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Are Disruptors Turning the Industry
Disruption [dis-ruhp-shuh n]
Noun 1. forcible separation or division into parts.
2. a disrupted condition: After the coup, the country was in disruption.
3. Business. a radical change in an industry, business strategy, etc., especially involving the
introduction of a new product or service thatcreates a new market: Globalization and the rapid
advance of technology are major cause’s of business disruption.
Disruption. Seems like and determining individual risks, Google has teamed up
this is the new buzz with carriers of all sizes to reach customers efficiently,
word tossed about in allowing them to quickly search, get rates and compare
insurance circles. It policies “pound for pound.” Already, this platform has
also seems like every helped shift the insurance industry’s emphasis on the
day there is another customer by allowing peer-to-peer ratings and allowing
“disruptor” busting consumers to openly disclose any negative or positive
onto the insurance experiences with the insurer in question, which will
scene. But what does breed overall superior customer service and experience.
this all mean, and
what can we do to Nearly every industry undergoes disruption when
brace our industry for consumer expectations shift and businesses are forced
their interruption? to adapt and keep up. For decades, insurance didn’t
have the kind of pressure from outside entrants that it
Disruption is a is currently facing. Whether Google fails or succeeds
wide-ranging term early on, it makes little difference: Its entrance is a
that typically means wake-up call. The more tech companies enter the
outside competitors space, the more traditional insurance must struggle to
and/or technologies play catch-up.”
upending traditional
https://www.recode.net/2015/8/3/11615294/google-
entrenched companies. With so
many different emergent technologies applies-pressure-on-insurance-innovation
popping up it can be difficult for
insurers to know which ones will Ultimately, the high expectations of Google’s entrance into
the insurance industry were not fulfilled. By March 23,
actually impact their business.
2016, merely one year later, Google announced they were
pulling out of this venture.
At one point the biggest implied threat
came from online giant Google. In
early March 2015 Google launched
Google Compare for Auto Insurance,
“a comparison-shopping site that let
consumers compare the rates from
different insurance providers.” The
option to compare rates began popping
up after a consumer did a Google
search for “car insurance” using
Google’s search engine.
Predictions, discussions and news
articles regarding this tech behemoth But Craig was correct, this was a wakeup call for the
dominated for months. insurance industry.
According to an Aug 3, 2015 article in Cut to 2017
Recode, by Dax Craig
Exactly one year to the date of the Google Compare
“There are some who believe that the tech giant may closure announcement, March 23, 2017, Insurance Journal
not be doing anything noticeably different from other ran a piece by Don Jergler detailing the presentations at the
aggregators in the auto insurance space. However, if Western Insurance Agents Association (WIAA) state of the
past accomplishments in other industries like navigation, industry conference in Irvine, Calif.
travel and email tell us anything, Google can (and
will) find a way to engage the consumer better than One of the featured speakers at the event was James
incumbent insurers. Rather than writing its own business Keating, founder, chairman and CEO of The Keating
22 insight may 2017
