Sam Friedman is in insurance research at Deloitte Center for Financial Services. Take blockchain, which established a new type of public ledger for transactions using crypto-currencies. Insurers are just now starting to look at how this intriguing technology might help facilitate smart contract transactions, increase cybersecurity, reduce fraud and lower costs. But the same platform could also accelerate development of alternative risk-transfer startups by providing a reliable, ready-made infrastructure that new entities could leverage — such as peer-to-peer insurance groups, in which like-minded policyholders create a new type of consumer-driven mutual insurer. Insurance distribution is also primed for technological disruption, given the relatively high costs of approaching prospects and handling clients through a live agent and broker network. 

https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/10/insurance-is-ready-for-an-upgrade/