Get tracked, $ave money

That’s the idea, at least, as insurers meet the Internet of Things

By Tom Dennis

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Buy tech stocks.

Yes, yes, we know that faithful readers of Prairie Business will recognize those words, given that we used them to introduce a story as recently as last month. That story was on robotassisted surgery; this one is on insurance.

But the force at work in both fields is the same, and it is the the power of technology to upend entire industries. Take it from an editor who has watched technology change journalism forever: The same wave now is approaching insurance, and its power is starting to build.

Skeptical? Consider this from Fortune magazine, in a story that came out in September:

“John Hancock, one of the largest and oldest insurers in the United States. … has announced it will stop selling traditional life insurance and will only market interactive policies that record the exercise activities and data of health of its customers through wearables such as Fitbit or Apple Watch.”

It started with insurers collecting real-time data from cars.

If you plug the company’s Snapshot device into your car’s computer port (usually found under the steering wheel), then let Progressive Insurance monitor your driving habits for a few months, you could qualify for a discount that averages $130 a year, Progressive says on its website.

It’s spreading to include wearable technology such as Fitbits as well as smart-home equipment, such as smoke detectors that send alerts to customers’ phones.

And “it’s the way everything is going, where it’s all interconnected and data-related,” said Steve Becher, executive director of Professional Insurance Agents of North Dakota, a statewide association.

Take driverless cars, the technologies for which – such as back-up cameras and collision sensors – already are becoming common in vehicles.

“Will that mean the end of collision insurance, because presumably you’ll never have a collision?” Becher asked.

JON GODFREAD (SECOND FROM LEFT), NORTH DAKOTA INSURANCE COMMISSIONER, ATTENDS A MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS' INNOVATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY TASK FORCE, A GROUP FOR WHICH HE IS VICE CHAIR. THE TASK FORCE SPENDS A GREAT DEAL OF TIME DISCUSSING "INSURANCE AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS," GODFREAD SAYS. IMAGE: N.D. INSURANCE DEPARTMENT