Viewpoint

Capturing the “Hockey Stick” Growth Opportunity in LATAM

By Ryan Cole, Head of Group Innovation, Everest

I recently had the privilege of speaking at InsureTech Connect (ITC) LATAM, one of the world’s largest gatherings of insurtech entrepreneurs, investors, and insurance industry professionals focused on innovation growth in the Latin American market. During my panel, “How to Keep up with the Data Revolutions,” my fellow panelists and I shared best practices for navigating the rapidly changing data landscape and also discussed how new technologies and business models will lead the charge in the data revolution.

Throughout the conference, it was clear that the excitement around adopting leading-edge technologies and applying them in novel ways across the LATAM market was palpable. However, from my perspective, there is rarely a defined or linear path to succeed in driving innovation forward; it is instead often filled with pivots, iterations, and persistency. When innovative leaps forward do occur, they tend to be exponential, leading to a “hockey stick” shaped growth.

As we evaluate Latin America’s insurance ecosystem, it actually exemplifies the potential of this exponential growth opportunity. Unencumbered by legacy systems or legacy thinking, the market is ideally positioned to capitalize nimbly on technologies that may require complex integrations and a long road of change management in other regions. As we look to innovate and revolutionize insurance data in LATAM, there are three key factors that I foresee driving successful technology adoption forward.

1. Fast Mover on New Technologies
In numerous conversations at the ITC LATAM conference, it was evident that there is a deep interest among the LATAM insurance community to adopt the best technologies. In fact, the market is well-positioned to cherry pick and implement the technologies that have developed an early track record of success. In preparing for the panel discussion, several leaders in the region shared their thoughts on what content would be valuable to the Latin American market. The audience was most interested in hearing concrete examples of what worked and did not work in other regions in order to focus on implementing those successful technologies early and avoid distractions.

2. First Mover on New Business Models
While the LATAM market may be a fast mover in technology adoption, there is a unique opportunity to be a first mover with new business models that take advantage of the technology. Whether it is embedded insurance, green technologies, or AI-enabled underwriting, the ultimate value of these technologies is optimizing how the pieces can best fit together. With the launch of new products and significant projected growth in the region, there is an opportunity to think through how these pieces can fit together in novel business models. At Everest, we are exploring a broad range of new technologies and business models, while building a modern digital ecosystem in LATAM. We welcome conversations with our LATAM trading partners and insureds to partner on deploying new models that can have the greatest impact on growth and underwriting profitability.

3. Becoming an Example for Other Markets to Learn From
As the LATAM insurance ecosystem deploys novel business models and rapidly adopts leading-edge technologies, other markets can learn from what performs well in the region. In many cases, the region may be able to move faster and develop new models more quickly than others unencumbered by legacy systems, the inertia of existing processes, and new high-growth opportunities.

Coming full circle, this creates a two-for-one benefit of global companies focusing innovation and investment resources in LATAM – 1) Capturing the “hockey stick” growth opportunity by becoming a first mover on novel business models and 2) Feeding back the learnings from LATAM innovation into other regions.

At Everest, we are committed to building a modern digital ecosystem in LATAM, enabling us to partner with those looking to capitalize on first mover new business propositions. We look forward to continued investment in LATAM as innovation accelerates. The content of this article is intended for informational purposes only.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the individual author and do not reflect the views of Everest Re Group, Ltd. (“Everest”), and its affiliated companies. Additional information about Everest, our people, and our products can be found on our website at https://www.everestglobal.com/