Prioritizing protecting people and their interests has become on the forefront during the pandemic as strategy has had a season of impetus. Brands have embedded the sale of completely different products and services from their own for purchase at an increasingly high rate that we often do not notice now. Hotels have offered their pillows and sheets for purchase, and at times immediately upon reservation offer rental cars booking. Airlines have included trip cancelation and travel insurance in the purchase process for years and numerous have included covid-19 coverage in their ticket price. Emirates in partnership with AIG was the first to include coverage with the bold wording “the insurance is automatic, all you have to do is book your flight” while Air Canada partnered with ManuLife to “include complimentary insurance included for emergency medical expenses related to COVID-19”.
Including - embedding - insurance with the B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) environment has become commonplace. You may have seen offerings once logged in to the system at Quickbooks/Intuit, Gusto, and Xero among countless others that provide personalized insurance solutions in addition to their services they already provide.
The mindset toward transferring risk and having coverage in place has shifted. People are ready to get it through an easier means than past generations from brands they trust. Brands are much more likely to partner now to ensure that their clients are covered as the realization of their duty of care for the clients is beyond their original purpose as an organization.
“Effective bundling of coverage or protections within the purchase of a product, service or platform means the product is not sold to the end user ad hoc, but is instead provided as an embedded/native feature — that is our goal and vision for the international citizen.” Allen Koski, CEBS, President & Chief Innovation Officer, Insured Nomads
Embedding insurance into digital offerings is essential, not optional. It is a focus of the Juvo Innovation Lab at Insured Nomads since our leadership is committed to develop ways to re-engineer how protection is designed, delivered, administered and serviced. For instance, our team at the lab is spearheading the advancement of global benefit service management after many years serving the leading multi-national companies in both self-insured, multinational pooling and global group benefit plan program management. Change is needed — immediately. The intertwining of the technology in health, medicine, finance, human resources and travel are vital for effective bundling of risk transfer vehicles/policies into the channels that will deliver the engagement, trust and service deployments.
Insurtech developments in the last few years have enabling this through providing API’s so that a seamless integration can be made for increased adoption by the consumer. We must take it further to re-engineer the solutions offered, the features included and how they are obtained. At Insured Nomads we have seen an higher demand from hotel groups that will be adding travel insurance into their room reservations, a post-pandemic reality that they want to ensure that visitors to their country or island have the coverage needed to get the treatment or evacuation back home. Affinity groups, membership organizations and event organizers are including the option for insurance purchase both in the purchase path, included in pricing, or in a strategic marketing partnership.
Take a look at the insights in the Drive for Digital article published by the Insurance Technology Association, the need and application of digital integrations is happening across the globe. As highlighted in this article traditional insurers must immediately begin planning, investing in and implementing their digital transformations across a wide array of capabilities and new insurtech are rising up to challenge the somewhat dormant legacy providers in their segments such as Haven Life and Prudent Pet.
Let’s collaborate, partner and create together making the world a safer and protected place through insurance and technology, and through protecting those affected by human trafficking/modern-day-slavery by supporting the work of Not for Sale.
Today I as wrap this muse up I am filled with gratitude to the investors and advisors in my life that provide the guidance, introductions, and insight that I need as we re-engineer the protection of people around the world.
