The auto industry is fueling up for new technology down the road. Fully autonomous vehicles and advanced crash-data analysis will all impact not only how the industry operates, but how it is insured as well.

With more than $22 billion in losses recorded annually, fire insurance is burning a hole in the insurance industry’s proverbial pocket. Having used the same approach to assessing public fire protection (PFP) risk for the past 30 years, insurers have failed to evaluate the impact it has on overall loss cost.

Robots – once the subjects of science fiction books, movies and TV programs – are now real-life partners involved in our daily lives in many ways.

Robotic applications are cropping up everywhere to replace an assortment of jobs that
have been performed by humans for decades. Often times, they’re designed to perform a very specific task, allowing them to deliver enhanced productivity, reduced operating costs and decreased error rates. They can be found in various locations and industries, completing repetitive tasks such as assembling orders in a warehouse, harvesting crops on a farm and even preparing meals at a fast-food restaurant.

“Insurtech.” It’s a buzzword that’s ricocheting across the insurance industry. But what does it really mean, and how can regulators and carriers leverage insurtech to support their goals and objectives?

Insurance and technology have been linked together since the papyrus and quill.  While the technology has changed, from paper to electronic, from documents to apps to web-enabled experiences, the functionality provided by technology has always supported the business – and not the other way around.  While the latest technology is being marketed as “transformational” and “disruptive” to insurance, what is often lost is HOW that might take place. And without that, there’s little value in that transformational technology.