In this episode of Denim Rivet, our guest is on a mission to reinvent small business insurance. I’m referring to none other than Kevin Kerridge – Executive Vice President of small business insurance at Hiscox USA.

Now in his 20th year at Hiscox, Kevin Kerridge started an online direct to consumer business in the UK during the Dot Com bubble. In 2005 that grew to encompass small businesses, and in 2010 he came to the US to scout out the small business insurance landscape. Astounded by the lack of maturity in the US small business insurance space, Kevin moved to New York to help Hiscox spread its small business services across the pond. He finds that the US is till 5-7 years behind the UK in terms of digitizing insurance for small businesses. When Hiscox started making waves in 2010 Kevin suspected that competitors would jump on the opportunity the small business space was presenting. However, he sees that the transition is still in its embryonic stages and offers some insights into the present state of affairs, and what the future has to offer.

Key Takeaways

Kevin sees that the insure tech ecosystem today reflects the atmosphere created back in the Dot Com bubble. There is a lot of outside talent starting to crop up and bring big ideas to the industry. Despite all this energy, not many companies have started to create a pivotal impact yet. No one knows yet how this story will shake out. Some companies currently going online have clunky user experiences that they are still managing to funnel hundreds of thousands of customers through. This is nothing to be scoffed at, and is expected as businesses build foundations that they can move and grow upon.

With all the energy and hype in the insurance space now it’s easy to get swept away in the idea of disrupting the market. Companies that try to do this are taking an enormous risk though, and while it may appear flashy and bold, there is much to be said for incremental innovation. Bringing the customers online experience up to par with other companies is a great way to work towards innovation and new services. Remember, it’s okay to not be disruptive.

Many in the insurance space have been wondering if the direct to consumer model might spell an extinction event for agents. Kevin doesn’t seem to think that will happen, and believes that agents will intergral to distribution. The key is that agents are going to start looking and acting differently than today. This will come from being digitally enabled.

Social has played an integral role in Hiscox’s development as well. Kevin approached their marketing team back when they first branched out to the small business space, and they came up with a web tv series called Leap Year. The series followed a group of corporate employees that were laid off and started their own small business. Highlighting the struggles and triumphs of the small business adventure with a comedic twist landed the show over 6 million views, and get this: they didn’t even mention insurance once.

Links

Insurance Is Not Being Disrupted

Bunker

Hiscox