How do You Get the Kind of Disruptive Change InsurTech's Promise in a Brick and Mortar Insurance Company?

Start Small, Build for Big- Most insurance companies, if they get excited about an effort, can bury the InsurTech with work. Remember to prioritize, start with something small, put some wins on the board, and then move into the next thing. Working on a dozen projects, or implementations, within a legacy firm will often mean nothing gets executed. For the InsurTech, avoiding the “siren song” of a dozen project revenue stream is important. If the work doesn’t reflect real benefits, withing the legacy insurer, it is a short-lived victory and relationship.

Get Embedded in the Ecosystem- For both InsurTechs and Insurance Companies, it is important to be embedded in one another’s ecosystem. It’s so often not “what you know” but rather “who you know” that leads to success. Where “suits meet jeans” and “where millennials meet boomers” is a rhythm both sides need to get into. That takes time, the investment of time, an organized plan, and the tenacity to stick to it.

Have the CEO on your side- Have the CEOs of the InsurTech and the Insurance Company met? Do they know what each brings to the table? The Insurance Company Business Sponsor can often facilitate this. It’s sometimes not easy, but knowing the folks at the top, can remove barriers to getting things done, and to increasing pace in a legacy company.

Invest/Get Involved where you can get real world benefits- If you can show revenue growth, expense improvements, better risk selection, and/or better customer experience (with real metrics) you will build fact points that help with the next project and the next company. Words on a Power Point don’t nearly match numbers on a spreadsheet. They key is picking the right KPIs and then finding a way to quantify them. Real world benefits, that show up on the insurance company’s P&L, will win the day.