Video: Insurers turn to tech amid disruption and payouts

Insurers are embracing technology as the pandemic continues to disrupt the industry, but interest in partnerships does not yield immediate implementation.

“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in interest and demand – people reaching out, wanting to understand what’s possible, how a solution might work for them and to explore all options,” said Piers Williams, sales and relationships manager, AutoRek, during a bobsguide video panel.

“A couple of reasons around that are people are focusing on the day-to-day business as usual, the current economic situation with job cuts, potential ending of the furlough scheme and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) test case … there’s a lot of interest, but I think there’s still about six months before we’re going to see a real increase in actual implementations.”

In our latest Insurtech Series video, Williams joined James Birch, head of innovation, Brit Insurance to discuss partnerships between insurers and insurtechs in a coronavirus environment.

“We’re good at underwriting risk, but when it comes to building technology solutions – are we the best out there? Are we the domain experts in some particular niche? Generally the answer is no, so let’s go work with those domain experts,” said Birch during the panel.

In addition to tackling challenges with remote working, UK insurers are expected to pay out previously unseen claims to 370,00 businesses following the FCA’s business interruption case. To compound stressors, preparation for International Financial Reporting Standards 17 (IFRS 17) standards are being pushed to side, promising complications further down the line.

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