Global insurers have failed to take action and embrace the digital world, according to "Insurance in a digital world: The time is now," a survey from Ernst & Young. According to the survey, almost 70 percent of respondents spent less than 10 percent of their business and IT development budgets on digital initiatives.
"They would like to become digitally inclined, but they haven't been able to align the development dollars yet," said Kaenan Hertz, executive director of the financial services office for Ernst & Young. "Less than 10 percent of the IT budget is going to digital initiatives. That leads to a big disconnect between aspiration and their ability to deliver on that aspiration."
"Insurance companies globally have short-term ambitions when it comes to digital," E&Y said, as 57 percent of respondents said they intend to have a regularly updated digital business case and 78 percent intend to have an organizational structure to support digital strategies within the next three years.
Insurers acknowledge low levels of digital maturity and the need to act; almost 80 percent of the 100 life and non-life global insurance respondents don't consider themselves to be digital leaders, E&Y said. More than two-thirds of insurers said they have delivered quick, easy wins, but that has not been accompanied by a long-term strategy to realize ambitious digital objectives.
