Data-Driven Services in Insurance: Potential Evolution and Impact in the Swiss Market

Abstract

Using real-time customer data holds great potential for the insurance industry. The frequency and relevance of interactions can be improved to provide assistance in real time. Better prevention and risk management can significantly improve pricing and reduce losses. These changes, however, hold the potential for structural changes in the industry. This research aims at understanding the potential path of the development of services in insurance and the challenges faced by insurers. A panel of industry experts provided the industry’s view, which was then compared with the responses of 1542 Swiss retail customers. We find that customers have high trust in insurance companies and are open to purchasing additional services, particularly for prevention and assistance. Insurance companies, however, are currently focusing on cost improvement measures. Customers are open to sourcing services from other providers, suggesting that insurance companies need to evolve their approach to take advantage of the current market window.

Do Customers Want to Communicate with Insurers on Social Media? An Investigation of the Swiss Market

“…This willingness is not linked to specific insurance companies. Rather, it correlates with several general factors, including trust, risk behavior, rewards offered, and type of information, with more personal information held more closely (Pugnetti and Elmer 2020;Pugnetti and Seitz 2021). Personality type also impacts the willingness to interact with insurance companies in ways that are similar, but not identical, to the willingness to engage in social media described in Section 2.2.…”

“…In a Swiss insurance context, customers have been shown to be willing to share personal information with their insurers, especially in order to provide risk mitigation and other insurance-adjacent services (Pugnetti and Seitz 2021). This willingness is not linked to specific insurance companies.…”

Goal Setting, Personality Traits, and the Role of Insurers and Other Service Providers for Swiss Millennials and Generation Z

“…Swiss insurance customers see value in additional services and are generally open to receiving services from insurers and are willing to share with them the data necessary to provide these services (Pugnetti and Elmer 2020). However, they are also open to receiving services from other providers, indicating that there is the potential for significant changes in the insurance industry if other providers can enter this space and build customer relationships (Pugnetti and Seitz 2021). Swiss insurers do not show great affinity for, or understanding of, newer customer segments.…”

“…More unusual is the high score for entertainment and technology providers. The latter have typically not enjoyed a high level of trust in Switzerland as compared with local providers (Pugnetti and Seitz 2021), but they nonetheless seem to be viewed as a reasonable partner to support achieving personal goals. Insurance does not appear to be a particularly desirable partner, as do many other established industries.…”

The function of competitive intelligence in South African insurance post-COVID-19 outbreak

“…Recent studies advocated that the COVID-19 pandemic will cause significant changes in the insurance industry's business models (Babuna et al 2020;Haque et al 2021;Lan, Huang & Huang 2020;Ramasamy 2020;Stojkoski, Jolakoski & Ivanovski 2021). However, recent insurance industry research indicated that insurers tend to be more concerned with optimising internal costs than improving value delivery to customers (Pugnetti & Seitz 2021). Some studies have investigated COVID-19's impact on financial markets and its effects on the stock returns of insurance companies.…”