Laurie Shotton, research director, Gartner, speaks on the impact of digitization on the insurance industry
The insurance industry in India has been slow to embrace digital. For the consumer, insurance was perceived as an afterthought. It was always a push approach from insurer to consumer. Insurance was bought mostly in the later stages of life and often with the objective of financial returns rather than risk cover. However, with the advent of social media, mobile phones and even Internet of Things, the notion and perception of insurance is fast changing. Traditionally, there was a heavy dependence on sales agents and brokers. But today, it is moving to selfservice – insurance policies can be bought online from websites and even from social media sites.
Yet, the industry is struggling to transform itself in the digital age and is mired in legacy processes and infrastructure. As if that was not enough, insurers are bogged down by frequent compliance mandates in a heavily regulated industry.
Laurie Shotton, research director, Gartner, who was at the Gartner Symposium and ITXpo in Goa recently, discusses how insurers around the world are embracing the digital, notwithstanding all the challenges in the industry. The way forward for organizations in this sector is the bimodal approach, says he. Bimodal means organizations will run legacy processes in Mode-1 but will introduce digital processes in Mode-2. Both modes run concurrently
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