting this new blended work-life paradigm. Accenture’s Technology Vision for Insurance 2018 report highlights technological trends that are improving both the customer experience and insurers’ growth opportunities.
Insurers must be wary of pitfalls on the path to competitive agility
Insurers looking to change their business strategy to bolster their competitive agility need to be wary of some hazardous pitfalls. Changing business strategies is often complex and challenging. Implementing a comprehensive integrated strategy, that promotes growth, profitability and sustainability across the enterprise, can be especially daunting. We’ve identified four major obstacles that can snag a journey to competitive agility.
Big carriers shine at Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards
This year’s Efma-Accenture Innovation in Insurance Awards showed that insurers throughout the world are recognizing the enormous opportunities that are being created by advances in digital technology. It was a huge success showing insurers increasing focus on innovation to better serve their clients leveraging an ever-increasing array of technologies and partnership opportunities.
How susceptible are insurers to disruption, really?
In 2018, disruption is certainly nothing new. We’ve seen it with the GAFAs (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) as well as with companies such as Tesla and Uber—all of which have forced entire industries to change direction. Yet many insurers, despite investing increasing amounts each year, are still experiencing disruption and are susceptible to future disruption. Why aren’t insurers more prepared?
Digital fragmentation threatens growth at global insurers
Multinational insurers are already counting the cost of rising barriers to international trade, investment, migration and the flow of data. Administration and compliance expenses at big insurance providers have swelled as these companies adjust to the growing number of restrictive trade and business laws around the world. A further penalty, however, is often overlooked. Increasing trade and business restrictions are jeopardizing the growth of many big insurers.
Three business models for The Everyday Insurer
My previous post defined the concept of an Everyday Insurer. Let’s take the idea further by looking at three complementary Everyday Insurance business models carriers can adopt to increase their relevance to the customer. The On-the-Go Insurer: The carrier provides convenient insurance products or services—often usage-based or pay-per-use—embedded in other products and services consumers use every day. Computer-generated advice will play an increasing role in the sale of such offerings.
Accurate performance monitoring is vital for insurers embarking on digital transformation - Accenture Insurance Blog
To succeed in business, it helps to be optimistic. But sometimes optimism can get in the way of objectivity. Here’s a case in point. Most insurers, according to recent research by Forrester Consulting, are confident that the digital experiences they provide their customers are better than those offered by their competitors. Something’s not right here. We can’t all be front runners; it takes the majority to make up the following pack. So why are insurers so bullish about their digital services?
Traits of a Truly Agile Insurer: Investing in data analytics (Part 4) - Accenture Insurance Blog
By now it should be clear that agility is a critical consideration for insurers looking to gain a competitive edge. In this final video in a four-part series, I talk about why insurers need to invest in data and how more extensive use of data analytics can lead to better business agility. Watch the previous videos in this series: Traits of a Truly Agile Insurer: What does agility mean for insurers? (Part 1)
Friend or foe? Big insurers shift stance on insurtech start-ups - Accenture Insurance Blog
While some carriers view the rise of insurance technology start-ups with trepidation, others have been quick to seize on the insurtech trend as an opportunity. Major insurers are some of the biggest investors in fledgling insurtech firms. Far from seeing these new companies as rivals, they’re embracing them as partners.
Big Questions, Quick Answers: Question 4 - Accenture Insurance Blog
How can I be sure digital transformation will deliver the growth I need? VIDEO To put it bluntly: you can’t. But that doesn’t let you off the hook. You may be able to pass on the opportunities, but the threats are too real to ignore. So where does that leave you? You’ll have to watch the video: View all my videos here as my series continues.
Intelligent automation gives insurers a big opportunity to boost the quality of their customer service - Accenture Insurance Blog
Intelligent automation offers insurers huge improvements in efficiency and productivity. One of its biggest benefits, however, is likely to be its ability to enhance the quality of service insurers provide their customers. By combining artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and advanced robotic process automation (RPA) systems, insurance providers can handle policy enquiries and applications far more quickly and accurately.
Smart insurers are adopting new business strategies to ensure they thrive on rising disruption - Accenture Insurance Blog
Insurance executives around the world are grappling with how best to equip their organizations to thrive in an industry buffeted by accelerating innovation and growing disruption. Many of them recognize the huge threat of such upheaval but struggle to implement sound defenses. Our research shows that only 20 percent of chief strategy officers (CSOs) at major corporations around the world are highly prepared for disruptive innovation. Among insurers the proportion is even smaller.
The Connected Insurer: A passing fad or the next big thing? (1 of 2) - Accenture Insurance Blog
We know that the world is becoming much more connected, and for insurers this means a massive explosion in the amount of data that is becoming available. Will this lead to big changes in the way risk is managed, assessed and underwritten, and in the way carriers engage with their customers? Or will it turn out to be mostly hype and hot air? In this post I introduce the Internet of Things, and explore its likely disruptive impact.
Big insurers will be keen to see whether Lemonade’s P2P business really delights consumers - Accenture Insurance Blog
After much fanfare, U.S. insurtech firm Lemonade has begun trading and plenty of established insurers will be keeping an eye on how the start-up performs. Like many other insurtech ventures, Lemonade is promising to disrupt the insurance industry by providing consumers with cheaper and more attractive products and services. The company is initially trading in New York, and offering home-owners P&C cover from $35 a month and renters insurance from just $5 a month.
Big Questions, Quick Answers: Question 1 - Accenture Insurance Blog
What is the smart response to all the opportunities presented by tech innovation? VIDEO Emerging technologies are creating countless opportunities for insurers—but carriers are not always the quickest to respond. In this video I discuss a few potential strategies for taking advantage: As my series continues, view all my videos here.
Technology Vision for Insurance: Three more trends that are transforming the industry - Accenture Insurance Blog
Last week we discussed the first two trends identified by our Technology Vision for Insurance study: how the Internet of Me is changing consumer expectations, and the emergence of a new business model that shifts the focus from selling things to delivering results. Today we’ll look at the three remaining trends. The first of these is The Platform (R)evolution. The digital industry platform has not only become a prominent feature of today’s business world.
Internet of Things cyber security problems create challenges, opportunities for insurers - Accenture Insurance Blog
While the Internet of Things (IoT) is just beginning to grab the media’s attention and will become far more prevalent in the years ahead, many industries already have significant experience with it. That experience tells us the IoT poses both challenges and opportunities for insurers—and that they cannot afford to miscalculate either. As Accenture notes in its report, Security Call to Action—Preparing for the Internet of Things, the IoT is becoming an attractive target for cyber attackers.
8 best practices form foundation of insurers’ cyber resilience - Accenture Insurance Blog
Insurers understand the threat that cyber criminals pose and have made strides in protecting themselves, but the risk still requires supervisors to redouble their cyber security efforts. As the International Assn. of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) suggests in its recent Issue Paper on Cyber Risk to the Insurance Sector, cyber security has to rise to priority status, even as insurers juggle so many other critical challenges.
The Connected Insurer: How can carriers benefit? (2 of 2) - Accenture Insurance Blog
In my second post in this series I discuss the growing role of connected devices in auto, household, and life and health insurance. I believe they will result in profound changes in the way products are developed, priced and sold. But more than that, they will transform the nature and the frequency of insurers’ interactions with their customers. In this video I look at the capabilities carriers will need to take advantage of this potentially disruptive trend.
Fintech funding is going global and insurers will benefit - Accenture Insurance Blog
The status of the U.S. as the driving force of developments in financial services technology, fintech, is beginning to wane. Start-ups elsewhere in the world are increasingly attracting big funders. This is a sure sign of the globalization of the fintech industry. The spread of fintech investment is being driven by the strong economic growth anticipated in major developing economies, particularly China and India, as well as the rollout of extensive technology infrastructure in these regions.
Many insurers over-rate the quality of their digital services - Accenture Insurance Blog
When I ask insurance executives how their digital strategies are panning out I get a wide range of answers. Most often, they’re happy because they don’t see any major gap with their competitors. Most carriers recognize the importance of harnessing the power of digital technology to improve their customer experience. Many are committing substantial resources to their digital strategies. And some have begun implementing impressive digital solutions.
Intelligent automation is set to transform insurance underwriting - Accenture Insurance Blog
Intelligent automation is poised to transform the core of the insurance business. It will change substantially how insurers underwrite risk. The conventional practice of underwriting, which relies on historical data and analytical expertise, has been pivotal to the insurance industry for centuries.
Fintech—Part 2: “Robo-advisors” comprise a large part of Wealth Management fintech investment - Accenture Insurance Blog
Wealth management is a large part of the fast-growing financial technology (fintech) investments space, highlighted in my last blog. Investments in wealth management technologies make up nine percent of the number of fintech deals nationally. Investments in automated investing advisory or “robo-advisors” make up a large part of the wealth management space.
Lack of customer-centricity hampers insurers’ digital transformation plans - Accenture Insurance Blog
There’s a simple reason why digital technology is attracting a lot of investment. It boosts the bottom line. Effective digital services significantly enhance the customer experience, and this is critical to retention and growth. Insurers have been quick to grasp this.
Insurers should align their market roles with key digital enablers to drive up revenues and curb costs - Accenture Insurance Blog
To compete successfully in the new consumer-to-business (C2B) era, where consumers are becoming increasingly influential, insurers require a comprehensive digital agenda. It must balance the need to digitize existing systems and processes (“Go Digital”) with preparations vital for future digital products and services (“Be Digital”). Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Alibaba (GAFAA) are excellent examples of organizations that are successfully managing this tension.
Digital enablers help insurers nurture innovation and develop products to fuel revenue growth - Accenture Insurance Blog
Insurers are wrestling with a big dilemma: How best to deploy digital technology to improve their current systems while also equipping themselves to launch new digital initiatives crucial for future growth? Both agendas are essential in today’s consumer-to-business (C2B) era where consumers are dictating how suppliers should serve them.
Technology Vision for Insurance 2014: Applications give way to apps (6 of 7) - Accenture Insurance Blog
As large insurers push for greater IT agility, there is a sharp shift from big, complex enterprise applications toward simpler, more modular and more custom apps. The implications are significant: carriers must decide not just who plays what application development role in their new digital insurance organization, but also how to transform the nature of application development itself.
Fighting financial crime with data: challenges aplenty - Accenture Insurance Blog
Data holds the key to an effective cyber-crime strategy. But the very abundance of the data poses challenges for those insurers seeking to exploit it. Data provides the most significant opportunity for insurers to transform their financial crime capabilities.
The Internet of Things: Digital ecosystems help insurers to deliver living services - Accenture Insurance Blog
The extensive information generated by the Internet of Things, when coupled with data analytics systems, gives insurers the opportunity to build powerful “living services.” These highly fluid and adaptable services will help carriers develop more intimate relations with their customers. In this video I discuss how these living services will further disrupt the insurance industry and increase the importance of digital ecosystems.
Technology Vision for Insurance 2014: A world of talent at your disposal (3 of 7) - Accenture Insurance Blog
Picture a workforce that extends beyond your employees, and includes anyone connected to the Internet. Cloud, social and collaboration technologies now allow insurers to tap into vast pools of resources across the world, many of whom are eager to help. Harnessing this potential may be challenging, but it could give you access to a vast, agile workforce can do things your employees cannot.
Insurers face new challenges as tech start-ups look to consolidate - Accenture Insurance Blog
Compete, collaborate, consolidate. Innovative tech start-ups muscled their way into the financial services industry a few years ago as aggressive competitors to long-established corporations. During the past year or so we’ve seen these fintech firms increasingly collaborate with big insurers and other financial services providers. They’re sharing their technology, expertise and business models in return for vital funding, market reach and industry knowledge.
Internet of Things cyber security risks are opportunities for market-leading insurers - Accenture Insurance Blog
In my last post, I outlined the various challenges that cyber security threats surrounding the Internet of Things (IoT) pose for insurers. Those same threats—which Accenture discusses further in its report, Security Call to Action—Preparing for the Internet of Things—also create opportunities for insurers.
Meet your newest recruit: artificial intelligence - Accenture Insurance Blog
This series of blogs identifies what Accenture believes are five digital trends that will collectively drive change into the fabric of the insurance industry. Their common thread? They all have people at their heart. From now on, leading insurers won’t just use more technology. They’ll use technology to enable people (customers, employees and partners) to do more – better and faster.
Five major trends that will shape the insurance industry and impact its workers - Accenture Insurance Blog
During the past few weeks I’ve been discussing the findings of Accenture’s 2016 Technology Vision for Insurance Survey in a series of brief videos. In the third video in this series I discuss the five major trends, identified by the survey, that are going to shape the insurance industry and impact its workers. For more information on the vital role of people in the digital transformation of the insurance industry have a look at this link. I’m sure you’ll find it helpful.
Growth strategies for a digital world: Five key points to consider - Accenture Insurance Blog
For the past month, I’ve been sharing concepts based on the findings of Accenture’s Digital Innovation Survey, focusing on how insurers can target growth in a digital world.
Customer demand for digital services will spur insurers to secure ecosystem partners - Accenture Insurance Blog
Insurers are fast-realizing that old-style relationships with customers are not going to succeed in the new digital economy. Consumers increasingly want their insurance providers to give them flexible, personalized, digitally-enabled products and services that meet a broader range of needs, often at a higher level. We call these “living services”. To meet these expectations carriers must not only ramp up their investment in technology and skills.
Beyond Insurance (part 4): Drinking deep from the data pool - Accenture Insurance Blog
The connected devices that make up the Internet of Things are increasingly becoming the interface between customers and the companies that provide them with products and services ranging from motor vehicles and fitness apparel through to insurance and home security. At stake here is customer data, which is so valuable exactly because it translates into ownership of customer relationships.
Smart tech vendors are driving up the power and scope of intelligent automation - Accenture Insurance Blog
Progressive technology vendors have been quick to recognize the huge commercial potential of intelligent automation. They’ve launched a variety of products and services that harness artificial intelligence and automation technology and offer substantial improvements in business performance and innovation. Most of these vendors have entered the intelligent automation market with a background in either robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning or artificial intelligence (AI).
Insurers have to manage pervasive security risks posed by Internet of Things - Accenture Insurance Blog
As Accenture notes in its report, Security Call to Action—Preparing for the Internet of Things, the IoT is becoming an attractive target for cyber attackers. Insurers need to consider how to manage that risk. Will they incorporate it into existing insurance products, exclude them or develop new IoT cyber security coverages for their customers?
Technology Vision for Insurance: Trends that are transforming the industry - Accenture Insurance Blog
In my last blog post, I framed the findings from Accenture’s Technology Vision for Insurance 2015 study, which examines the business and technology landscapes to identify trends that are likely to have the most profound impact on our clients in the years ahead. Today, I’ll reveal the five key trends that were identified in the survey. They are: The Internet of Me is creating a connected, personalized world. We all know that more of the devices we use at work and at home are going online.
The Internet of Things: Digital ecosystems prompt insurers to seek strategic partners - Accenture Insurance Blog
Insurers are recognizing that as digital technology increasingly disrupts their traditional markets they can’t go it alone. They need strategic partners to strengthen and complement their businesses. The Internet of Things and digital ecosystems, in particular, are propelling insurers into new partnerships.
Blockchain replaces flawed faith with provable trust - Accenture Insurance Blog
As I noted in my first post in this series about blockchain and brokers, commercial insurance depends on processes that are centuries old. These processes emerged as a solution to the absence of mutual trust between the affected parties and a lack of end-to-end transaction transparency in insurance contracts. They serve as proxies for trust, with commercial brokers creating trust, and bridging the gap between insurers, re-insurers and customers.
New frontiers for insurance? - Accenture Insurance Blog
Just how attractive are the MINT countries to insurers? In my previous blog, I noted the finding that emerging markets outside of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) were an investment focus for 63 percent of insurers. Of course, the $64,000-dollar question is, Which specific markets should insurers be looking at? One way of answering the question is to identify the highest growth markets, and then examine them for their attractiveness to insurers.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Werner
Contact Werner, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack