NEW YORK — The insurance industry is a prime sector for technological improvements that better the customer experience, but such efforts require new ways of thinking about traditional elements such as policy duration, experts say. 

Insurtech firm CoverWallet, an online platform for small businesses to secure quotes for a wide range of coverages including general liability, commercial property and workers compensation from multiple insurers, launched in 2016 with financial backing from companies such as Zurich Insurance Group Ltd. and Starr Cos.

“We thought (insurance) was a space that was very ripe for technology to improve the end customer experience,” Rashmi Melgiri, co-founder of CoverWallet in New York, told attendees of the 2018 Business Insurance Women to Watch conference in New York on Friday. “We were total newbies. We taught ourselves what we needed to know” about the sector.

The insurance industry is a necessary participant in the evolution of society and communities, and technology is at the nexus of such evolution, said Sophia Yen, principal, insurance strategy and innovation leader, Ernst & Young in New York.

“While we are one of the oldest industries, there hasn’t been this much change (as there has been) in the last three years,” Ms. Yen said, citing disruptive technological evolutions such as blockchain and artificial intelligence.

But such evolution does not mean that AI is going to replace human employees, Ms. Yen said.

“I really believe in the hybrid model,” she said. “I really believe in the human plus digital model because at the end of the day, our industry is also so based on relationships.”

However, the insurance industry must be willing to evolve, she said. 

“The insurance industry – make no mistake – can be one of the most profitable segments,” she said. “We are a mandatory need. But we’ve got to start thinking about things in a different way. Policy durations may not be 12 months. Maybe policy durations are now exposure periods. Maybe exposure periods are now flexible based upon what the actual real-time risk is.”

She cited, for example, Insurwave, the blockchain platform launched in May to support marine hull insurance by E&Y, Maersk and partners in the insurance sector.

“For shipping containers in parts of our world … the path of least resistance is to go through war zones,” she said. “Those shipping containers couldn’t get coverage to go through war zones. Because of an actual blockchain, we created a market that gives real latitude and longitude and allows different players to play at different tranches and different risk levels based upon the risk appetite. It opens up a whole new market.” 

“I think that some of the greatest challenges are that, for whatever rhyme or reason, our industry still continues to think that other industry players are its competitors,” Ms. Yen added.

A challenge for CoverWallet is that few insurers wanted to offer insurance directly online despite the fact that transactions have long been conducted online in other sectors, Ms. Melgiri said.

“We’re an insurance company and a tech company and when I give that pitch in Silicon Valley, everyone is looking at me like ‘is it 2002?’” she said. “It’s not that big of a deal. You can buy anything online. But you have to understand what the status quo is (in the insurance industry). It is transformative to the way things are being done today.”

But Ms. Melgiri also urged those interested in transforming the insurance industry and other sectors not to get caught up in the status quo.

“There were so many carriers that didn’t want to work with us because the online customer is a bad customer,” she said. “This was the dialogue.”

The panelists talked about how critical it was for them to have advocates in their careers and how important it is for women to advocate for other women.

Such advocacy must go beyond mere mentoring, including during compensation discussions, Ms. Yen said.

“A sponsor is someone who puts their neck on the line,” she said. “If we don’t do that, what chance do we ever have of reaching gender equality, real inclusiveness and real parity?

“Figure out who you’re pounding the table for and have confidence and continue to pound,” Ms. Yen added. “Figure out who’s pounding the table for you.”

But there is a limit to how much “reaching out and reaching up” that can be done so women must “speak up” and share their ideas, she said.

“Do not for a second hesitate,” Ms. Yen said. “What is the worst thing that is going to happen? Someone may say ‘not now, maybe later.’ Every no is closer to a yes.”