As it suggested by recent meetings in Davos (World Economic Forum) and several authors (Tapscott, Mougayar, Schwab, Swan) Blockchain is a technology placed at the center of the fourth industrial revolution (along with other aspects such as artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing). This can have special repercussions in a field in which -being based on the trust and the institutionalization of the relations- tends to the prudence in its behavior. However, the Internet has already generated a different logic in different levels of insurance industry, from management, to the relationship with customers. Until then, in this field there was a business model strongly constituted for years, with little variation, both over time and its business manifestations.
Given the scenario that opens Blockchain, insurance companies can opt for various action alternatives, from leading their application in the sector, to turning their back on this technology, under the argument that is a kind of fashion. In the way, a whole range of potential behaviors, including letting the startups open the door and lead the process to which, perhaps later, they incorporate, either imitating successful startups, either by acquiring and incorporating them to the insurance business corporation. Of course, the position that insurance company will have at the end of such a process will vary depending on the decisions made in the present. Some decisions are framed in a perspective on what Blockchain means in particular and innovation in general, in tandem with the culture of the company. Hence, when addressing the perception of this technology and the possibilities of development in the field of insurance, not only addresses the potential incorporation of a technology that appears called to change the dominant logic in the field itself, but we enter in the sector's attitudes toward innovation, after the Internet great transformation experienced.
It should be noted that Blockchain's development in the field of insurance goes hand in hand with what is being done or can be carried out in other fields, such as the management of health services, where important projects already exist on Blockchain: payment models, models of patient care, organizational models and the first demands for regulatory adaptation in this regard. Not to mention the wide acceptance that this technology is having in the financial field, where different dynamics of cooperation are being articulated - to work on common standards, to establish synergies between technological companies and banks - and between traditional financial entities and new Fintech.
The advantages of Blockchain have been widely disseminated. In fact, the network of propagandists of this technology has only expanded to the core of the European Union, where the European Blockchain Observatory is being created (proposals called for the Observatory and European Forum of Blockchain in July 2017). Cost savings, greater efficiency, greater transparency or more effective in the fighting against fraud are some of the advantages of Blockchain, of which the insurance sector can take advantage of.
In this context, the concrete objectives of this proposal are:
- To know the attitude of the Spanish insurance industriy towards organizational and technological innovation.
- To define the degree of knowledge of this technology
- To know the availability of the sector to the application of this technology: What are the main arguments in favor and against for its development in the Spanish insurance sector?
- To observe the type of factors (cognitive, organizational, emotional, etc.) that take greater weight to favor the development of this technology in the insurance company or to oppose it.
- To carry out a predictive analysis of the consequences of the application of this technology in the sector: What dimensions of the insurance operation would benefit and which would be harmed by the potential development of this technology?
- To define the situation of the sector with respect to the concept of decentralization: Is it perceived that insurance companies can face the logic of decentralization proposed by Blockchain? Has not the insurance field been decentralized in any way, from the number of networks of agents? Would it be something of the same; but now without personal agents? Would it be something else?
- To observe the approach of collaborative policies of the sector with other sectors. Given the logic of Blockchain technology, which opens the possibility of joint developments with other sectors or industries, if its development dominates a unisectorial perspective or a multisectoral perspective, in alliance or not with other sectors.
- Supposing that the development of this technology in the insurance sector as a framework, what would be the best strategy for its progressive implementation? Competitive implementation? Negotiation for a standards agreement and / or shared knowledge?
- To know the degree of availability to perform product/concept test, as an indicator of sensitivity to innovation.
Given the dynamic nature of the research object, with potential transformation of perceptions and attitudes towards Blockchain technology, it is proposed to approach it in an evolutionary way, gathering the information over a period of six months.
A Delphi panel of personal qualitative interviews on two rounds -separated six months from one to other- is proposed. Repeating the same design each wave:
- 10 interviews with senior executives - with a certain capacity to influence company policy - of the main insurance companies present in Spain (255 entities in 2014, according to the Insurance and Pension Fund Report 2014 by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness).
- 10 interviews with technology or innovation leaders from insurance companies present in Spain.
Therefore, a total of 40 interviews (2 rounds per 10 + 10) would be carried out, which would produce a sufficient discursive material and, more important, allowing to observe the variations in that discourse as the Blockchain phenomenon is extended. The interview aimed to get the research objectives will have a guideline with special emphasis on the pros and cons regarding the adoption of this technology by the sector:
PROS:
- Cost savings
- Speed up and standardization of transactions (Smart contracts)
- Fight against fraud in the sector
- Increase in management efficiency (contracting, claims, etc.)
- Increased transparency in relationship with customers and suppliers.
CONS:
- For a type of business that is based on trust, it may be difficult to admit that "the trust is in the network".
- There are still few experiences.
- It is still underdeveloped technologically and can be "paid the defects and failures that are being found"
- Regulation lack Lack.
- Security
- Transition / implantation costs
- Phase of discussion / negotiation of standards
- Knowledge for implementation lack.
- Interoperability
- Integration with existing systems
- Visibility of returns lack.
- Emotional dimensions for resistance to Blockchain: fears, expectations or ways to deal with disruption.