Slides from the keynote speech I did on stage during the InsureTek 2023 conference in Dubai. It addresses the reasons that partnerships between incumbent insurers and insurtechs fail, and shows ways of making the collaboration work despite the differences Disruption of the insurance industry, and digital transformation initiatives, will happen when the incumbent insurers finds ways of partnering successfully with the insurtechs, and that require effort and understanding from both sides You can find a recording about this here https://youtu.be/bI0Ydakyukc

1. Incumbents vs. Insurtechs
Why partnerships doesn’t work – and how to make them work
© Frederik Bisbjerg 2023

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Insurtechs will not disrupt the industry
…however, the industry is ripe for
disruption
…but incumbents most certainly
won’t disrupt the industry either
Disruption will come from
partnerships between insurtechs
and incumbents
The magic sauce is the parties’
capabilities to work together fast
and successfully

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Agenda
The two different clock frequencies
Finding the shared rhythm
Making change work

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FREDERIK BISBJERG
Making change happen – worldwide
• Digital transformation
• Insurtechs <> incumbents
• Worldwide advisory services

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INSURTECHS
INCUMBENTS

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There are several reasons that incumbents have lower clock frequency
ORGANIZATION CULTURE TECHNOLOGY

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ORGANIZATION CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
• Legacy systems
• Technical debt
• Impact analysis
• Lack of
capabilities
• No resources
• “Us vs. them”
• Kingdoms and
silos
• Turf wars
• Fear of unknown
• Broken processes
• Red tape /
bureaucracy
• No single project
owner
• Ageing talent
base

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Insurtechs have a higher clock frequency for many reasons
INVESTORS CULTURE TECHNOLOGY

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INVESTORS CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
• Latest
technology
• Agile changes
as needed
• Anything is
possible
• Fail fast
• Immediate
decision making
• Need to generate
results and
revenue
• Short-term
results

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Differences in priorities and abilities cause tensions between the partners
Long decision making
Technical challenges
Legal and compliance
delays
Lack of ownership /
responsibility
à “Maybe” it will happen
Immediate need for
funding
Fast and flexible systems
Immediate problem
resolution
Focused team
à It has to happen

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Finding the shared rhythm

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Finding the shared rhythm
FOCUS
BE PRAGMATIC
SHARED TARGETS
ORGANIZATIONAL
SPOTLIGHT

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FOCUS
The House of Digital Transformation© is used to pinpoint focus areas, limit the project
size and set shared targets
Corporate, transformational, and digital culture
User experience
External
connectivity
The firm’s ability to connect
with partners and engage in
industry ecosystems
Tech architecture
Workflows and processes
Unstructured and structured data
Digital strategy
Corporate strategy
Business model
The gross-list of available
data and data sources
How the company delivers
value to customers
All users’ ability to access
and use the firm’s systems
The digital strategy
prioritizes digital initiatives How applications functions
and interact with each other
Culture defines behavior, and
behavior drives change
© Frederik Bisbjerg 2023

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SHARED TARGETS
Agree on easy-to-understand shared targets
INCUMBENT INSURTECH
• Reduce time-to-respond to customers in this channel from X to Y by WHEN
• Increase customer satisfaction in this touchpoint from X to Y by WHEN
• …

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BE PRAGMATIC
Don’t be overambitious – but don’t do Proof of Concept, either
Proof of Concepts can be good…
…but they’re not very committing
Set yourself up for success;
identify a target that
• Is realistic
• Is achievable
• Adds real value to the
partnership

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ORGANIZATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Add the project to the management agenda
• Add to C-level status updates
• Announce progress, frequently
• Ensure proper performance
management
• Celebrate the success!
Make the
partnership
visible in the
organization

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Don’t forget the incumbent’s Fear of the Unknown
Uncertainty about
• …the project
• …the future
• …the jobs
• …influence and
position
FotU
Minimizing uncertainty
• Communicate!
• Involve key
employees - let them
lead
• Set shared targets
with the insurtech

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When working with change, there is ONE golden rule that you cannot miss
COMMUNICATE!

20. Thank you!

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Long-term projects rarely meets the real business requirements
*Many* years
What business gets
What business needs
Each completion
is ‘celebrated’
with a long list of
Change Requests

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Shorter durations closes the gap between deliveries and requirements
Not so long
Project characteristics
- Clear & defined
- Max. 3 months duration
- Tangible benefits
- Clear ‘what success looks like’
- Clear stakeholder mapping
- Only ONE responsible per
project element