Our aim is true. The importance of aim in achieving our objectives.
In our personal lives, all of us love to fall in love. But many of us have trouble distinguishing love from infatuation. That’s why self-help is an $11 billion industry in the United States alone. In our professional lives, all of us love to fall in love with technology. But many of us have trouble distinguishing love from infatuation. That’s why self-improvement is almost a $10 billion industry.
But we’re not here to talk about love in our personal lives. We’re here to talk about the infatuation with technology in our professional lives.
Take a Deep Breath
Everyone who has anything to do with technology — for the purposes of this post, particularly those of us in the insurance industry — is infatuated with what tech giants like Amazon, Google, and others have achieved. Why? For two reasons:
- We believe the advantage of Amazon, Google, and those other giants with which we’re so infatuated is direct access to the customer.
- Because we believe #1, we believe those giants are providing customer-centric services.
There’s some validity in both of those reasons. But neither is entirely correct. Here’s why:
As it pertains to #1, having direct access to the customer may be advantageous to our favorite tech giants. But what’s more advantageous, particularly for those of us in the insurance industry, is giving direct access to the customer. More specifically, insurers having access to policyholders is one thing. But giving policyholders access to insurers is quite another.
As it pertains to #2, giving customers access is the only way insurers will be legitimately and demonstrably, customer-centric (as long as we are providing a meaningful array of product choices and the reliably responsive service our customers want).
Our Aim is True
As long as we keep our objectives in focus — giving our customers and prospects unfettered access to the products they want and the services they need — we’ll fulfill achieve the constructive evolution of the insurance industry, its operating model(s), and its distribution channels. We’ll learn what we need to from the tech giants. And we’ll continue to find ways to collaborate with them. They’ll need us. Amazon, for example, will never shoulder the burdens of underwriting or reserving for and adjudicating claims.
Would you like to join in the conversation? Cookhouse Lab will be offering a free Pop-Up Lab Taster on May 15-16 in Munich. This is your chance to collaborate with your peers to make insurance better. Click here for more information.
