Despite Eagerness to Engage in Ecosystems, Few Insurers are Well-Positioned to Succeed as Ecosystem Partners, Accenture Study...
June 18 2019 - 7:59AM
Business Wire
Insurers recognize the growth potential of
business ecosystems and see a clear opportunity to disrupt their
industry
Although insurers are eager to create or join business
ecosystems to spur growth amid industry disruption, few insurers
are currently well-positioned to succeed as ecosystem partners,
according to a new report from Accenture (NYSE: ACN).
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Insurance lags behind other industries on
the Ecosystems Capability Index, measuring the ecosystem
capabilities of companies across six dimensions (Photo: Business
Wire)
Based on a study of more than 1,250 business leaders, including
106 insurance executives, the ‘Insurers: Go All-In On Ecosystems’
report from Accenture Strategy found that the majority (84%) of
insurance executives acknowledge that ecosystems are important to
their business strategy and that more than half (54%) are actively
seeking ecosystem opportunities. However, despite this enthusiasm
and desire to compete in ecosystems, insurers are falling short on
having the right capabilities, culture and technologies to fully
exploit ecosystem opportunities.
The report identified less than 5% of insurers as “ecosystem
masters” — companies with the right attributes to disrupt their
industry using ecosystems and that plan to lead as many ecosystems
as possible. This ranks the insurance industry second-to-last among
the dozen industries analyzed in terms of the number of ecosystem
masters.
The report suggests that while insurers offer several key
attributes that are valuable within ecosystems — including
unmatched depth and richness of data and longstanding customer
relationships — they lag behind firms in other sectors in terms of
their ecosystem strategy, culture, innovation and technology
adoption.
“Insurers have to decide whether they want to be the disruptors
or the disrupted,” said Michael Lyman, a senior managing director
who leads Accenture Strategy in North America and its Insurance
practice globally. “Joining or designing market-leading ecosystems
will enable insurers to ride the disruption wave, instead of being
swept up in it. But this requires a scrupulous self-assessment of
their ecosystem capabilities to determine any organizational gaps
that will prevent them from being effective ecosystem
partners.”
Encouragingly, the overwhelming majority (97%) of insurers
surveyed believe they have what it takes to become an attractive
ecosystem partner. As a next step, forward-thinking insurers will
need to develop a clear ecosystem strategy to either reinvent or
completely disrupt the existing insurance value chain to improve
their competitiveness. The report suggests that to be an effective
ecosystem player, insurers need to carefully assess their readiness
and close cultural, technological and other gaps. Choosing the
right, trusted partners that can help achieve economies of skill,
scale and scope will be critical, the report notes.
Insurers will also need to prioritize the security of their
ecosystem partners. Accenture’s Technology Vision Insurance 2019
research found that only one-quarter (26%) of insurers know for
sure that their ecosystem partners are working as diligently as the
insurers themselves are to improve their security resilience. A
failure to focus on security could create new risks and undermine
the value of participating in ecosystems.
“Ecosystems offer an exciting new way of competing and insurers
are at the beginning of their journey to develop an ecosystem
strategy,” said Daniele Presutti, who leads Accenture’s Insurance
practice in Europe. “While much work remains to be done to fill in
the gaps between their intentions and executions, insurers
recognize the challenge and see that the potential to alter the
insurance value chain is significant. Embracing the concept of
‘open insurance’ through a platform-based approach will require new
forms of collaboration with players from within and beyond
insurance that can share data and expertise to create new services
that address customer needs. Insurers should be fearless, take the
offensive and embrace these platforms.”
To find out more about the report,
visit: https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/strategy/ecosystems-insurance
About the research
The ‘Insurers: Go All-In On Ecosystems’ report surveyed 106 insurance executives as part
of a broader Accenture Strategy study of 1,252 C-level executives
from organizations across 13 industries and seven countries in
January 2018 to understand how they are creating competitive
advantage by building ecosystems. Respondents represented companies
with more than US$1 billion in revenues, with nearly 60% having
revenues greater than US$6 billion.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company,
providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy,
consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched
experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries
and all business functions — underpinned by the world’s largest
delivery network — Accenture works at the intersection of business
and technology to help clients improve their performance and create
sustainable value for their stakeholders. With 477,000 people
serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives
innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us
at www.accenture.com.
Accenture Strategy combines deep industry expertise, advanced
analytics capabilities and human-led design methodologies that
enable clients to act with speed and confidence. By identifying
clear, actionable paths to accelerate competitive agility,
Accenture Strategy helps leaders in the C-suite envision and
execute strategies that drive growth in the face of digital
transformation. For more information, follow @AccentureStrat or
visit www.accenture.com/strategy.
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Michael McGinnAccenture+1 917 452 9458m.mcginn@accenture.comLucy
DaviesAccenture+44 777 3044 808lucy.d.davies@accenture.com
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