Excerpts from "The Standard: Intelligence for Internet Economy," Dec. 6, 1999 Issue.
In October 1998, Forrester Research reported that more than 45 percent of the major life and property and casualty insurers they surveyed were unsure or didn't believe that the Internet was a viable sales channel. Now many companies are changing their tune.
This year may be the turning point for the trillion-dollar industry. Most large insurers have Internet initiatives in place, and midsize companies are not far behind. A recent study by the Gartner Group concluded that transaction-capable insurance sites will increase eightfold in 2000. According to the study, 72 percent of the carriers surveyed said they will provide quotes over the Web by the end of next year, and 39 percent said they will be able to complete sales online.
There is real innovation in the industry, thanks to a wave of new Internet companies including InsureZone, eCoverage, Ebix, InsurePoint and ePolicy.com. Earlier sites sold insurance online, but they were little more than new channels for the same old product. These new entries are forsaking bricks and mortar to create pure, Internet-based insurance plays, with products and services that take full advantage of the Web's capabilities. |
