Rob Galbraith, CPCU, CLU, ChFC is an author, keynote speaker and a globally known insurtech thought leader who has been part of the financial services industry for over 20 years. His new book “The End of Insurance As We Know It” has just hit the bookstores and has already climbed to the top of the best-sellers list on Amazon.
Rob is now Director of Innovation, AF Group. For nearly 20 years until Feb 2019, Rob led a team of highly skilled and passionate professionals in Property Underwriting at USAA as Director of Underwriting Research.
Before that, he has held leadership positions at Citi and the Federal Reserve Board.
Rob Galbraith has a Master’s in Insurance Management from Boston University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Michigan State University.
Now let’s get down to the interview – 10 questions answered by Rob Galbraith, “The Most Interesting Man in Insurance,” and author of The End of Insurance As We Know It.
1. Your new book – still in the launch phase, and it’s already No. 1 on the Amazon Bestsellers list of property insurance books. Can you tell our audience what’s in it, and why they should buy it?
2. How did you get into insurance? You started off with banking, I think. So how do you get into insurance, and what made you cement the choice – that this was the career you wanted?
3. Move forward 20 years, and you announced (on LinkedIn) your plan to quit your job at USAA. What’s interesting is that the post generated over 100,000 views. Who are all these people, and how did you become “The Most Interesting Man in Insurance” and such a huge insurance industry influencer during these 19 years and 7 months at USAA?
How to make insurance purchase and claims easier for customers
4. If only 5-10% filed claims, how to provide value (in addition to peace of mind) for the remaining 90-95% of insurance buyers? Seems like what you get doesn’t quite equate to what you pay for it.
5. Little more about claims – Customers are broadly aware of their coverage, but a lot of claims get rejected, and a smooth claims experience is the most important part of the whole process. How do we solve this challenge of better educating customers about the coverage they’re getting, or not getting?
6. It’s complicated – That’s the title of Chapter 4 in your new book. How do we simplify insurance purchase for the customer, and sales for the insurance company and their agents?
It’s the end of insurance as we know it. What’s next?
7. What, in your opinion, is the future of insurance and insurtech? There’s a wave of digitization ongoing, and large players in other industries (ride-sharing, real estate, SMEs) are entering the market at scale. There’s blockchain, AI, micro-insurance, APIs, wearables and connected insurance (telematics), and a lot more. Which new technologies are going to be part of the future of insurance in 5-10 years?
8. Should technology providers compete or collaborate – become insurers or help digitize the carrier’s operations and send them customers. If you want to compete, what is the best way to do it, and how hard (or easy) is it, for a tech startup to also become an insurance company?
9. What are the top areas of opportunity today for innovation within the insurance industry? Claims automation to reduce the time and hassle customers face seems like a no-brainer. What else is an area where’s there’s an urgent and pressing need for improvement?
Role of agents in digital insurance
10. Let’s talk agents – your words in the book – “they’re somewhere in between the Stone Age and Y2K in their adoption of technology.” How can insurers make their physical network of agents relevant again in the age of online quotes and purchase via digital channels?
A word about Lucep – your thoughts about the company – https://lucep.com/
(Download full transcript of the interview here)
In closing, we recommend Rob Galbraith’s book “The End of Insurance As We Know It” as a very useful book for insurers, investors, regulators, startups who are or want to be insurtechs, and anyone else interested in the intersection of insurance and technology.
Website: https://endofinsurance.com/
Buy it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/End-Insurance-Know-Millennials-Insurtech/dp/1795400552 (paperback and kindle)
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