An official of a digital insurance provider, Gigacover, maintained that with the explosion of digitization, Filipinos should take the decisive step in securing innovative insurance to protect their lives.

Insurtech, a combination of the words "insurance" and "technology," refers to the use of technology innovations designed to find cost savings and efficiency from the current insurance industry model.

And as the insurance industry is said to be ripe for innovation and disruption, Amerson Lin, co-founder, and CEO of Gigacover, stressed in Gising Na!, Daily Tribune's morning show online, that it's about time that insurers should pivot and embrace technology, as insurtech can make insurance smaller and easier to manage.

"I think it will benefit the protection levels in the Philippines because current models of insurance and the products are targeted at maybe the upper-income classes of the society, and that's because they are larger, they cover for more losses, they are more expensive. So, the first step is to make insurance more accessible and affordable. So, in terms of affordability that brings the size of the policies smaller by coverage and by maybe duration. It is what we call micro or mini-insurance. So, it becomes more affordable for the everyday person to get protected," he said.

Further, he said that the new product can improve the level of penetration of Filipinos who have insurance policies, which according to records, is currently 3 percent of the total population.

Accessibility key to sales

"The second part is accessibility where you can purchase very easily when you feel like you have risk. It's the option available for you to buy immediately. So, I think Insuretech can do these two. It can make insurance smaller because it's all digital, it's easier to manage, and it can also make it more accessible," according to Lin.

"I believe InsureTech is one of the keys to unlocking higher insurance levels of penetration," he stated.

Also, Lin referred to various trends that are currently sprouting in the insurance industry, namely microinsurance; embedded insurance that can be purchased within the commercial transaction of another product or service; on-demand insurance that allows policies to be purchased online without directly interacting with a broker or a company representative; and the digital insurance.