Wearable devices (those worn by consumers as accessories or implants), have been of interest to more than a handful of industries in recent years. The opportunities and possible uses so far seem positive and limitless.
For a few years now, John Hancock has offered its life insurance policyholders discounts on their premiums for visiting the doctor, working out, and buying healthy food at places like Walmart. Today, the Boston-based insurer is adding sleeping to that list. And meditating.
Digitization has spread to every aspect of our personal and professional lives - including, of course, the insurance industry. It affects all sorts of different areas: from interfaces with end-customers and brokers, to wearables like fitness trackers that are supposed to encourage customers to behave in a more self-aware way.
Some life insurers now use data from fitness trackers to lower premiums. But does a policyholder’s number of steps really improve his or her mortality? Despite the link between a sedentary life and the risk of heart disease or cancer being well known, there is no consensus on how many daily steps reduce this risk.
SCOR Global Life recently trialled wearable technology among its workforce. Here is what happened.
http://www.covermagazine.co.uk/cover/feature/2467421/wearable-technology...
Are the current wellness initiatives which centre on wearable technology the golden fleece that holds out the best prospect of delivering innovative, market-disrupting change to insurance markets on a global scale? Mr Richard Verdin of RGA UK Services Ltd explores.
http://www.rgare.com/knowledgecenter/Pages/wellness-wearables-and-univer...
Observers of John Hancock’s innovative program have focused on data collection, but Vitality shows how the Internet of Things supports the future of the life insurance customer relationship as a high-touch partnership of shared interest in the policyholder’s well-being.
http://iireporter.com/john-hancock-vitality-program-brooks-tingle-talks-...
Consumers in the US are showing a lot of enthusiasm for wearable devices. For example, US sales of connected wellness and personal health products and services are expected to exceed $8 billion by 2018, per Parks Associates research; more than 32 million U.S. consumers will actively track their personal health and fitness online or via mobile devices next year.
http://insuranceblog.accenture.com/the-possibilities-for-wearables-acros...