Increased use of the metaverse could support ‘shift from risk indemnity to risk mitigation’ – Accenture

Utilising digital twins of buildings or objects in the metaverse could support the “shift from [providing] risk indemnity to risk mitigation” currently underway in the insurance sector, said Kenneth Saldanha, global insurance lead at Accenture.

“More and more people are starting to dip their toe in the water around the metaverse and start to use it,” added Jamie Althorp, UK insurance lead at the company.

Saldanha added that the digital twin concept – wherein a virtual parallel of a physical object is created – could be incredibly useful in demonstrating risks to clients or exploring how risks might impact on a factory, supporting the increased demand for risk mitigation from clients.

Despite the metaverse remaining a “junior concept” for now, it is “evolving at pace”, explained Saldanha.

He said that the metaverse could change operations drastically within the insurance market and the impacts were “just starting to be seen now”.

Saldanha explained: “Imagine being able to do customised education: ’We took your factory, created a digital twin of it in the metaverse and can now work around with different configurations virtually to show you where you might need safety features for your workforce.’”

‘Huge’ products

Saldanha further stated that the metaverse would create the need for “huge” new insurance products: “There is no question of that that there will be the need [for new products] as more and more people start to put their personas and their digital assets into the metaverse.

“They will be huge.”

Training use cases for risk mitigation would come before new products, predicted Saldanha, but following that “we’ll start to see some new products and revenue”.