ERGO backs IoT technologies as the risk minimisers of the future / nexsurance will in future be the central platform for all of the insurer’s tech offerings

As part of a rebranding operation, ERGO’s digital sales platform innosure.me recently became nexsurance. The name change and further development of the platform are an integral part of the insurer’s new strategic orientation announced at the end of 2020. With Ambition 2025, the company has set itself the ambitious goal of making ERGO one of the leading digital insurance companies. In line with this aspiration, nexsurance will in future back IoT (Internet of Things) innovations to manage risks.
 

At the beginning of 2018, ERGO launched innosure.me – the first pure testing platform for innovative insurance products. The platform has since been used to market-test new types of insurance, such as eGamer insurance and wedding insurance. With the relaunch of nexsurance, the strategic focus is now on risk-preventing – mostly IoT-based – products and services. The first of these is a product bundle based on bicycle theft insurance.

“IoT technologies are the risk minimisers of the future. Through nexsurance, we’re offering policies under which digital sensors reduce the risk of loss – which is to the customer’s benefit”, stresses Mark Klein, Chief Digital Officer and Chairman of the Board of Management of ERGO Digital Ventures AG. “An important cornerstone of our digital ambition is the further development of innovative business models, which means that nexsurance is an important building block in shaping the future of insurance.”

The new bicycle product bundle is the starting point. It combines traditional bicycle theft insurance with risk-minimising technology such as a smart lock or a GPS tracker. The clever thing here is that the customer can buy both things – insurance and technology – directly at the checkout and, in so doing, get a discount of up to 40% on the insurance premium, compared with buying just the insurance.

“The focused orientation on the development of bundled products underscores our aspiration to become a risk manager rather than a risk insurer. We don’t just want to be there when there’s a loss – thanks to new technologies, we don’t want a loss to occur in the first place”, adds Gregor Wiest, Head of Innovation & Digital Transformation at the ERGO Group. “In future, we’ll bundle all of ERGO’s tech offerings in nexsurance. This is our testing platform to be fast and flexible, and be able to experiment. Thanks to cross-functional teams and our own IT platform, we’re now developing new products here in only six weeks.”

Along with the rebranding, we are also implementing a completely new portfolio management system, including the introduction of conversion-optimised completion routes. To achieve this, ERGO is relying on cooperation with tech11, and thus on the expertise of an innovative German technology start-up.

For more information, go to https://www.nexsurance.de/Fahrradversicherung.