The effects of coronavirus on consumers, businesses, and insurers will outlive the far reaching and severe impact the virus has already had. However, the current pandemic will change the insurance industry irrevocably over the next decade in the following ways:

  • A bigger shift to contract employees (and robots) upending workers compensation
  • Remote work models passing muster, driving enterprises out of the real estate business
  • Digital services getting put to the test
  • Usage-based insurance booming as consumers question traditional coverage

At the same time, the pandemic has had a noticeable impact on funding towards insurtech – the twain of insurance and technology. In the first three months of 2020, insurtech funding has contracted after a year of strong rounds for late-stage companies and that funding has shifted towards digital distributors and backoffice automation. Yet the downturn from coronavirus will make 2020 a lean year given digital insurers have not become enough of a threat to traditional ones that they can count on funding.

Principal Analyst Ellen Carney and Senior Analyst Jeffery Williams are available for interviews to discuss these trends further.