Iason Dimitrakopoulos (insurancemarket.gr): Insurancemarket has digital transformation in its DNA
The pandemic has changed everything, the way we see things, the processes we follow, the way we buy. The digital revolution that has begun in Greece in recent years is experiencing great acceleration, as digitization is a one-way street. insurancemarket, a pioneer in InsurTech in Greece, was one of those that not only succeeded, but also developed in the midst of the pandemic.On the occasion of the 10th anniversary, Iason Dimitrakopoulos, CTO of insurancemarket.gr, explains the trends of the sector in Greece and abroad and the great changes that follow.
S.M. What are the new trends in InsurTech technologies and the digital transformation of insurance services and products?
Iason Dimitrakopoulos: The insurance industry in Greece and abroad is at a stage of great digital transformation. This is also reflected by the large amounts of investment in the digital transformation of the industry, similar to what we have seen in the transformation of financial services (FinTech).
It is by no means a coincidence that the timing, as the pandemic has accelerated digital penetration to a large extent across all industries. Companies, which had already made steps and investments towards their digital transformation, saw an increase in their operations despite all social difficulties and economic challenges.
In addition to the insurance companies InsurTech Startups are added, which, focusing on solving existing problems, offer revolutionary solutions, prompting the examination and revision of old practices.
At the heart of all this is the use of BigData. Collecting a wealth of data from different sources, such as IoT devices, mobile devices, studying customer behaviors or historical data. This data, after special processing by Machine Learning/AI algorithms, offers strategically important information that can be used to formulate pricing policies, better assess risk, create new products and improve processes to be more customer-friendly.
There are many examples and I’ll start with the vehicle premium. This can be calculated in real time and be personalized based on how careful its driver is, favoring good drivers and those who do not make much use of the vehicle.
Another example is damage management. Anyone who has made an accident report and is waiting for compensation knows well that it is a very time-consuming and quite nerve-wracking process. With new technologies and practices, this will now be very easy to do through an application that will guide the user to send photos of the damage without sending an expert and a lot of bureaucracy. In addition, the use of historical data and AI can dramatically reduce the time it takes to receive compensation.
In home insurance through IoT, a home that has security systems and is connected online to the insurance, will have better premiums than a corresponding one without the systems and will be able to be compensated for damages directly through the data that the insurance will have received when the damage occurs or even to prevent the damage.
Through all these changes, new horizons are opened for insurance companies that will be able to better control their loss ratio, evolve their reward programs and make personalized insurance proposals to their customer not only in what they are looking for but also in similar services through better cross-selling, e.g. other insurance products, micro-loans for losses or for the payment of road tax, digital wallets, etc.
S.M. insurancemarket in its 10 years of presence in Greece influenced the developments in the domestic market, brought new data in the field and created a new consumer habit-practice in our country. How did it achieve this?
Iason Dimitrakopoulos: The journey of the digital transformation of insurancemarket began long before this trend came to Greece and we are pleased to see that we have drawn many insurance companies into it, as we have shown them the importance of this change.
We started in 2011 by enabling insurance companies (the majority of which did not have an online presence) to be able to give a parametric realtime offer. This feature gave the power to the user to find the one that suits him with a click and contributed to the fall of the big premiums due to the competition it created.
We continued with many innovations by systematically investing in technological solutions and we managed to contribute decisively to the digitization of the policy, to the quick insurance without sending supporting documents, to the ad-hoc coverages, the evaluation of insurance companies by its customers, so that the user can filter and based on reviews and at the moment we have the unique service Best PriceAlert that informs our customer if in his renewal a better price, than the one he has, has been found.
But we are not only thinking about our customers, but also about our partners.But we are not only thinking about our customers, but also about our partners. For example, we saw that the continuous decrease in premiums (initially due to the pandemic), which continued after the return to normality, led to an increase in the loss ratio of companies. To help them, we’ve created a tool that enables them to analyze their placement based on our visitor segments so they can target the customers they want more properly.
We are very happy that our efforts are rewarded and consumers have embraced our service. That was also our vision. To offer the consumer the best way to find what suits him through comparison and transparency.
Today we are trying to more meaningfully understand the needs of our customers and offer them even better options by utilizing complex machine learning models and we are writing our new comparison platform, which will give us even more possibilities.
Digital transformation requires dedication, commitment and, above all, the corresponding culture in all departments of the company. It’s not something you’re just saying you’re going to do. It is a way of life and of dealing with things and difficulties along the way. We at insurance market have it in our DNA.
