Industrial Organization and the Consequences of Digitalization for the Insurance Industry

Essay from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Banking, Stock Exchanges, Insurance, Accounting, grade: 1,7, University of Manchester, language: English, abstract: This essay tries to identify the consequences drawing on the example of the insurance industry. Here the information technologies may help to assess risks, remove uncertainties and assist the company in their decision making. Thus, the essay focuses on the aspects of decision making and internal organization. Further, the consequences for the insurance industry will be discussed. The essay is structured in four parts. At first, historical technological limitations and their impacts in the insurance market will be discussed. After that the advances in software, big data and artificial intelligence will be considered and opportunities for insurance companies will be shown. Moreover, the essay will discuss the impacts of these issues on the future of the firm. Finally, industry impacts will be considered. The research is based on secondary data from books, journals, newspapers and websites. The rise of big data, information technologies and artificial intelligence have led to a software revolution that significantly influences firms and industries. Artificial intelligence software may take over many functions resulting in automated pricing, risk assessment, inventory management etc.. Therefore, software devices collect, store and analyze massive amounts of data about customer behaviors, preferences, productivity enhancements, market trends and more. This data provides the company with valuable insights and allows them to capture critical advantages. However, to effectively exploit these advantages a firm has to adapt to the new settings which comes along with structural changes and other consequences.