Conference Note: 20th Insurance Summit by NIA

National Insurance Academy (NIA) organized its flagship event – 20th Insurance Summit on 3rd October. The theme of the summit was ‘Unveiling the Future – Industry 5.0: Digital Innovation in Insurance’, which was absolutely relevant at the current times. The summit was focused on change from automation-centric Industry 4.0 model to the human-focused, innovation-driven Industry 5.0.

              After a warm welcome by Mr. Renjit Gangadharan (Chair Processor, General Insurance & Director - Joint Charge, NIA) and Mr. V. Balagopal (Chair Processor, Life Insurance & Director - Joint Charge, NIA) and devi-vandana, special address was delivered by Mr. Satyajit Tripathy, Member (Distribution), IRDAI.

              Mr. Tripathy highlighted how traditional way of doing business is changing in current era. He elaborated multiple relevant aspects like awareness of vulnerable / susceptible regions for climate risks, change ways of risk modelling in light of emerging risks. He also mentioned the insurance companies would have to secure enough resources for technology and digital operations. It was emphasized that the carriers & regulators would have to remain alter continuously, so that our industry remains protected.

              Mr. Siddhartha Mohanty (CEO & MD, LIC of India) delivered a keynote address. He mentioned that just the adoption of Industry 4.0 (with focus on automation, mechanization / computerization or juts installing AI/ML/IOT/Blockchain) is not enough now-a-days. The industry needs to embrace Industry 5.0 with focus on following aspects:

-          Data privacy / security: Hugh data collected by insurance companies is also subjected to leakages. The legacy tech stack of many insurance companies might also pose a challenge to adoption of AI/ML.

-          Regulations: Staying compliant while adoption digital tech is fundamental for all the players in Insurance industry.

-          Customer Trust & Experience: Customers are expecting seamless and personalized experience for all of their touchpoints with the insurance companies & TPAs. Customers expectation of ease of use & transparency can result spend increase for the organizations.

-          Tech Disparity: Difference in adoption of tech across different organizations in different regions can impact their competitiveness. Similarly, adoption of tech by the workforce is also critical to avoid inefficiencies.

-          Cyber Issues: All the insurance organizations need to be prepared for cyber-attacks and protect them efficiently.

-          AI & Automation Bias: It is critical that bias, hallucination and false recommendations (positive or negative) needs to be avoided, which adopting new tech in premium calculation, underwriting, collections or claim adjudication.

-          Interoperability: The insurance companies need to leverage / integrate with multiple internal and 3rd party systems. Hence integration and interoperability across these systems is critical.

-          Continuous innovation: All the insurance, InsurTech organizations, TPAs, intermediaries need to embrace continuous innovation and factor it in their investment plans as well. One time investment in tools is not going to be enough. The organizations will have to keep working on innovation happening in the space of telematics, wearables, IOT and build new expertise inhouse to handle such changes.

-          Globalization: Many insurance companies in India have overseas operations and partnerships, hence should be prepared to handle regulations across boarders and integration of multiple systems across the globe.

Following critical solutions needs to be implemented by Insurance industry for successfully addressing various challenges mentioned above:

-          Robust data security framework

-          Strong cyber security practices

-          Modernization of legacy systems

-          Regulatory Tech i.e. leveraging tech for automated compliance checks

-          Enhanced customer centric platforms (with 24*7 coverage through tools like chatbot)

-          Digital inclusion initiatives, to address less covered audience

-          Workforce upskilling to use new tech

-          Advance AI ethics governance

-          Open AI & integration of different tools

-          Partnerships with InsurTech for tech gap coverage

-          Digital risk mitigation

-          Big data & analytics

-          Blockchain for enhancing transparency

-          New models such as pay-as-you-go, on-demand

-          Digital twins for better simulations

Through adoption of these solutions, insurance industry can deliver enhanced customer experience & loyalty, new revenue opportunities, decentralized insurance models and improve operational efficiency.

It was a great session highlighting importance of human & machine collaboration in Industry 5.0 and embedding humanity leveraging tech.

The highlights of Panel discussions is covered this next article.