The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world's largest and most influential tech event, showcasing the latest innovations and trends in various sectors, including mobility, health, entertainment, and more. As an independent insurance agent, you might wonder what CES 2024 has to do with your business. The answer: a lot.

New Tech Trends

CES 2024, which took place in Las Vegas from January 9-12, featured several trends that could impact the insurance industry and your customers. Here are some of the highlights and how they relate to insurance:

• Mobility

  How we travel distances near and far is changing rapidly, driven by environmental concerns, technological advances, urbanization, and consumer preferences. For example, electric vehicles are becoming more popular and affordable, autonomous vehicles are being tested and deployed (Is there insurance coverage available yet for flying cars?), and micro-mobility options are expanding. Mobility has implications for insurance, such as changing risk profiles, customer needs, and pricing models. Are insurers ready for the future of mobility? explores how insurers can adapt to the new mobility ecosystem and serve climate-conscious, tech-savvy customers. In recent years, we've seen new automotive insurance products, including rideshare gap coverage, pay-as-you-drive (aka usage-based insurance), and telematics devices that receive personalized driving feedback or reward safe driving behaviors. What impact will new forms of transportation have on how you find coverage for your customers?

• Generative AI

  The latest artificial intelligence tools can create new content, such as images, text, audio, or video, based on existing data. For example, generative AI tools like ChatGPT can produce realistic faces of people who don't exist, write catchy slogans for marketing campaigns, or compose original music; it’s likely some of the content used to promote CES 2024 was created with the assistance of AI software. Generative AI has many applications for insurance, such as personalizing customer interactions, generating claims reports, creating customized products, and detecting fraud. Generative AI for Insurance Claims and Its Use Cases discusses how generative AI can help insurers streamline claims processing, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce costs. Users of Applied Marketing Automation® may be familiar with our newest feature, Content Assist, which can help you craft engaging, technically sound emails to insureds.

• Healthcare

  Products and services that aim to improve people's physical and mental well-being, such as wearable devices, fitness apps, telemedicine platforms, and more, were a major focus at CES 2024, as the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of staying healthy and resilient. CES 2024: 5 Top Health Tech Trends highlights innovations that can help people monitor their health, prevent diseases, and manage chronic conditions. Withings® introduced a new device at CES combining a thermometer, ECG heart monitor, blood oxygen scanner, and stethoscope. From expanding life expectancy with greater access to health data for scientific analysis to curing cancers by discovering new antibiotics through generative AI, innovations will change how long we live and work, significantly impacting the insurance industry.

• Smart Homes

  New products and services shown at CES enable people to control and automate their home appliances, security systems, lighting, heating, and more, using voice, touch, or remote commands. The smart home is a growing trend at CES 2024, as the tech industry aims to make homes more convenient, comfortable, and connected. The best smart home tech at CES 2024 features smart home devices that can make life easier and safer, such as the Samsung® Bot Handy, a robot that can help with household chores, and the Ring® Always Home Cam, a drone that can patrol your home when you are away. Insurers would be wise to keep tabs on how new smart home devices impact policies or may even require new insurance policies for homeowners and renters.

The Behind-the-Scenes Actor Fueling AI

One thread interwoven within each of the above narratives is the reliance each has on data. You’ve likely seen the autonomous vehicle training videos highlighting the massive amounts of data generated per second to ensure safety during autonomous vehicle operation, allusions to the incredible troves of data required to train large language models (LLMs) that power generative AI chatbots, or the unique and personal data acquired by worn health sensors and home devices meant to assist and benefit our daily lives.

Data underpins all of AI. Without data, artificial intelligence wouldn’t be possible. Data is the input source AI needs to learn, make decisions and provide insights. The quality and quantity of data directly impact the accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness of AI solutions. Regardless of the form – text, images, numbers, etc., data serves as the foundational basis for which artificial intelligence identifies patterns, makes predictions, and executes decisions. Therefore, the connection between data and AI is inseparable and fundamental to the realization of artificial intelligence capabilities.

Preparing for 2024 and Beyond

As an independent insurance agent, you need to stay on top of these and other trends shaping the future of insurance. CES is just one avenue for you to gain valuable insights into the emerging technologies and customer expectations that will affect your business. It's important to state that passively absorbing this information is only part of preparing for the future of insurance. Even more crucial is reaching out to your insureds and understanding their needs.

Use this combined knowledge to differentiate yourself from your competitors, offer innovative solutions to your clients, and grow your revenue.

Contact us to learn how we can create incredible power and value for your agency to be Your Indispensable Growth Partner today and in the future.