Beyond mobile: research topics for upcoming technologies in the insurance industry

This paper provides a first idea on changes induced by new ICT that goes ´beyond mobile´. The main aspects considered are value creation structures, value proposition of products and services and customer relations. The goal is to discuss these changes within the insurance industry context (primary insurers and reinsurers) and to foster thinking on new research topics that might arise due to the influence of ubiquitous computing (UC) technology. In order to do so UC is defined. We distinguish between notions such as pervasive computing and ambient intelligence and provide a working definition for UC. In a second step implications of UC in the business context are described generally, which are followed by a general description of characteristics of the insurance industry. This leads to a discussion of scenarios and the potential impact of UC in the insurance industry, providing us with a whole set of research aspects that need to be investigated further in the future. The focus is the influence UC technology has on business aspects for the insurance industry rather than on technological questions that arise.