The UK may be labelled as a nation of pet lovers with four legged friends growing in numbers since the pandemic started. For sheer numbers of pets the US is a bigger market which is attracting UK investors and insurtechs.

"JAB Holding has tightened its grip on the booming US pet care industry with a $1.4bn investment in Fairfax Financial Holdings’ pet insurance business, a week after US regulators raised concerns about the European private equity firm’s growing influence in the American veterinary market. JAB has acquired stakes in two companies from Fairfax, taking over its interests in Crum & Forster Pet Insurance Group and Pethealth in a deal announced on Monday."

Financial Times 20th June, 2022

In the UK, a newish entrant to the market is shaking up staid incumbent insurers. ManyPets, unencumbered by legacy technology and having many other lines of business to sell, worked from the customer backwards. Not only providing cover for pets to suit different personas and budgets but also adding other services. Recently they bought one of only two companies in the UK licensed to issue and deliver drugs for pets. Rather than have to visit their local vets, pet owners can now have the medication delivered to the door for convenience and good value.

In the UK ManyPets ranks higher than other traditional insurers for its digital transformation maturity. Altus, a well-respected consultancy in financial services, measures the digital maturity of insurers across 19 characteristics and overall there is work to be done as you can see.

Quote and Buy excellent but mid-term adjustments and renewals lag far behind. 

ManyPets however, shines out as an exemplar in digital transformation outcomes  AND achieves the highest customer satisfaction awarded by the independent Institute of Customer Service.

Compare that to the gorilla in the market (obviously not covered by ManyPets) PetPlan with less than half the score.

PetPlan falls behind particularly in the claims area and that might be understandable as most incumbent insurers have had to focus on auto and home for digital claims transformation.

ManyPets is active in the US as well as Europe so incumbent pet insurers best look out for competition. If their core systems are holding them back they can look to the new generation of native cloud, API rich, micro-services driven platforms like EIS and Genasys. And for claims platforms with similar architecture RightIndem.

Pet owners demand the best for their loved animals and insurers should do the same when it comes to technology. Platforms as agile, responsive and flexible as pets with people that show a similar level of commitment and passion as pet owners. 

PS- the Altus DigitalBar covers motor, home, gadget, short-term car cover, travel and bicycle lines of business so if you want to compare yourself as an insurers against the top scores you can get a 14 day free trial. 

Drop me a line to mike.daly@altus.co.uk so you can see I am biased but it really is the only inter-insurer comparison for insurer digital maturity