The use of digital certificate in contractual journeys shows how insurtechs and insurance Traditional companies rely on technology, trust, and compliance to evolve. Insurtechs are startups that apply technology to the insurance market to reduce bureaucracy, accelerate contracting and claims processing, personalize products, and improve the customer experience. They don't replace the entire traditional sector, but they put pressure on insurers to review processes, data, digital channels, and partnership models.
The digitization of insurance doesn't begin with the tool, but with the pain points of the journey. Lengthy forms, manual analysis, scattered documents, unclear communication, and in-person signatures increase friction for clients and internal teams. In this scenario, the... the digital and sustainable transformation It gains value when it eliminates repetitive steps without weakening governance, proof of consent, or document validity.
Summary
- Insurtechs use technology to simplify the contracting, underwriting, and management of policies and claims.
- The relationship with traditional insurance companies combines competition, partnership, and integration through APIs.
- Data governance, LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law), Susep (Brazilian Superintendence of Private Insurance) regulations, and digital security underpin responsible innovation.
- KPIs such as NPS, cost per policy, conversion rate, claims ratio, and fraud help measure results.
Quick facts
- According to susepOpen Insurance enables the secure, agile, accurate, and convenient sharing of information between authorized or accredited companies.
- A IAIS This document brings together digital innovation documents in insurance covering open data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics, and technology oversight.
- O Registration System It captures granular data from the supervised market and supports supervision and the provision of services to society.
How do insurtechs and traditional insurance companies compete?
Competition arises when an insurtech company offers simpler contracting, personalized pricing, digital channels, and fast service. Traditional insurers, on the other hand, preserve capital, actuarial history, brand, distribution network, and regulatory experience. The competitive advantage changes according to the product: on-demand insurance, embedded insurance, and microinsurance favor agility; complex portfolios require financial capacity and robust risk management.
According to OECDThe term "insurtech" describes new technologies with the potential to innovate the insurance sector and impact regulatory practices. This explains why the dispute is not just commercial. It also involves operational models, ethical use of data, auditability, and integration with digital ecosystems.
| Appearance | insurtechs | Traditional insurance companies |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | They test products and channels with short cycles. | They scale with structure, capital, and a consolidated network. |
| Data | They use alternative data, APIs, and automation. | They have an actuarial background and broad databases. |
| Risco | They need to demonstrate stability, safety, and regulatory compliance. | They need to modernize systems and reduce legacy issues. |
| Client | They prioritize digital experience and personalization. | They offer institutional trust and a broad portfolio. |
Partnership as a path to complementarity.
In practice, many insurance companies are no longer treating insurtechs merely as competitors, but are now using them as partners. An insurtech company can handle digital distribution, fraud analysis, onboarding, document signing, data intelligence, or claims automation. The insurance company retains its technical and regulatory capabilities, while the startup accelerates specific modules of the customer journey.
According to the BIS/FSIFintech innovations in insurance can generate efficiency, cost reduction, better risk assessment, improved customer experience, and financial inclusion, but they can also bring risks to consumers and market stability. Therefore, the partnership needs to have a well-defined scope, operational limits, indicators, and responsibilities.
What steps reduce risks in integration?
The first step is to map the complete journey: quotation, proposal, documentation, signature, payment, issuance, endorsement, and claim. Next, the company must define which steps will have API integration, what data will be processed, what evidence will be stored, and how legal review will occur. At this point, a good... Subscription API It helps connect systems without creating rework.
- Mapping the operational and legal pain points of the insurance journey.
- Define whether the partnership will be in distribution, technology, data, or operations.
- Validate requirements for SUSEP (Brazilian Superintendence of Private Insurance), LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law), information security, and auditing.
- Execute a controlled pilot with a defined audience, product, and metrics.
- Scale only after proving stability, conversion, and governance.
Data governance, LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law), and Open Insurance.
Insurance companies rely on sensitive, historical, financial, and behavioral data. As personalization increases, so does the need to explain purposes, legal bases, consents, retention, and sharing. LGPD in the signature And in digital workflows, this should be evident from the product design stage, not just as a later revision of the contract.
According to susepInitiatives such as the Regulatory Sandbox, Open Insurance, and the Operations Registration System are part of the agency's projects focused on innovation in the insurance market. The message is clear: innovation requires testing, quality data, internal controls, and attention to the consumer.
Open Insurance reinforces this logic by allowing consumers to share information securely and with consent among authorized participants. For insurers and insurtechs, this can facilitate comparison tools, personalized offers, portability, and digital services. However, interoperability only generates value when the company maintains... traceability andStrong authentication and clear contracts with technology partners.
Examples of responsible innovation in insurance.
On-demand insurance allows you to activate coverage for a specific period, event, trip, or use. AI-powered underwriting can analyze patterns to support pricing, risk assessment, and inconsistency identification. Meanwhile, embedded insurance integrates the purchase process into the buying flow of another service, such as mobility, credit, retail, or digital platforms.
A IAIS It highlights themes such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, open data, and big data analytics in insurance innovation. This advancement requires caution: automated models need human oversight, documentation, bias testing, explainability compatible with the use case, and dispute mechanisms for clients affected by automated decisions.
In contracts, proposals, and declarations, responsible innovation also requires evidence. legal validity With electronic documents, signatory authentication, action history, and secure storage reduce disputes. For insurance products, this supports sales, renewals, membership terms, notices, powers of attorney, and claims documents.
KPIs to measure competition, partnership, and scale.
Without indicators, innovation becomes mere perception. Insurance companies and insurtechs should compare the scenario before and after the pilot program, monitoring metrics of efficiency, revenue, risk, and experience. The analysis should consider the product, channel, customer profile, and regulatory complexity to avoid hasty conclusions about a technology still under validation.
| KPI | What does it measure? | Use in decision-making |
|---|---|---|
| Hiring time | Time between proposal and issuance. | Indicates a reduction in operational friction. |
| NPS | Customer perception of the experience. | It shows acceptance of the digital channel. |
| Cost per policy | Operating expenses per contract issued. | Evaluate efficiency and ROI. |
| Conversion rate | Proposals that became policies. | Indicates the offer's suitability. |
| Claims | Relationship between claims and premiums. | It protects the product's sustainability. |
| Fraud | Suspected or confirmed occurrences. | Supports validation adjustments and risk analysis. |
Check out these related articles as well:
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- Open Finance helps to contextualize the advancement of regulated open ecosystems.
Document security in the insurance journey
A digital insurance operation can have intelligent quoting and a good user experience, but it can fail if the documents are not reliable. Proposals, terms of agreement, consents, declarations, and communications need authorship, integrity, and event logging. Resources such as hash functionAuthentication, audit trails, and organized storage help protect the workflow.
O Registration System Susep works with granular data from the operations of the supervised market and supports supervisory activities and services to society. Although it has its own purpose, it reinforces a trend: the insurance market is moving towards more structured, verifiable, and useful records for analysis.
For legal teams, this connects to digital complianceThe hiring of an insurtech or technology provider should include provisions for SLAs, security, data handling, logs, contingency plans, auditing, sub-operators, responsibilities, and incident response processes. Responsible innovation means speed with control proportional to the risk.
Innovation in insurance requires control, partnership, and evidence.
Insurtechs broaden the sector's repertoire, while traditional insurers offer scale, capital, and regulatory expertise. The combination tends to be more productive when it starts from real pain points, uses controlled pilot programs, respects SUSEP (Brazilian Superintendence of Private Insurance) and LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law), measures KPIs, and maintains solid digital evidence. Thus, secure insurtechs It ceases to be merely a market dispute and becomes a model of responsible innovation. In this context, it is worth understanding the... How ZapSign works as a Certification Authority.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
An insurtech is a startup or technology company that applies digital solutions to the insurance market. It can operate in quoting, distribution, underwriting, fraud prevention, policy management, customer service, claims, or data analysis. The goal is usually to reduce bureaucracy, improve the customer experience, and create products that better suit the customer profile.
Not necessarily. Some compete directly in specific products, but many act as partners to insurance companies, brokers, and reinsurance companies. Insurtech companies can provide technology, digital channels, data analytics, or automation, while traditional insurers maintain financial capacity, regulatory structure, distribution network, and actuarial management.
The use of AI can improve risk analysis and efficiency, but it also requires control over biases, data quality, explainability, privacy, security, and human oversight. Automated decisions in hiring, pricing, or claims need to be documented and reviewed to reduce undue impacts on consumers.
The assessment should begin with the business problem, such as delays in issuing invoices, high operational costs, or low conversion rates. Then, the company should analyze API integration, security, data governance, regulatory compliance, contractual responsibilities, and key performance indicators (KPIs). A controlled pilot helps measure results before scaling.
Insurance operations may involve proposals, health or risk declarations, membership terms, consents, powers of attorney, endorsements, customer communications, and claims documents. In digital workflows, these files require integrity, authorship, event logging, and secure storage to support auditing and reduce disputes.
Getúlio Santos is the CEO of ZapSign, a lawyer, technology enthusiast, and entrepreneur.
