The insurance market continues to be a mess – plain and simple. More and more carriers are dropping customers or pulling out of states entirely for new business. This not only results in increased premiums for consumers, it also creates a major supply problem of choice for consumers. It’s crazy that in this day and age, consumers are finding they can’t get auto or homeowners insurance – especially considering that these types of insurance are required to drive a car or secure a mortgage to own a home. 

So just why is this happening?

Climate change and the impact of more frequent and increasingly severe natural disasters have received much attention as the root cause. There are certain states such as Florida that bear the brunt and make the loss ratios daunting for insurers. So many are forced to make a business decision and remove themselves from the loss-making markets. That’s what is most widely talked about. What is not discussed, and what I believe to be the fundamental problem of the insurance supply problem, is just the sheer challenge and complexity of updating and bringing new insurance products to market or rapidly updating them once in market – and then to make things even more complex, launching them digitally so that consumers have the experience they need and want  for buying insurance and claims.

Not to take away from the impact of climate change, however I believe all the mess in the insurance market is just the symptom of not being able to react fast enough to volatility in a changing market. The status quo of the insurance industry no longer works as it has for the past 20 years because it’s too complex and is more volatile than ever. There is one primary pain point that fundamentally needs to change to make things less complex: The plumbing and pricing of the insurance industry.

Getting to the bottom of rate service organizations

Despite the complexities – and inadequacies – of the infrastructure that stands up parts of the  insurance industry, there are carriers and consumer brands that still want to meet the insurance needs of consumers. The problem is that it’s time consuming and requires a huge investment to get started. It currently takes about three years to get most programs up and running, and if every organization that wants to launch a new insurance program had to stand in line to get their product filings and rates approved on an individual basis, it would take even longer. And, again, that’s to say nothing of pairing it with modern technology that allows for truly digital sales and distribution.

That’s where rate service organizations (RSOs) come into play. At the base of building many  insurance programs are RSOs, which provide the architectural plans of an insurance program and are a helpful step to bring programs to market. There are a handful of legacy providers and they are all incredibly slow, costly, and difficult to pull into a digitally native world of insurance. 

RSOs have been a consistent part of the ecosystem because they have policies and rates that are already approved by regulators. That’s why adopters (e.g., insurance carriers, MGAs, and consumer brands) work with them for pre-approved insurance policies. Here’s the thing, though: It still takes a really long time to get to market and it comes at a hefty cost. It also means there are too many additional steps, costs, and complexities to launch these programs digitally. 

According to our recent 2024 State of Digital Insurance Report, 75% of insurance industry decision-makers said their companies spend at least $1 million annually on RSOs and over 50% of those spend $5 million or more every year to get their insurance programs off the ground. Many reported even spending $10 million or more, which is just adding friction to the process of getting consumers more insurance options!  

Between time, cost, and never ending technology integrations, it’s not surprising that over 70% of survey respondents feel that RSOs require a massive amount of effort to get insurance programs off the ground as well as maintain and launch digitally. With limited options available, companies have been forced to deal with the legacy solutions for far too long. As one survey respondent shared, “We have determined there is nothing much better out there.” It sounds like people have just given up hope.

How Anywhere fits 

With only a paltry 12% of RSO customers very satisfied with their existing RSOs or ones they are evaluating, it’s clear that steps need to be taken to make the process of launching and maintaining new insurance programs less complex and faster.  Decades old infrastructure is not capable of keeping up with the needs of present day carriers and brands that are looking to extend insurance options to consumers. Anywhere Insurance was purpose-built to fit this need – and born from over a decade of experience working with our insurance industry partners to fully understand the limitations and hurdles that exist.

Anywhere Insurance combines two steps of the RSO process into one — something that has never been done before. It significantly shortens the amount of time it takes to launch new insurance programs by taking the plans for an insurance product and combining them with the industry leading Software-as-a-Service platform that already runs the most successful digital insurance experiences. In this way, a three year process becomes a three month process and turns the process into one that is delightful for customers and disrupts the status quo. 

Anywhere has created a solution to avoid the long timeline and the headaches associated with bringing to market new insurance products, launching them digitally, and then worrying about ongoing maintenance. Carriers, MGAs, and brands will no longer need to contract several consulting firms, invest in a lot of heavy IT integration work, or manage 30 different software vendors just to wait three years to get to market. A tale that many continue to face. 

Anywhere bridges the gap by being the modern layer in between the monopoly RSO incumbents and all the necessary integrations thereafter. It is packaged to provide the most seamless route avoiding the pain and the antiquated processes of the  existing solution – a truly plug-and-play solution that automates these repeatable, time consuming steps. 

Unlocking supply for the insurance industry and consumers

In developing Anywhere, our whole thesis has been that if we can eliminate all of the friction of launching new insurance programs digitally – if we can make it faster and also far better – we can help with the supply problem in the insurance market. It’s really quite simple: If you can make it easier and faster, more insurance products can get to market. What’s more, if you can make it easier and faster, more players will emerge with that supply and the market will become more efficient for consumers. 

The insurance industry is failing consumers, and there is an inherent need at the core of the industry to modernize. By reinventing how insurance products are combined with technology platforms, Anywhere is changing the way the  insurance industry accelerates solutions for consumers and insurance carriers.