Three-quarters of (re)insurance professionals believe incumbents are at risk of disruption – survey

Over three-quarters (76%) of insurance and reinsurance professionals feel that their company is “moderately” to “extremely” at risk of disruption, Willis Towers Watson (WTW) and CB Insights’ (Re)insurance innovation survey shows.

The survey received responses from 600 professionals working in reinsurance, insurance and investment.

Even with 72% of company resources devoted to incremental innovation, almost half (46%) of respondents thought their company’s innovation philosophy was “ad-hoc”.

In addition, over half (55%) felt that, within their company, marketing and distribution, underwriting, customer service, claims and customer retention were “extremely” or “very” in need of innovation.

Accelerators were viewed as the most valuable innovation partners, while customers and employees were seen as the most valuable sources of internal innovation.

A majority (88%) of those surveyed felt that their organisation was most likely to partner or nurture innovation internally, while just 12% of professionals felt that their company’s primary innovation strategy is based in acquisitions.