Packing and moving your living space is quite a headache. Especially in India, most of the people try to find someone providing the cheap shifting services and hence get trapped as they do not provide safety to your good, thus resulting in an expensive net cost. Thankfully, technology is again helping humans to get a fair deal in terms of safety of good and proper quotation of charges. Some of the reallocating companies have started to use AI based softwares that can quote exact amount to be charged from customers based of the quantity and nature of goods, destination, path to destination, floor of new location, whether lift is present or not and many more relevant factors. These softwares also helps to find the price for the goods so that they can have an insurance of that amount. Customers can also use the GPS technology to track their goods while they are being shifted to a place too far.

Read more at https://www.analyticsinsight.net/relocation-industry-working-algorithms-comprehend-consumer-needs/

Natural disasters bring loss of life and property and some insurance covers protect yourself and family during any natural calamity. Life insurance provides cover in case of death by special perils like fire, storm, cyclone, earthquake, and flood. A term policy supports the family in case of any unforeseen circumstances and the premium rate for the same is normally low. Home insurance also provides protection against burglary, damage and electrical breakdowns. Personal accident insurance is useful in case of permanent disability and death; you get 100% lump sum amount of the sum insured and in case of partial disability, you get some percentage of the sum insured, depending upon the insurance company. Read more at: http://www.financialexpress.com/money/insurance/crisis-insurance-how-to-protect-yourself-against-natural-disasters/624700/

Automobiles are becoming highly advanced with the high-performance engines and technologies. Telematics provides the information about the performance of both vehicles and drivers. This automotive technology along with Internet of Things (IoT) is creating favorable impact on the car industry and its related industries like insurance, transportation and logistics service-based companies with fleets and infrastructure. The concept of autonomous vehicle has been there for ages, but with the application of AI it has gained new life. AI can act as an assistant to the human driver providing them a safe driving and with the help of biometric it adds a new level to the car security. Information asymmetry is the main problem in the insurance industries, but with predictive analytics using the available data this problem can be solved. The AI creates a win-win situation for both the user and provider. Read more at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianrashid/2017/05/16/how-ai-pioneers-will-affect-the-car-industry-and-why-its-a-good-thing/#7c2fcfde57c2

In this digital age, people are extensively buying gadgets like laptops, computers, mobile phones etc., and Manufacturers provide a one year warranty though limited to manufacturing defects. But what about a gadget being stolen or damaged. Insurance companies are introducing insurance cover for gadgets and they cover the following aspects-:

# Theft and Burglary

# Physical and Liquid Damage- 

# Accidents 

To know more, please read the article written by Kapil Mehta (Executive Director, SecureNow Insurance Broker) at The Economic times ( Technology ) -: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/security-tech/technology/can-your-electronic-gadgets-be-effectively-insured/articleshow/50133249.cms

A recent study by MIT University shows that there is a 78% increase over the past three years in the job posting related to analytics and this led universities to launch specialized program in Master in Business Analytics. Nowadays, data analytics are used in marketing, finance, health care, logistics, insurance ecommerce, manufacturing and government services. To know more, please read the article by Michael Norton (Writer at lowellsun.com)-: http://www.lowellsun.com/business/ci_29635724/mit-reports-spike-analytics-job-postings

Wearables are more than a fitness tracker. Life Insurance providers are now using this gadget to track their customers' heart rate, sleep patterns and physical activity and reward policy takers with policy discounts and movie tickets. It is also being used to redefine traumatic medical events like heart attacks and claims correspond to that. To know more, please read the article by Ruth Liew (Reporter at ‘ The Sydney Morning Herald’ ) -: http://www.smh.com.au/business/wearable-tech-the-future-of-life-insurance-20160309-gnf60l.html

Image source -:http://www.healthworkscollective.com/veer-gidwaney/163271/how-wearables-will-transform-health-insurance-game

A recent survey on customer retention revealed that insures lose as much as 20% of their customers each year. For the insurance agency this corresponds to approximately £500,000 to £1 million in lost premiums for every 1,000 policies. Customer retention is thus an important issue facing the industry. Three key points can help insurance companies to eliminate customer churn.
• Firstly, they need to properly understand their customer, which means determining overall market segmentation to understand cross sell and up sell opportunities at individual policyholder level.
• Secondly, insurance companies must be able to provide tailor made policies for each individual and also have a unique selling point in comparison to their rivals.
• Lastly, companies need to realize that they have to listen to their customer’s preferences rather than the customer having to choose from the list of policies the insurer has to offer.
Should the above be kept in mind in a company’s planning and operations customer churn can certainly be minimized if not completely eliminated.

For more information visit:
http://blogs.sap.com/banking/2015/06/19/preventing-customer-churn-with-better-data-analytics/

A recent survey on customer retention revealed that insures lose as much as 20% of their customers each year. For the insurance agency this corresponds to approximately £500,000 to £1 million in lost premiums for every 1,000 policies. Customer retention is thus an important issue facing the industry. Three key points can help insurance companies to eliminate customer churn.
• Firstly, they need to properly understand their customers, which mean determining overall market segmentation to understand cross sell and up sell opportunities at individual policyholder level.
• Secondly, insurance companies must be able to provide tailor made policies for each individual and also have a unique selling point in comparison to their rivals.
• Lastly, companies need to realize that they have to listen to their customer’s preferences rather than the customer having to choose from the list of policies the insurer has to offer.
Should the above be kept in mind in a company’s planning and operations customer churn can certainly be minimized if not completely eliminated.

For more information visit:
http://blogs.sap.com/banking/2015/06/19/preventing-customer-churn-with-better-data-analytics/

In the present economic landscape, operating costs are critical in deciding competitive advantage. To explain cost gaps, size, sales channel, product mix and geography comes into the picture. Management decisions play a key feature in operating cost in the following roles:
1. Business complexity an important player, as large product portfolios and multiple brands produce higher cost on average. Higher complexity leads to inadequate priced contracts.
2. Operating models show that optimized setup reduces costs. Workload backlogs lead to customer dissatisfaction and deteriorate financial performance.
3. IT system landscape is a root cause to failing economies of scale.
4. Performance management helps reducing costs and improve company’s culture
To know more:  http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/financial_services/what_drives_insurance_operating_costs

Micro lending is a way through which micro finance institutions (MFIs) provide micro credit to support entrepreneurship in rural areas. According to a Wall Street Journal report, experts have come up with ways that would make micro lending more effective. Instead of providing loans solely for investment purposes, MFIs could also lend for personal expenses if the borrower has the ability to pay back the loan with interest. Also, lenders should employ research to measure the success of the financial programs, making sure that the client not only returns the debt but does so while making a profit and not by selling his assets. Another way to make micro lending effective is to take up a holistic perspective. Quoting Iskenderian “Micro lending will be more effective if there are other safety-net and asset-building products in place—like insurance, savings and pensions—so that families can be secure and repay that loan.” Last but not the least is to make use technology for money transfer and big data analysis of mobile phone usage thereby easing out the whole process and saving time. Read more at: http://online.wsj.com/ad/article/mlf-5-ideas-to-make-microlending-more-effective

Cyber security breaches have become common these days. Be it a large company or a small firm all seem to be vulnerable to this risk. So, the question that disturbs these organizations where data is the biggest asset is – What steps should we take to protect from such security breaches?

Matt Cullina, CEO of IDT911, gives a simple answer to this big question – Cyber Liability Insurance and provides following advice on this topic:

• Yes, you need cyber-liability insurance
• But probably not a cyber-liability policy
• You need less coverage than you think
• You'll pay less for it than you'd expect
• Knowledge is more valuable than cash

To understand these in detail and know more about Cyber Liability Insurance, please read the following article byMinda Zetlin, Co-author, 'The Geek Gap', at inc.com:

http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/5-surprising-things-you-need-to-know-about-cyber-liability-insurance.html

Like any other industry today, technology has become a must have feature of insurance industry. It not only adds value to the business, but also acts as a differentiating factor that provides competitive advantage to insurance companies. The better you make use of this valuable resource, the higher you stand on the competition ladder.

Anand Vyas, Head, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, SQS Software Features, in his article at itproportal.com, has shared 5 best practice guidelines to ensure the technology is ultimately meeting the business need. They are:

1. Understand demand and business requirements

2. Create a strategic roadmap and business case

3. Analyze applications and business capabilities

4. Adopt a risk-based testing approach to implementation

5. Take an agile approach

To understand them in detail, please visit the following link:

http://www.itproportal.com/2015/06/08/technology-is-the-key-to-the-insurance-sector-and-heres-why/

Technology + Informatics = Telematics

Vehicle telematics has been in existence since long. But, its use in our daily lives is a recent phenomenon and this concept is still in its development stage.

In last few years, insurance companies have banked upon this concept to know more about the driving habits of their customers and charge premiums accordingly. Craig Thomas, Managing Director, Redline Content Ltd, in his article at express.co.uk has explained the concept of insurance telematics and has also answered questions such as how it works, what are its advantages, etc.

According to him, the insurance companies install black box in their customers’ cars and monitor their driving. The better the driver, the lesser is the insurance premium charged and vice- versa. Apart from this, telematics insurance also has following benefits like:

• Helps determine liability
• Reduces instances of fraud
• Alerts the insurer in case of emergency and thus, helps in providing timely emergency services
• Helps customers in improving their driving skills

Although it’s an interesting concept, but still, people are apprehensive in trying it out, especially rash drivers. Nevertheless, insurance companies are tying up with car manufacturing companies to make this type of insurance a usual phenomenon, because of its benefits to all the parties involved.

To know more, please visit the following link:

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/581418/insurance-telematics-cars

Building customer loyalty in the insurance sector has always been a difficult task. But, now there’s some good news in this regard. According to Insurance India, an IMRB International study, ‘Customer loyalty in insurance market with respect to product and services has improved’. This change has been observed due to improvement in products and services like timeliness of the alerts/ reminders for premium due dates, timeliness of receiving the premium receipts for payments made etc. as well as due to customer driven reforms and guidelines set by IRDA.

Another important observation made in the study was the need for improvement in services of the agents, because as compared to bancassurance and other mediums, customers were found to have weaker perceptions and experiences about the companies where agents were involved.

Apart from this, the study also reported that there are 60% Truly Loyal customers and new customer loyalty was highest when insurance was purchased online.

To know more, please read the following article at business-standard.com which summarizes the study:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/customer-loyalty-has-improved-in-insurance-imrb-international-study-115051300967_1.html

Insurance Fraud has become a matter of grave concern in Europe. According to Insurance Europe, the European (re)insurance federation, the total from all cases of fraud – both detected and undetected – amounts to 10 percent of overall claims expenditure in Europe.

According to McKinsey, common pitfalls in Fraud Management are:

• Not in the focus of top management
• Limited importance of fraud in operational claims processing
• Insufficient specialization
• Hardly any modern investigation methods
• IT systems that are obsolete or have not been maintained

Insurance companies need to act fast to realize this untapped potential from optimized fraud management as well as to reduce a potential competitive disadvantage compared to other insurers. This can be done in two stages:

1. Putting fraud management on a more professional footing
2. Rallying forces to fight organized fraud

The insurance industry, as a whole, needs to tackle these fraudsters for the interest of all market participants. To know more, read the following article by Thomas Kuhnt, Johannes-Tobias Lorenz, and Michael Müssig at mckinsey.com:

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/financial_services/claims_management_taking_a_determined_stand_against_insurance_fraud

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has now taken the first step in its ambitious initiative to provide travel insurance to its users. The railways, in partnership with insurance major, New India Assurance, will now provide insurance which will depend on the length, class, etc, of the journey. In the first phase of this project, insurance will only be provided via IRCTC website. Further, the aim is to reach at least one million customers.

According to a senior railway official, "For the railways, it may be a win-win situation. It anyway ends up paying out of its own pocket a considerable amount as compensation to train accident victims. The travel insurance will only mean that the railways will have a corpus, that too as commuter contribution, to pay insurance for such incidents."

To know more about this project, visit the following link:

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-how-about-railway-insurance-of-rs-10-lakh-for-a-premium-of-rs-25-2077535

Various industries grow due to Indian Premier League (IPL). This year, insurance industry has benefited a lot from it. The BCCI has purchased an insurance coverage of around rupees 1,200 crore, which will make up for the loss of revenues from sale of broadcast and other rights if any of the IPL matches fail to take off. Also, Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of this tournament, has bought an insurance coverage of around rupees 800 crore to cover for the loss of revenue from advertisement if a game is called off after 10 or 20 overs, or the number of overs is reduced.

These deals have come in time when 49% FDI has also been allowed for insurance industry after a long wait of 6 years. Both the events indicate a growth year for insurance industry.

Read more at:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/insurance-industry-rides-the-ipl-wave-115040700436_1.html

On Wednesday, April 8, 2015, the Reserve Bank of India issued a notification of Government’s decision to raise the bar of FDI limit in insurance sector to 49%. This move has been welcomed by the insurance industry of India as it will entice global insurance companies to set up units in India and the existing firms to increase their investment. The ability to absorb more foreign capital will also spur some insurance companies to list on the local stock exchanges via initial public offerings. As per the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) guidelines, FDI of up to 26 per cent come under automatic route and beyond 26 per cent and up to 49 per cent government approval is needed. 

To know more, read the following Economic Times article:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/rbi-notifies-hike-in-fdi-cap-in-insurance-sector-to-49/articleshow/46852551.cms

Through a study, Gallup (research organisation) found that two thirds of the Americans are satisfied with the current health care system. People who own insurance schemes are more satisfied with the current health care system compared to others who don’t have insurance schemes. According to Gallup, health care insurance status plays an important role in the life of an American. Researchers also found that most of the young and old people like the present health care system. The article by Laura Matthews, U.S political reporter for the International Business Times, speaks about the Americans’ reaction towards the current health care system.  

For more information please visit http://www.ibtimes.com/majority-americans-say-healthcare-system-isnt-crisis-1561795