Report says insurers need to change to attract millennials
Insurance companies are struggling to engage with millennials according to a report from Ernst & Young. The study of the life insurance and annuity business in Canada shows that there needs to be change in order to suit the needs of Generations X and Y and young families. The report notes that younger generations live in an online world and are far more likely to do their own research than previous generations and suggests that insurance products should be simplified. This it says may well mean that there is less underwriting with insurers accepting more risk as a result. However that extra risk can be offset by better use of analytics. While the report looks at personal lines many of its findings are relevant to commercial lines too; the report found that there is a trust issue with only 59 per cent of Canadians trusting their insurer compared to 81 per cent having trust in their bank.
Are ‘wearables’ the future for health insurance?
When Apple launched its latest iPhone incarnations they made a big deal of their native health app, recognizing the growing interest in this sector for its users. With wearables such as smart watches poised to be the next big technology boom integrated health systems are set to become a bigger deal and could form the basis for health insurance in years to come. A report from Forbes highlights how far the link between health-monitoring tech and insurance has come already. So far this area is largely being driven by the large corporates who self-insure; firms like BP and software design firm Autodesk are just two who have experimented with wearable devices. Currently, especially due to privacy concerns, the use of tech that monitors heart rates and glucose levels is about changing behaviour. Autodesk found that those using the devices had lower incidents of conditions such as high blood pressure. While there is some way to go before insurers will be able to tap into real-time data from wearables there certainly appears to be potential for their use for data analysis and behavior-changing along similar lines to the use of telematics in vehicles. Read the full story.
Lenovo hit by cyber attack
Chinese tech firm Lenovo isn’t having a good month. Following revelations about software that it included in some laptops that targeted users with adverts but was then found to make systems vulnerable , and at least one lawsuit being launched as a result; now it’s own website has been hacked. The hackers group Lizard Squad, which also claimed responsibility for hacking Sony Pictures, says it launched the attack. Among the impact of the breach was the redirection of traffic to Lenovo’s website. Experts say that the hackers managed to gain access to the site’s DNS servers which convert a web address into the IP address, the series of numbers that the internet uses. The vulnerability appears to have been with Lenovo’s domain name registrar Webnic. There have also been the released of confidential Lenovo emails.
