Digital Experimentation: Avoid the Shiny Object Syndrome

While the insurance industry is hearing a lot of messages these days about the importance of experimenting with new digital technologies — i.e. witness the increased use of terms such as ‘agility,’ ‘nimble,’ ‘pivoting,’ and ‘failing fast’ — a business strategy should guide the digital innovation, industry execs say.

Brian Falchuk, managing partner of Insurance Evolution Partners, raised the issue of the so-called ‘shiny object syndrome’ Tuesday at the Reuters webinar, Insurance 2021: The Customer Behaviour Changes that will Stay.

He was paraphrasing a question from an audience member, who was concerned that constantly trying to pivot to new technologies might lead to an inconsistent experience for the consumer.

‘When architecting your solution so you can pivot easily, does that lead to [whiplash]?’ Falchuk said, paraphrasing the question.

‘You keep changing things and ‘trying around.’ What’s the impact on the customers? Are there things you can do to be careful that we don’t end up with shiny object syndrome, where we’re saying, ‘Ooh, let’s do this instead,’ and maybe our customers become victims of that inconsistency?’