What’s in store at the #Insurtech2020 conference

This year’s #Insurtech Conference, which is put on by the team at COVER Publications, promises to be bigger and better than ever. For starters, in addition to the traditional Joburg event, there’s now a Cape Town instalment of the conference, providing access to even more members of the insurance and tech industries.

There’s also – as always – a superb line-up of speakers over the combined four days of the event.

Book your Insurtech 2020 spot in Joburg or CT

Insurtech is traditionally seen as a disruptive force in the industry. But COVER Publications head honcho, Tony van Niekerk, sees it differently.

“Rather than disruption, I see value creation and exciting transformation in the insurance industry,” he says. “The hype around #insurtech over the past five or so years was mostly around innovative distribution/lead generation projects. Although justified, as we have seen some exciting stuff, most of it has struggled, and will continue to do so, as insurance is a volume game. Distribution innovations are not getting needed volumes for the low margins they generate.

“However, as with most innovations that come from small startups and skunkworks, the big players join the game and make the innovations work, due to their volumes and brand strength. South Africa already has some examples where this has worked really well.”

Book your Insurtech 2020 spot in Joburg or CT

Tony says much of the benefit to the industry has actually slipped under the radar.

“Insurtech innovations, where the focus has been on streamlining and optimising processes to enhance customer experience and lower cost, have pretty much gone unnoticed by the hype, even though the industry has benefited ten-fold more from these innovations.

“Maturity has been entering both the insurtech and traditional channels, but in different ways. The distribution and lead generation side is focusing more on realistic margins and better risk management, while the systems and back-end process tech innovations are now starting to receive the accolades they deserve.”

Against this backdrop, Insurtech 2020 will focus on:

• The backbone of insurtech, where everything comes together in an organised way, designed to deliver end-value (Including APIs and platforms)
• Pulling it all together in a useful and value adding way, and designing a user experience that ensures value reaches the client.
• The function of identifying, collecting, storing, analysing and productively using relevant data to add useful value (cloud, AI, RPA, bots, etc.)

“Long gone are the days of technology in financial planning just doing needs analysis. With AI, robo-advice, office automation and predictive analytics taking centre stage, it’s a brave new world in financial advice,” says Tony.

Book your Insurtech 2020 spot in Joburg or CT

By attending Insurtech 2020 you will benefit from:

• Vital networking opportunities
• Live demos
• Interactive workshops
• CPD Accreditation
• Leading experts sharing insights into the latest innovations

All the information on how to register, as well as the complete programme for both the Joburg and Cape Town events, can be found on the Insurtech Conference website.

There are also some exciting sponsorship and exhibitor options available.

See you at #insurtech2020!