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February 1, 2021

Emerging Tech in Insurance 2021: Insurers Are Still Investing, but More Narrowly

Most insurers plan to once again invest in emerging technology in 2021. “Business as usual” isn’t usually headline news, but given the challenges of 2020, insurers’ plans for innovation speak to their collective belief that technology is at the heart of generating value in insurance. Insurers reviewing their upcoming emerging technology plans are doing so while mitigating the ongoing...

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Harry Huberty

November 24, 2020

The Next Step for Insurer-OEM Partnerships

GM announced this week that it will start selling policies directly to drivers through its new OnStar Insurance program. The company will start with its employees in Arizona and plans to expand to the general public by the end of 2021. This move has gotten some attention in mainstream sources like the Wall Street Journal. The policies are underwritten by American Family...

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Harry Huberty

November 9, 2020

Telematics Is Here to Stay

Telematics has been part of insurance for well over a decade, and it’s here to stay. Policies backed by telematics are still a small part of the personal and commercial auto insurance markets, but they’re addressing a real need. Over the next several years, as access continues to expand and new carriers enter the space, telematics adoption will grow. Right now, adoption is modest but real...

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Harry Huberty

September 26, 2019

Fast Five: Five Key Themes from Connected Car 2019

On September 4-5 I had the opportunity to attend and host a roundtable discussion at the Connected Car Insurance 2019 conference in Chicago, hosted by TU Automotive. It was a conference intensely focused on automotive telematics. Here are five major themes from the programs and panels. Insurers and vendors are looking towards applications beyond UBI, but there’s no consensus on what those...

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Harry Huberty

August 5, 2019

Fast Five: Five Thoughts on GEICO Entering the Telematics World

Digital Insurance announced on Wednesday that GEICO, long a notable telematics holdout, will be piloting a mobile-based UBI offering in several states. Here are five quick thoughts. The telematics “network effect” increases.As noted by Digital Insurance, customers will now have the option to try UBI at all 10 of the top 10 largest personal auto insurers. The “win” for telematics is...

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Harry Huberty

June 28, 2019

Telematics Is About Customer Engagement as Much as It’s About Risk Scoring

Insurance Journal has an article on State Farm’s recently-announced “3.0” iteration of their Drive Safe and Save mobile app, which features immediate driver scoring on each journey, powered by Cambridge Mobile Telematics technology. The article emphasizes the UBI side of the offering, but perhaps the best part of this program is the continual and repeated customer engagement. Any...

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Harry Huberty

February 20, 2019

Looking Ahead to the Digital Evolution of Small Commercial Insurance

In the past decade, direct online sales of small commercial insurance have made a quick shift from fantasy to reality. While today’s market is relatively small, it is an area that commercial insurers must monitor and understand to stay competitive. As technology continues to drive changes in buyer behaviors, the direct online segment of small commercial insurance has potential for significant...

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Harry Huberty

July 25, 2018

Telematics Offers Insurers Opportunities to Realign and Reinvent Themselves.

Last week Novarica published our updated report on automotive telematics. Researching and writing for this report was particularly fascinating—not just for how much activity is happening around telematics right now, but also for how telematics offers greater insights into the intersection between insurance and technology. Telematics is at a fascinating juncture. Recent technological...

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Harry Huberty

March 26, 2018

Sharing vs. Caring: Striking a Balance with IoT Data

Earlier this month Chuck Ruzicka and I published Novarica’s report on Operationalizing IoT. Among the topics we address in the report is data privacy and governance. Fitness app Strava was in the news recently after they published anonymized exercise route data as a set of heat maps that charted runs and bike rides around the world. What Strava didn’t realize was that in more sparsely...

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Harry Huberty