Digitalization in Insurance: How to Avoid Becoming the 'Deutsche Bahn' of Financial Services
Is your insurance company on track to become the next Deutsche Bahn—a reliable but perpetually delayed service in the eyes of its customers? Dr. Robin Kiera, founder and CEO of the consulting agency Digitalscouting, uses this provocative analogy to highlight the urgent need for digital acceleration in the insurance industry. While he acknowledges positive steps, particularly in social media engagement, Kiera identifies four critical pressure points: sales digitalization, IT landscape consolidation, regulatory adaptation, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) communication. This analysis provides a clear-eyed view of the challenges and offers actionable strategies for insurance executives and IT leaders to transform these pressures into competitive advantages.
The Social Media Imperative: Multiplying Customer Touchpoints
Kiera observes a promising trend: insurers are becoming more active on social media platforms like TikTok. This is a crucial development because it moves beyond traditional, transaction-focused sales channels. "Insurers who now empower their sales teams to increase customer contacts via social media will benefit from this in the not-too-distant future," Kiera asserts.
The logic is powerful. A salesperson equipped with an effective social media strategy can generate hundreds of micro-interactions, building brand awareness and trust long before a formal sales conversation. This creates a pipeline of warm leads and positions the insurer as a modern, accessible partner. Neglecting this channel, however, risks irrelevance. "If that happens, insurers face a similar fate as Deutsche Bahn: 'Somehow there; but always too late,'" Kiera warns. In a digital economy, customer expectations for immediacy and engagement are set by the best experiences across all industries, not just financial services.
The IT Landscape: The Need for a "Flurbereinigung" (Land Consolidation)
Beneath the surface of social media efforts lies a more fundamental challenge: a fragmented and often outdated IT infrastructure. The recent public critique by Allianz CEO Oliver Bäte, who labeled parts of his own company's IT as "crap," exemplifies an industry-wide problem. Billions are invested, but legacy systems persist, creating complexity and hindering innovation.
Kiera calls for a radical "Flurbereinigung"—a consolidation of the IT landscape. His proposed solution is elegantly simple, inspired by a family business entrepreneur: for every new IT system introduced, two old ones must be decommissioned. This rule forces prioritization, reduces maintenance costs, and prevents the endless layering of new technology on shaky foundations. It's a discipline that many large insurers desperately need to adopt to achieve agility and reduce the massive waste in IT project spending.
Reframing Regulation: From "Nay-Sayer" to Business Enabler
Regulatory compliance is often cited as a brake on digital innovation, with insurers arguing they face stricter rules than tech giants. Kiera challenges this narrative, suggesting the problem is often internal. "The compliance officers of insurers too often act as nay-sayers," he notes.
The needed shift is in mindset. Instead of focusing on why something can't be done, legal and compliance teams should be tasked with finding compliant paths to innovation. "They should better explain what is possible, rather than emphasizing what is not," Kiera advocates. This turns regulation from a barrier into a framework for building secure, trustworthy digital services—a potential competitive edge in an industry built on trust.
ESG: From Implementation to Inspiring Communication
On sustainability, Kiera offers both praise and a challenge. He acknowledges that German insurers are doing more than symbolic gestures like eliminating company cars; they are implementing substantive ESG initiatives. However, there is a disconnect between action and communication.
"I wish that insurers would demonstrate as much ingenuity in communicating about their ESG goals and their achievement as they do in implementing their sustainability goals," Kiera states. Digital channels and social media are perfect for telling these stories transparently, connecting with values-driven consumers, and enhancing brand reputation. Effective ESG communication is not just reporting; it's a powerful form of modern marketing and customer engagement.
Strategic Roadmap for Insurance Leaders
| Challenge Area | Kiera's Diagnosis | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Pace & Relevance | Risk of becoming "always late" like Deutsche Bahn. | Empower sales teams with social media strategies to create constant, low-friction customer engagement. |
| IT Complexity & Cost | Fragmented legacy systems waste resources and hinder agility. | Enforce a "two-out, one-in" rule for IT systems to force consolidation and simplification. |
| Regulatory Mindset | Compliance is seen as a barrier, not an enabler. | Shift legal/compliance focus to "how can we do this compliantly?" to foster innovation within the rules. |
| ESG Value Realization | Strong on implementation, weak on communication. | Leverage digital storytelling to transparently share sustainability achievements and connect with conscious consumers. |
Dr. Robin Kiera's analysis is a call to action. The insurance industry's future will not be won by those who simply maintain legacy systems and processes. It will be won by those who aggressively simplify their technology, proactively engage customers on their terms, reframe constraints as design challenges, and communicate their values with clarity and passion. The goal is not just to avoid being late, but to set the pace for the entire financial services sector.
Insurers and brokers struggle in claims management with high backlogs, rising claim frequencies, skilled labor shortages, and growing customer expectations. Manual processes are expensive and slow.