Customer Experience: this is the theme of the Open-F@b Call4Ideas 2016 launched by BNP Paribas Cardif in collaboration with InsuranceUp and Polihub of Milan. Now in its third edition, the contest features an important update: it is now open to all European startups, freelance developers and professionals, students and technology providers who have an idea or a project to redefine every stage of the customer experience journey with an insurance company.
Applications will be accepted until October 17.
To participate, you must fill out the online form on InsuranceUp’s dedicated page.
The new contest call was announced in advance at Viva Technology in Paris: 45,000 attendees, 5,000 startups and the presence of world leaders in digital technology (IBM, Facebook, Google, AOL and Amazon). With a 500 square metre stand, the BNP Paribas Group had a notable presence at the event, which was sponsored by several banking and insurance groups, as well as by at least 50 startups. During Viva Technology, Thibault Schlaeppi (Head of Startups for BNP Paribas Cardif) announced the international opening of Open-F@b Call4Ideas 2016. The Italian contest call is linked to a comprehensive open innovation strategy that the group is adopting on a global level and which, through its own dedicated website at OpenUp, allows startups to get in touch with BNP Group managers who deal with innovation and digital transformation – this platform is also available as an app from the Apple Store and Google Play.
► FOCUS OF THE CALL: CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Following IoT, Big Data and Customer Acquisition in previous editions of the Call4Ideas (2014 and 2015), this new contest tackles a hugely important issue for all consumer business organisations, and in particular the insurance sector: Customer Experience, a relationship between the brand and client which has been distorted by widespread digital usage. As often mentioned on InsuranceUp – the InsuranceUp website created by EconomyUp to share information about the huge transformations in the insurance industry – technological evolution (whether wearable devices, big data, the IoT or driverless cars) is having a disruptive effect on insurance companies, above all because it revolutionises the way in which the client interacts with the company.
This industry, worth almost 4 trillion Euro according to the most reliable estimates, is increasingly aware that it needs to innovate itself and respond to emerging new risks and new demands: Cyber security, robotics, sharing economy, climate change. Startups have responded with greater effectiveness to changes in technology, lifestyle and ways of accessing services. In the United States – which continues to be the biggest and most dynamic insurancetech market – large investments have been made in technology companies that have revolutionised the customer journey using sophisticated analytical software and innovative algorithms. The list is getting longer and longer: Oscar Health, Lemonade, Clover Health, Embroker, Trov, Quilt, Bright Health, Next Insurance, Zenefits and Policy Genius. These have all developed very sophisticated and data-driven proprietary technologies. And, aside from differences in focus and business models, they do so with the same objective: to revolutionize the relationship between the insurance company and the client, bringing clarity, transparency, speed and digitalisation. But, above all, they do so to win over the emerging target: Millennials of today who, as reported in the World Insurance Report from Capgemini, are dissatisfied with their relationship with insurance companies.
► PURPOSE OF THE CONTEST CALL
Open-F@b Call4Ideas 2016 aims to identify digital services that will improve the relationship with the client and the Customer Experience through each stage of the process (pre-sales, sales, after-sales/care). In particular, the contest is aimed at discovering the most innovative ideas, projects, apps and prototypes that will have an impact on one of the following three areas of digital and technological innovation:
• innovative use of social networks;
• digital services which compliment insurance products;
• use of gamification
With particular emphasis on the following insurance industry categories:
• family protection;
• home protection;
• health protection;
• mobility protection, in every sense of the word
Applications will be accepted until October 17. To participate, you must fill out the online form on InsuranceUp’s dedicated page (link)
► WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
The competition is aimed at individuals or legal entities who are resident and/or have their business and headquarters in one of the European Union’s member states (hereinafter known as “Participants” or individually as “Participant”). In particular, the competition is aimed at:
• individuals who have developed even just one innovative idea in the sectors outlined above;
• developers and software companies which are already working on the submitted project (even if only at the testing stage);
• startups operating in the Hi-Tech sector (established within the previous 5 years) which promotes innovative projects in the sectors described above;
• technology providers already operating in the market for some time but potentially suitable for a spin-off with innovative projects in the specific sectors mentioned.
► THE PRIZE
Winning participants will receive managerial and R&D support from BNP Paribas Cardif to accelerate the achievement of their business goals, such as through the creation of a POC (proof of concept) or through marketing support for the project in Italy or abroad.
Projects submitted to the competition, will be judged by a committee comprising of BNP Paribas Group executives and academic experts in the field of digital technologies who will select up to 10 finalist projects.
For more information, visit the contest page or download the regulations .
