Product innovation with Munich Re
New solutions for changing customer demand: innovation is the driving force for new business
properties.trackTitle
properties.trackSubtitle
New products for new everyday realities
Medical advances, new technologies and trends in society are changing our everyday realities. Individual risks are consequently shifting – and so are people’s insurance needs.
For insurers, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity, as only those that have the right solutions in their portfolios will remain competitive and profitable. We can support you with this: on a partnership basis, with great expertise, concepts fit for the future, and shared risk.
Co-creation – from idea to product launch
Innovation is integrated into our system – when developing products, we think things through with you from the end customers’ perspective. How do they live? What risks are of concern to the target group, what channels do they get their information from, and what product profile is best suited to them?
We find the answers to these questions together and in an agile way. To do this, we rely on an approach that is both experimental and exploratory, developing products iteratively and without any fixed expectations as to the results. In this way, we avoid wasted investments and help you make a success of the product innovations created: from initial idea to product design and pricing, and on to implementation and the training of your employees.
Our innovation process
Click to explore more about the different stages
Back to overview
Discover & Ideate
Deliverables
- Validated problem statement for defined customer segment
- Solution idea and customer value proposition
- Business model sketch incl. market potential
- Strategic Fit for Munich Re Innovation
Duration & Team Setup
-
1-2 months
-
Min. 1 driver
Example
Before coming up with new business ideas, we usually identify areas of opportunity which fit strategically and have good potential. However, for some ideas we started searching a defined area and came up with completely different ideas. For example, when ideating in the area of “NextGen Farming”, we ended up with a promising idea for carbon markets. So, even at the ideation phase, we can pivot as we learn within our strategic guard rails.
Back to overview
Explore & Prototype
Deliverables
- Validated customer problem / need
- Customer-validated proposition or prototype
- Validated business model (revenue side)
- Approved ‚build‘ strategy
Duration & Team Setup
-
3-4 month
-
3+ team members
Example
With a validated problem statement for a defined customer segment we enter Explore and Prototype phase. Climate Risk Score for example is a software solution that forecasts the impact climate change will have on physical assets like homes, factories, offices and bridges etc. The challenge was to identify the customer group which has a real need for the solution and develop a marketable proposition. During customer interviews the team realized, that they had to focus on the biggest challenges and pains customers faced while assessing their organisation’s climate risks in order to build the right features and tailor the solution that customers love and wanted to pay for. After the clear definition of the target segments, sales were scaled through partnerships.
Back to overview
Build (MVP & Pilot)
Deliverables
- MVP built
- Successfully customer-tested MVP
- Validated business and operating model (cost side)
- Go-to-market developed
Duration & Team Setup
-
9-18 months
-
3-5+ team members
Example
The ultimate goal of this phase is a minimum viable product (MVP) that has been tested and approved by real (paying) customers. While the “DRIVE – Risk Management” team had by now completed the MVP, it still lacked a sound customer validation and any “signed” pilot customers. In order to gain valuable customer insights, we provided the team with an experienced sales professional who reached out to new customer segments, helped set up a sales funnel, optimised the conversion rate and led to the generation of written LoIs (Letters of intent).
Back to overview
Launch
Deliverables
- Ability to acquire & activate customers
- Demonstrated conversion into revenue-generating customers
- Profitability of business model (unit economics)
Duration & Team Setup
-
> 12 months
-
Team of 5-7 core team members and extended members (business orientated)
Example
Once our innovation ventures have successfully proven themselves with pilot customers, they are ready to be marketed. “Remote Industries”, for example, aims to help insurers settle homeowner claims faster and better after a hurricane. This AI-based tool suite received great feedback from pilot clients, and the team felt ready to launch. However, as the team spoke to potential clients during the sales process, they identified an interest in having the video inspection module available outside the hurricane tool suite. Being agile, the team quickly began to develop the remote-inspection video tool as a stand-alone product that would allow insurers to inspect, report and settle claims in real time.
Back to overview
Monetise & Scale
Deliverables
- Ability to retain customers
- Ability to optimise growth model
- Operating efficiency
Duration & Team Setup
-
Team of 5-7 core team members and extended members (business orientated)
Example
After a successful market entry, business models have to grow continuously. In 2016, Munich Re established its own global start-up called Digital Partners, with the stated aim of disrupting the insurance business. Today DP is no longer a start-up. It is a known player in the ecosystem, providing insurtechs and digital distributors with a comprehensive, go-to market partnership, built on the financial strength and expertise of Munich Re.
Innovation on demand: Munich Re product concepts
Risk levels and client requirements are subject to change. That’s why we’re constantly developing new products. Our goal is to create long-term security. So we’re always questioning the status quo. We identify changes to our clients’ needs, respond promptly and find new solutions to handle new risks. We work with our clients to create security – by developing products that are flexible, fair, transparent and easily accessible.
The scope of options ranges from preconfigured to customised. We are also happy to support you with strategic new developments and tailor the product design to your requirements – for example to sales targets, margin expectations or rating requirements. In addition, we offer modular and flexible product solutions featuring occupation-specific and interest-specific benefit modules, for example, or flexibly modifiable levels of protection.
Product developments
Product concepts
Product co-creation
- New tariffs and improvements for your established products to help give you a competitive edge
- Addition of features and modules
Customised to your specific requirements, for example in relation to
- sales goals
- sales requirements
- target groups
- expected margins
- competitive environment
- etc.
- Munich Re’s global product expertise is used to provide you with new plug&play solutions
- 80%–90% already developed (target groups, marketing strategy, benefit triggers, risk premiums, UW and claims requirements)
- Sufficient flexibility to adapt to your brand and your sales channel
- Open innovative thinking starting with the end customer
using tried and tested methods - Transforming ideas into concepts and then into products, providing you with guidance and support in the process (if required)
- Collaborating with Munich Re experts, sharing perspectives and utilising our wide-ranging expertise and know-how
3 reasons to develop new products with Munich Re
