Alexa, conclude my insurance contract
German insurtech Deutsche Familienversicherung, which recently became the first German insurer to make its policies available for purchase via Amazon’s personal assistant Alexa, has extended this advancement, now allowing the fully digital conclusion of insurance contracts via the assistant. This was prevented previously due to a lack of compatibility between Amazon Echo and Amazon Pay, but it will now be possible for customers with an Alexa to seamlessly conclude a contract that they have purchased from Deutsche Familienversicherung.
Dr Stefan M. Knoll, Founder and CEO of the insurtech, commented: “Through our intensive collaboration with Amazon and Amazon Pay, and thanks to our proprietary IT platform which is a highly modern event and java-based portfolio management system, we have finally succeeded in making the fully digital conclusion of contracts using Amazon Echo a reality. The customer can now not only receive advice from Alexa but can also simultaneously conclude an insurance within only a few seconds. We are starting with our foreign travel health insurance, will continue with our liability insurance and will be gradually adding [other] products.”
According to a recent study published by Adcubum, nearly one in five Germans under the age of 35 have expressed enthusiasm about the idea of concluding an insurance contract via an Amazon Alexa or equivalent digital personal assistant. So, while some concerns have been expressed about the use of digital assistants for insurance purposes – insurers such as Zurich and Allianz do offer information via Siri, Alexa et al but have drawn the line at contract finalisation due to legal worries – it seems that this is the general direction of travel for consumers.
“The increasing digital habits of our customers demand such service adjustments,” said Dr Knoll, speaking at the recent Insurtech Connect event in Las Vegas. “This will change the industry sustainably.”