Wearables and Insurance - a match made in data!

Originally posted on LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141015214951-275760-wearables-insurance

In this series of posts, Influencers and members predict the ideas and trends that will shape 2015. Read all the stories here and write your own (please include the hashtag #BigIdeas2015 in the body of your post).

I was recently asked to contribute to the Raconteur supplement in the Times on Wearable technology.

To me, this is one of the most exciting opportunities that melds together the ongoing consumerisation of IT (Smartphones, watches, fitness trackers etc) to our increasing thirst for data. This is the crux of it, new real time data will give us the ability to drive change in behaviours before the event rather than afterwards. (as an example, watch BBC2 Horizon, Monitor Me – pre-diagnose Chrohns disease!). For those that exercise regularly, a heart rate monitor, a cycle GPS etc are not new – but the data and competitive nature is getting better. We have gamified everything (e.g. Strava for my fellow Mamils). If insurers, Health & Life specifically can leverage this correctly, they will have better medicines, treatments and understanding of life expectancy, disease and much much more.

It won’t stop here – we will turn the traditional world of insurance into a smart, real time heartbeat across everything we do and interact with. Our connected car, connected home, connected workplace and connected self will give us the ability as insurers (or retailers) to know what we buy, when we consume it and what locations we are in automatically adjusting the cost of our insurances depending on where and what we are doing. Wearable is just telematics for us as individuals. As insurers (and experts in risk data) we need to make the best and most efficient use of it before someone else works out what do to with it. Wearables are just telematics for me!. Telematics itself has been around for 25 years and only now talking off (and even now it's still slowly!)

Move forward 3-5 years and digestible sensors will replace wearables which will deliver even greater insights into what we do, how we do it. The real currency will become data and the divide will be between those that know, and those that don’t. All that said, even if we do know – we still as individuals need to act upon that data. Most of it is available today!

The full publication can be found here - and takes into account how wearables impact many industries including Insurance. Enjoy!.

Would love your view? How have you incorporated wearable into your everyday life. Are you as competitive as Mark Benioff and Michael Dell on their Daily Fitbit Challenge!!