#TECHVISION2020 Updating now Around 70 percent of insurance executives in the 2020 survey say that At its worst, it can prompt customers to disengage from product their organization’s connected products and services will have more, or ecosystems and go back to old ways of doing things. Farmers in the significantly more, updates over the next three years. Groupama is not American Midwest, for example, are reportedly buying 40-year-old only one of France’s leading insurance groups but also one of its largest secondhand tractors rather than put up with smart tractors they can no agricultural insurers. Its application, Gari, illustrates how connected longer repair themselves. The issue for them is a loss of ownership and 36 insurance services may evolve. control over a vital piece of equipment. Groupama launched the farmtech app in 2019 with three free services A similar effect is seen in auto insurance, where claims expenses are (basic weather, market prices for crops and a task scheduling tool) and rising because of the higher costs of the parts and labor needed to repair three paid services (temperature sensors in haystacks, video surveillance high-tech automotive components like sensors and onboard computers. and high-precision meteorological data). The plan is to evolve the platform The number of insurance claims where a vehicle is deemed a total loss 35 are also rising as the cost of parts continues to climb faster than new car through field-testing and validating new features with farmers. prices. Claims severity is rising, but the frequency of claims is not falling fast enough to compensate. The result? The technologies meant to make As companies introduce this state of constantly evolving products and driving safer may be contributing to higher premiums for customers and services, they are challenging traditional perspectives on ownership. 37 lower profits for carriers. Without proper care, this living connection can quickly drift from a wellspring of opportunity, to products that feel completely beyond the control of the people using them. The risk is customers constantly having to play catch-up, not knowing if the next system update is bringing exciting new capabilities, a critical security refresh, a new user interface to learn or a dramatic change to functionality. Call it the beta burden: the unintended consequences when products, and their contained experiences, are constantly in flux. Technology Vision for Insurance 2020 | We, the Post-Digital People 35