Partnering to get insurance closer to our clients

The traditional insurance model has worked well for corporations for more than 400 years. However, there are inefficiencies that technology can address. For example, the claims process can still be time-consuming and costly, with the insured party remaining out of pocket until the much-needed payout is approved.

But this is changing. New ways of providing protection are bringing insurance closer to overall risk management processes. Through strategic partnerships between insurers and the companies they cover, insurance is becoming more efficient and user-friendly. Swiss Re Corporate Solutions’ collaboration with Hitachi in 2021 is a good example of this.

Together with Hitachi, Swiss Re created a more holistic risk-management framework by developing a so-called ”embedded insurance” product that works with Hitachi’s Lumada APM (Asset Performance Management) software. Lumada monitors the health of a client’s equipment, predicting the likelihood of equipment malfunction, and automating maintenance routines. As a result, operators running Hitachi’s software know the condition of their machines in near real-time, and the software diagnoses what the condition will be in the future.

Swiss Re’s role is to help Hitachi and its corporate customers protect themselves against the unlikely event of a failure in the predictive maintenance software – and to cover repair and interruption costs should the software falter and provide a wrongful prognosis resulting in operational downtime.

By reducing the likelihood of unexpected equipment failure, Lumada APM helps both the insured and insurance companies increase the economic efficiency of insurance schemes. This new solution is set to create significant further business for both Swiss Re and Hitachi as hundreds of different types of machines globally can run Lumada APM. The partnership is key to activating machine-sensor data and continuous diagnostics across the industrial sector.

This gives Swiss Re access to new risk pools from the manufacturing sector, thereby generating additional business and creating value for Swiss Re.

Embedding insurance to improve the customer experience

Embedded insurance is also a rising trend in consumer lines – especially in areas where people buy insurance digitally. A well-known example of this is the “add-on” cover for travel insurance purchased along with air tickets for a particular journey. This simple action of adding insurance to the online purchase is a much more efficient process than subscribing to a long-term, travel insurance policy.

Swiss Re has partnered with a number of digital platforms to incorporate insurance solutions into their online business sales model. For example, in 2021 Swiss Re’s iptiQ and ImmoScout24, Germany’s leading online real estate platform, launched a loss of rent insurance product for the property owner that integrates seamlessly into ImmoScout24’s digital ecosystem.

Embedding insurance can also improve the user experience and promote safer behaviours that reduce risk. In 2021, Swiss Re partnered with BlaBlaCar, the world’s leading community-based travel platform, and motor insurance specialist L’olivier Assurance, the French branch of Admiral Group, to co-create BlaBlaCar Coach, an innovative smartphone app that offers drivers personalised coaching and tips for safer driving and is available with an annual car insurance.

Swiss Re’s risk partnerships strategy puts us at the forefront of insurance innovation. For our partners, it opens up new business models based around risk that many companies may not have thought possible. For Swiss Re, partnerships open up new value streams that were previously inaccessible – and provide new opportunities to monetise risk knowledge and risk transfer expertise.