How new technology is disrupting the insurance industry

Challenger firms are helping to change the industry, but incumbents will take the rewards, says John Chambers.

Woman using online account
Selling insurance is not as straightforward as selling books, or even providing a banking service to smallbusiness clients.
(Image credit: © Getty)

No one likes dealing with insurance companies. But imagine one that will pay your claim in seconds rather than weeks or months. This is the promise of Lemonade, the flag carrier of the new insurance technology (insurtech) companies that are trying to disrupt the sleepy and conservative insurance industry. In 2017 Lemonade claimed a new world record for settling a claim in just three seconds.

A New Yorker called Brandon had his $1,000 Canada Goose coat stolen on a freezing January night. So he opened the Lemonade app on his iPhone to report a claim and recorded a minute-long video report stating where he had bought the coat and what had happened. Three seconds after hitting submit, the claim had been agreed by the firm’s anti-fraud algorithm and the cash was in Brandon’s bank account.

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