Insurers today are constantly monitoring new insurtech and trying to benefit. To quote from an interesting KPMG report about insurtech trends for 2019, “The insurance industry is on the brink of a major revolution as adoption of insurtech enters a new phase…In the coming year there will be an increase in the level of implementation of new and innovative approaches to transform the way insurance companies do business.”

This will all be made possible through application programming interfaces (APIs), which are basically secure and virtual “cables” connecting two systems together in real-time.

APIs allow the modularization and decoupling of products and services. Maps become Waze. Taxis become Uber. Calling in an accident becomes an automatic crash response. Insurance becomes part of the consumer’s online experience, akin to ordering on Amazon, or buying groceries for delivery.

For insurers, APIs enable them to securely expose information and services to an ecosystem of related applications, allowing insurers to embed their offerings into the customer online experience.

The Engine

Open APIs (an API that is universally available to other software developers, so they can work with a specific product, etc.) are the engine that powers insurtech. Opening a core system to the innovative ecosystem of modern technologies and solutions empowers insurers to introduce new business models and expand existing ones. They can also personalize offerings, based on seamless integration with external products and solutions.

Deploying software solutions for insurance with open APIs offers flexibility and speed to market. Insurers can quickly react to market changes, without the overhead of traditional development lifecycles – APIs and Agile working together.

The unbundling of services allows carriers to quickly adapt emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, sensors, drones and more.

But how can insurers benefit? They are not software companies. To stay profitable, they should concentrate on their core business and competencies. Insurance software solution providers, such as Sapiens, are investing in partnerships with API developers and their own developers to build a user-friendly online experience for all parts of the insurance industry.

Sapiens DigitalHub (API Layer and Digital Studio) facilitates an open-communication, API-based platform that enables carriers to interact with insurtech companies, ecosystem technology providers and business partners. By enabling seamless interaction with any service under any technology, Sapiens’ open architecture ensures that providers will easily choose the building blocks they need. They’ll be able to seamlessly integrate all elements within their insurance ecosystem, to succeed today and prepare for the future.

  • APIs
  • digitalization
  • insurance
  • insurers
  • insuretech
  • insurtech
  • life insurance
  • New Technology
  • platforms
  • property and casualty
Steve Ellis

Steve Ellis Steve Ellis is a Pre-Sales Consultant in Sapiens’ Insurance Practice. He has a detailed knowledge of all aspects of property and casualty insurance having spent over 30 years in the insurance software industry in a variety of roles, including development, business analysis, project management, training and software demonstrations.