When building a startup, there is a real balancing act between managing expectations, educating on what’s possible, and identifying the true cost of innovation. CTOs are challenged not only to build functional technology platforms quickly, but to do so as cost effectively as possible.
Startups are often not profitable therefore don’t have a lot of cash to burn, meaning the CTO has to deliver technology solutions to solve their business goals on a limited budget.
Let’s look at a legacy industry like commercial insurance – it’s been undergoing a transformation in recent years. The industry is data and human heavy and is heavily regulated which is why it’s ripe for innovation. It is also playing catch-up to address the needs of many consumers who want a seamless user experience and businesses that want a modern experience – faster, streamlined, digitised, and so on – when dealing with insurance providers. This is particularly true of the on-demand economy.
Leveraging technology
The on-demand economy is characterised by the likes of Taskrabbit, Doordash, Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon Flex. But it’s the likes of hard working on-demand taxi and delivery drivers who are calling for flexible insurance that caters to their very specific needs which enables them to buy comprehensive coverage for when they’re driving, and to switch it off when they’re not.
However, many insurtechs have not adequately met these needs despite their ability to leverage technology more nimbly and effectively than traditional players. The business of insurance is complicated and innovation cannot be retrofitted with existing tech, which is why it’s vital to have a deep understanding of what the requirements are between the customer, the insurance partners and platforms like Uber and Amazon, for instance.
Transforming the on-demand insurance industry is a symbiotic relationship between the customer, the insurance provider and the platform. Although it can deliver real results for all, it also comes with its share of unique challenges.
Loss ratio – how much an insurance company spends on claims compared to the premiums it receives – is a key indicator of profitability. When insurtech startups focus too much on showy AI-driven gimmicks such as automatic claims payments within seconds, loss ratios suffer – and crucial insurance industry partners back away quickly. In the world of insurance, “innovation at all costs” simply doesn’t work.
But technology cannot simply operate as a cost centre. By working in partnership with the rest of the business, startup CTOs and their teams need to focus on building an ongoing technology foundation to drive innovation within legacy industry structures and processes, driving business growth as well as consistent results for customers and partners.
Tech as augmentor – not replacement
Many of the challenges CTOs face aren’t necessarily about technology, but the change of mindset required when implementing tech solutions. Until very recently, insurance was an industry dominated by traditional players, governed by outdated systems and processes. While this is changing, there are still areas where bridges must be built between the promise of what technology can deliver and a certain “this is how it’s always been done” mindset.
For example, we know that insurance, like many industries, is ripe for reinvention through smart uses of AI – as long as it is implemented in the most appropriate areas of the business, and used as an augmented assistant rather than a replacement for specialist expertise.
“Many of the challenges CTOs face aren’t necessarily about technology, but the change of mindset required when implementing tech solutions”
Chris Gray, Inshur
At Inshur, working in combination with a team from Google Cloud, we were able to build an AI assistant for our claims team and demonstrate to management its effectiveness in helping the team prioritise work as well as speeding up administrative tasks, while providing fast and effective customer service. We’re continuing to roll out this technology internationally, as well as add further features to augment the human adjusters and utilise their expertise while saving them time.
The assistant helps the team to quickly scan incoming documents, including email, physical letters, attachments or transcribed phone calls; infer the data, including who is the sender and the intention of the communication; identify important and useful information such as vehicle registration and claimant name; identify the priority and urgency of the claim; assign it to the right team; and summarise the data into a standard format for ease of use. By automatically accepting feedback, retraining, and learning from past actions, the assistant also helps guide handlers with proposed next steps, helping to train new claims handlers.
The AI-based tools we built to support our claims teams have enabled us to see patterns that are also a good fit for other departments within the business. So much so, that we see potential for the commoditisation of these approaches to a wider set of solutions that serves not just insurance, but any business.
Build or buy?
Another question a lot of startup CTOs are asked is whether to build or buy. Building tech solutions from scratch can carry significant risk, especially given the resource investment typically required. But when every business in a given market is using the same platforms – usually with significant tweaks and workarounds to fit their specific needs – then nobody can truly win the innovation race.
First-movers must always be willing to build when necessary, and to buy when prudent.
For example, we decided that we needed to invest in developing our own solutions to problems that could not be adequately solved by off-the-shelf products. One such product is our Pay-as-you-flex wallet for Amazon Flex. While traditional insurance has historically covered drivers at all times, including when they’re not driving, we knew that technology held the key to delivering a new insurance product that would enable delivery drivers to pay only for the cover they needed, when they needed it.
As the first-of-its-kind to enter the market, we knew that we’d need to build it from scratch.
It’s only since we built our proprietary platform to manage business-critical processes including policy administration, claims management and billing that similar products have entered the market. By building a platform that’s fully tailored to the specific needs of the market we serve, we’ve paved the way for other insurers to do the same for their customers and partners.
However, the startup CTO must also take the lead in conversations where buying makes most sense, securing buy-in from other senior stakeholders and identifying the most appropriate vendors to partner with. Often, particularly in a high-growth startup where cost and return on investment are key considerations, this will involve a detailed assessment of risk for all available scenarios.
In Inshur’s case, we’re working with Google Cloud to implement several of its AI products to drive efficiencies and ensure that customers are treated fairly – which is both a regulatory and moral imperative in the insurance industry.
We know that our customers drive for a living, which means they often need to call us via their hands-free mobile technology while driving in between journeys, rather than emailing or speaking to a text-based chatbot.
When we identified that a significant proportion of the calls coming into our customer service team could be quickly and effectively answered by an AI-driven solution, we implemented a “smart virtual agent” to handle more straightforward queries, enabling the team to focus more on serving customers with specific or detailed questions.
Bridging the gap
Because of the crucial role technology such as AI will play in the coming years, CTOs will need to ensure they are consistently developing deep understanding and expertise, not just in the latest technology innovations but also how they can be implemented to drive business strategy and growth.
Crucially, this will include taking a leadership role in helping to educate stakeholders across the business on the best use cases for AI tools and other solutions, building understanding at every level around what the technology can and can’t help with, and putting clear structure and process around innovation.
This ability to bridge the gap between the business and technology is already becoming a crucial indicator of future success.
Chris Gray is chief technology officer at vehicle insurance provider Inshur.
