What has legal protection got to offer the insurtechs?

ARAG has done a succession of deals with new partners in the insurtech sector, but what does the legal expenses provider have to offer these innovative start-ups that is so attractive?

It’s hard to open a magazine (well… email) these days, without seeing the word ‘insurtech’. 

There’s certainly a buzz around the term. Even just the names of some of the businesses have the air of innovation about them: Neos, Homelyfe, Cuvva, Dinghy et al.

But, as is so often the case, the term 'insurtech' covers a multitude of innovations. Some are more concerned with how insurance is bought and sold. For others, technology offers a key to managing risk or reducing the impact of claims.

So, how does ARAG fit into all of this, and why are we doing so many deals with insurtech businesses.

First and foremost, ARAG offers flexibility. The legal expenses sector never used to be known for it’s innovation, with providers competing largely on price to deliver a one-size-fits-all, take-it-or-leave-it solution.

The stack-it-high-sell-it-cheap proposition still dominates the market, but it simply doesn’t work for most insurtech businesses, that need legal expenses and assistance solutions that fit perfectly with their products, policyholders and business models.

For Neos, the insurer that uses “smart home” technology to help either prevent claims or reduce their impact, the flexibility needed was all around the claims process and how ARAG’s home assistance service could integrate seamlessly into their operations to help lessen the cost of claims by minimising the damage that incidents might cause.

Another quality that insurtech business often look far is agility. It’s one thing to be able to tailor our products to the needs of our clients but, if it took us 12 months to get our operational or IT ducks in a row, then most start-ups will have long since walked away.

Our products have their own technological innovations too. Many brokers and their clients have been surprised by the sophistication of our ARAG Legal Services website with its digital legal document building tools for personal policyholders and businesses.

But ARAG’s recent successes in the insurtech sector are actually the product of something we’ve been doing since day one, which is building products that work for our partners and their clients and not trying to sell them a product that just works for us.