Following record year, insurtech funding expected to keep growing: Digital Insurance research

Insurance's digital leaders have a lot of optimism that the consumer changes -- and corporate changes, such as remote work -- will drive increased adoption of next-generation technologies as the world emerges from the fog of COVID-19. However, some of the innovation has turned inward, as the second-most-common response to this question was that insurers were more likely now to cultivate internal innovation teams rather than reach out to startups first. That's driven more consolidation around mature companies and created some friction for early-stage startups.

Artificial intelligence is the No. 1 expected technology that the insurtech community expects to recieve attention. That's not counting chatbots, though they did come in a close second along with customer interaction technologies. A respondent summarizes, "Customer interactions continue to be driven online for industries that were traditionally conducted in person; like insurance and banking, and COVID-19 is accelerating this trend. The ability to offer insurance in a simplified way and integrate into other relevant customer journeys is critical to growing adoption and prioritization of insurance for consumers and businesses."

Among the "other" responses for this question: API integrations, embedded insurance, and short-term policies.

A significant plurality of respondents believe customer experience to be the business area most invested in this year. With distribution in second place, there's a clear line from the focus on AI in the tech question to this one. As one respondent put it, "Given focus on distribution, attracting new customers, and retaining existing customers, carriers will focus on AI to understand data and signals from their customers and potential customers. This will enable carriers to provider an increased level of customer service."

Among the "other" responses for this question: Finance and regulatory compliance.