Change is coming. Make no mistake about it. Are you ready for it or will you wait until it's already upon us? Reaction is a great American tradition—that and stealing other people's ideas—but the true leaders are those that anticipate change.
If we are to believe Novarica's Chad Hersh (And why wouldn't we?), over the next 18 months we could see flying cars and personal jetpacks on the market. As he told those in attendance at the MajescoMastek user conference last month, "Carriers need to be flexible and agile in their ability to insure new risks."
Insurance carriers are going to have to figure out ways to underwrite coverage for such elaborate products, according to Hersh.
"Sometimes we can't imagine the things we'll need to insure," he says.
Most insurers face more mundane changes in their business, but whether it is a personal lines product or a specialty line, it is imperative that insurers demonstrate the flexibility needed to create new coverages at the point such products reach the market.
Such large-scale thinking can be disruptive to the business staff within an insurance office. Most people don't like leaving their comfort zone, but none of us can afford to be comfortable anymore, no matter what type of product you are trying to sell.
Craig Weber at Celent has a new theme for insurance carriers: disruptive technologies.
Too many companies fear rocking the boat rather than embracing change, explains Weber. With technology advancing each day, carriers soon will have little choice but to follow the path of what he calls, "creative disruption."
As we look ahead to 2012, we can expect most of the discussion points from the past year—particularly mobile technology and social media—to stay at the forefront. Five years ago these issues were either stagnant or unheard of by the masses. Technology has changed the way we communicate and the tools that we use to communicate. Adoption rates for social media and mobile technology are growing at a pace that can no longer be ignored.
Insurance carriers always seem to be the ones that are led kicking and screaming into the future. It's worked that way for more years than most of us have been working in or observing the industry.
Hersh puts it eloquently: "If [flying cars] are already real, think of what we haven't even imagined yet."
And to borrow from the great Sam Cooke, "A change is gonna come."
Get ready for more disruptions.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.