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How two insurers –one traditional, one digital –are using open platforms

With this series, I introduced insurers to the benefits and necessity of open insurance. In this concluding post, I’ll examine two more case studies of carriers that are doing excellent work with open platforms.

One old, one new: both revolutionary

Allianz is an international insurer that’s been around since 1890 and has footprints on every continent. It’s an excellent example of a traditional organization that has stood the test of time and continues not only to adapt to but also create digital innovations.

Lemonade, on the other hand, is the relatively “new kid on the block” that burst onto the scene in 2016 as a digital-native property and casualty insurer that embodies the principles of technological innovation and transparency.

Both insurers are examples of how open platforms can transform insurance.

Allianz offers business system to other insurers

The insurer announced in January that it’s offering parts of its Allianz Business System (ABS) as an open-source platform-solution to other insurance companies—free of charge.

ABS is a system that can handle the challenges of digitalization and data privacy and can be used in any insurance line of business. With this move, Allianz is realizing its vision of an insurance ecosystem that connects partners and adds value to the industry and insurance customers.

In the press release, Christof Mascher, Chief Operating Officer at Allianz SE, explains what users can expect from ABS:

“Think of it as a kind of app store. It’s an open marketplace where other companies can offer things too. They might be services as simple as text scanning and recognition, printing, or even an open broker marketplace. The marketplace just provides the infrastructure to enable exchanges.”

Mascher believes that an open marketplace of ideas where businesses pool capabilities in insurance and software is a “combination that’s hard to beat”. Allianz aims to have built a network that benefits the entire industry.

Lemonade makes insurance seamless with new API

While Allianz is working towards sharing knowledge through an ecosystem of partners, Lemonade is steadily working towards making insurance as easy and convenient as watching a show on Netflix.

Lemonade launched its public API in October last year, which allows anyone to sell its policies through their apps or websites.

In an article on PR Newswire, Lemonade co-founder Shai Wininger explained the move:

“It takes years to pull together the licenses, capital and technology needed to offer insurance instantly through an app, which is why it’s almost nonexistent. Today’s API launch changes that. Anyone with a slight familiarity with coding can now include these capabilities in their app, in a matter of hours.”

And they do mean anyone—from lifestyle brands to e-commerce sites—can now offer insurance on its app using Lemonade’s API.

Lemonade offers “different options for integration with various levels of personalization”. Interested parties can even install the widget for Maya the AI bot which can help their clients navigate the process of getting insured. For more information, visit Lemonade’s API landing page.

In this series, I’ve spoken about the value of open insurance. I started by explaining what insurers can learn from open banking, and continued to provide case studies of leading insurers with open platforms and APIs.

For more information and further reading, download the open banking report as well as Accenture’s 2018 Technology Vision.