Accenture executive: Why I think the global insurance industry will embrace blockchain technology

Abizer Rangwala, managing director at Accenture, recently published an article detailing why he believes the insurance industry will embrace blockchain technology “in the coming years.”

Abizer Rangwala, who focuses on insurance IT strategy for professional services firms, expects the technology to “have a profound impact on the insurance business” and says that in his view, that impact has already begun.

Rangwala wrote:

“I think the insurance industry is watching blockchain technology and slowly figuring out what the real business applications or to some extent the actual use cases of blockchain are. I have no doubt that in the next few years, blockchain technology will become a mainstream technology in the insurance ecosystem.”

Some major insurance companies have already begun exploring proofs of concept based on blockchain technology. Last year, insurer Lloyd’s of London said it supported the use of the technology in the London market.

Rangwala said that blockchain technology does have many advantages, and he specifically listed the following four advantages in the article:

1. Security is one of the biggest reasons why many companies invest in blockchain research. The nature of blockchain as a distributed database makes it difficult to be modified unilaterally.

2. Trust is another important feature of blockchain. Blockchain provides transparency and faithfully records the history of a contract or a transaction.

3. Transactions are more direct. Transactions on the blockchain are conducted by the parties themselves, without the intervention of a third party or central agency as a middleman. It can be more open or more private, depending on how people use it.

4. Efficiency. Blockchain makes the execution of contracts or transactions faster and the cost is lower than regular business transactions, providing a good idea for companies to streamline business processes.

Rangwala said that specific blockchain products applied to the insurance industry may not appear in the short term, but we can get a glimpse of what these products may look like in the future from related products in some other markets, such as the operation of the P2P market.

"The impact of blockchain technology on insurance products is still unclear and may take longer to manifest than its impact on banks. Blockchain technology will increase the speed of contract execution. For example, the timestamp feature of blockchain can improve individual contracts to reflect actual risks, such as on-demand car insurance (the contract is only valid while the vehicle is in motion)."

Previously, Accenture has also published some research reports on blockchain technology to encourage financial companies to embrace blockchain technology, and in July this year, it announced that it would accept Bitspark into its financial technology accelerator program in the Asia-Pacific region.

The company also called on regulators to strengthen supervision of Bitcoin wallets and called for the establishment of "reasonable and balanced" rules to manage Bitcoin wallets. Accenture said in a submission to the British government that overly harsh regulations could "stifle innovation."

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/accenture-blockchain-major-technology-insurers/
By Stan Higgins
Translator: printemps
Editor: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/aisenzhe)