The CEO of Gothaer sees the digital transformation of the insurer as a core element of his strategy.
Frankfurt According to experts, German insurers made progress in digitization during the corona crisis when it came to communicating with customers and organizing their business processes. However, there is often less time for the development of real innovations that displace existing products and services.
Oliver Schoeller, CEO of the Cologne-based insurance group Gothaer, also concedes this in an interview with the Handelsblatt: “We must and will now increase the speed again.”
The pressure is increasing, after all, new attackers are also on the rise in the insurance industry and are primarily attracting younger customers. The established players have to react.
Gothaer wants to attack on two points: In the health sector, there is a rapidly growing customer need for new solutions, for example in telemedicine or mental health, explains Schoeller. “Many of our competitors focus primarily on private customers, but we also offer ecosystems for the health of the workforce of our medium-sized customers.”
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And in the area of sustainability, Gothaer is convinced that the economy and society will change significantly on the way to CO2 neutrality in the next three years. The group, with annual premium income of more than 4.6 billion euros, is one of the market leaders in Germany in the insurance of renewable energies, especially wind turbines.
Gothaer now wants to make this know-how available to medium-sized customers who are in the middle of the green conversion. To this end, the company is currently building both digital and physical offerings in an ecosystem – for example in the area of energy efficiency in buildings, photovoltaics or the electrification of fleets, explains Schoeller.
Cooperation with start-ups is part of the strategy
But Gothaer doesn’t have to do everything itself. Schoeller also explores how the young attackers develop. “We work extensively with start-ups and sometimes also invest in them.”
The recently concluded cooperation with the start-up Flixcheck, for example, helps Gothaer to make customer communication “digitally simple with us”. The start-up from Essen makes it possible to exchange photos and information digitally in an uncomplicated and legally compliant manner.
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Investors are currently putting a lot of money into young, technology-driven start-ups – known as insurtechs in the insurance sector. According to the management consultancy WTW (formerly Willis Towers Watson), insurtechs collected 10.5 billion dollars worldwide in the first three quarters of 2021 – more than ever before.
While some observers are already talking about a bubble in view of the high financing rounds and valuations, Schoeller sees it differently, at least for the insurtechs: “There is significant growth in investments in the venture capital industry in insurtechs, with significantly increased individual volumes.”
That means: Although more money is flowing, investors are concentrating on a few start-ups. From the Gothaer boss’s point of view, it has now become clearer what works and what doesn’t. “More investments are also being made in more technology-intensive areas, especially artificial intelligence.”
In contrast to some international insurers such as Allianz and Munich Re, Gothaer does not want to set up its own venture capital platform. Schoeller sees greater potential for the group in cooperation with venture capitalists.
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