Digital Business

The New Age of Pet

Insurance: Barking up
the Right Tree
The needs of pet owners present a high-growth opportunity
for insurers to create new products and cross-sell existing
services. Here’s how insurers can embrace new strategies and
align their products, distribution, underwriting, claims and
operations to tap into this market.

June 2020
Digital Business

Executive Summary
In the midst of COVID-19, pandemic puppies and kind kittens
have emerged as go-to companions to get us through the
extended public healthcare crisis. This is one important reason
pet insurance is touted to be the next hot growth segment for
personal insurance carriers, as the global market is projected to
surpass $10 billion by 2025 and grow 6.7% annually.1 Examples
of traditional insurers and recent entrants in this market
include:
❙ New-age pet insurers, such as Waggel (UK), Figo Pet (U.S.) and Petplan (Australia), with
innovative and customer-centric business models.
❙ Established insurtechs that have added pet insurance offerings. For example, Lemonade is
set to add pet insurance to its existing offering of homeowners and renters’ insurance.2
❙ Combinations through mergers and acquisitions, such as NSM Insurance Group acquiring
Embrace Pet Insurance; private equity firm Warburg Pincus buying Petplan; Synchrony
acquiring Pets Best; and MetLife acquiring the PetFirst program.
The pet insurance market is evolving quickly, with most innovations focused on meeting
the following trends:

❙ Customer dynamics and disposition: The customer landscape has changed, with
millennials now the largest segment of pet parents. They own more pets (about 35%
of total pet ownership)3 and spend more on their pets4 than any other generation, as
they serve organic foods, buy flavored medications, hire services, host pet parties
and bring their pets on vacations. About 61% of millennials 5 are willing to make financial
trade-offs to afford pet care. They also lead the charge in tech adoption,6 and expect
quick service.
Such factors highlight the demand for customer-centric services that include personalized,
nurturing communications and an interactive, immersive experience.

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❙ Pet techs and massive data: Pet-oriented technologies (pet tech), such as wearables,
are addressing increasing concerns around pet health and security. The pet tech
market includes activity monitors, GPS trackers, RFID sensors, accelerometer sensors,
etc.
Wearable technology has already demonstrated value in the life and health insurance
spaces, with health professionals using wearables like smart or implantable devices for
patient monitoring, diagnostics and drug delivery. 7 It’s only a matter of time before it
makes deeper inroads in the pet insurance market too. The opportunities for pet tech
are vast, from automated food dispensers and climate-controlled pet houses to pet
doors with facial recognition. Pet genomics is another growing field.8 These types of
devices and sensors help support a data-driven approach to underwriting and claims
processes.
❙ Innovation by insurtechs: These digitally native companies are bringing new capabilities
to the pet industry, with a focus on enhancing the customer experience Their primary
focus in pet insurance is in three areas:
› Direct to customer distribution, such as the quote aggregator Policygenius.
› Focus on a digital claims process: A wave of emerging companies such as Petplan,
Embrace and Trupanion are providing innovative digital experiences, especially in the
claims process.9
› New solutions: Digital solution providers are looking to collaborate with insurers
to enhance the customer experience for insureds through value-added services
in
partnerships with insurers. For example, Figo Pet Insurance offers the Figo Pet Cloud
– a cloud-based service that enables real-time pet GPS tracking, medical records
management, mobile claims filing, social pet profiles, a pet-friendly business locator,
vaccination and appointment alerts via a smartphone app.10
This white paper covers the diverse trends and themes insurers should consider as
they plan their entry or expansion in the pet market.

The opportunities for pet tech are vast, from automated

food dispensers and climate-controlled pet houses to pet
doors with facial recognition.
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Seven key themes for next-gen pet insurers

The rise of millennial pet owners and the growing use of pet tech
wearables are two key areas that will drive future decisions and bring
forth a range of considerations.
As insurers plot their pet strategies, they should keep in mind the following seven themes (see Figure 1):

1 Product innovation: Change when, what and how pets are insured

Strategic themes
Key business & technology themes
Key disruptions Business imperatives 1 PRODUCT MODEL INNOVATION
Transform the traditional product models to incorporate
changes like with
Improve customer reach through strategic partnerships pay as youpet
vets, live, episodicemploy-
services, insurance.
ers, breeders, kennel clubs.

2 BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

Check new product models/innovations & explore newer growth avenues throu

Rise of Millennial Customers

3
Improve quote conversion through marketing, personaliza- tion & OVERHAUL
DISTRIBUTION newer product models.
Enable agents to sell better & build strategic partnerships for greater reach.

Improve pet-parent experience & retention.

4 DIGITAL USER EXPERIENCE ENHANCEMENT
Transform user journeys & experiences through digital solutions addressing use

Data-driven underwriting & reduced premium leakage.

5 CORE MODERNIZATION
Modernize legacy systems to better enable better processes, digitalization, p
Rise of Pet Tech & Explosion of Data
Data-driven claims adjudication & reduced claims leakage.

6 DATA/AI-DRIVEN PROCESS RENOVATION

Leverage data & AI to enable intelligent processing, greater automation & de
Reduce claims frequency & severity through continuous & contextual loss prevention.

Need to
7 LOSS PREVENTION SERVICE CHANGE
Provide real-time loss-prevention services for customers to
Reduce Loss Reduce operational expenses. enable better user experience & reduce claims.
and

Source: Cognizant
Figure 1
4 / The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree
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Consumers may question whether pet insurance provides good value for the money spent. Some might
view pet insurance as costly and confusing: they may be unsure which procedures are covered (based on
their pet’s breed), what exclusions exist and how costs might rise as the pet ages. Consumer Reports
recently
concluded that pet owners pay more in premiums over time than they would paying for medical bills
directly.11 Plus, many consumers do not think they need pet insurance. All told, these combined factors weigh
heavily on the buying decision.

This presents an opportunity for insurers to create compelling, innovative product offers, wrapped in a
personalized omnichannel experience. Recommended offerings include:

❙ Risk-based or pay-as-you-live policies, where additional premiums or discounts are calculated based on
the pet’s lifestyle as measured through wearable sensors or other activity-monitoring devices.
❙ Event-based or episodic insurance that covers specific time-bound activities such as an adventurous
weekend trail walk.
With such models, insurers can underwrite risks previously deemed uninsurable and offer point-of-need
prices.

2 Business model innovation: Look beyond traditional insurance

A digitally enabled approach to product innovation can lead to new business models, such as:

❙ Peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance: Millennials share many common interests in various social networks and
they generally have a higher risk tolerance than older age groups, which suggests they would be open to
joining online communities. P2P insurance brings together groups of like-minded people to cross-insure
their pets and share refunds from their premiums based on claims made.
❙ Cross-selling complementary services: Millennials are more open to buying or using adjacent or
complementary non-insurance services/products from their insurers, as demonstrated by their adoption
of wellness offerings.12 For example, customers of Embrace can add onto the company’s Wellness Rewards
plan to get reimbursed for the pet’s routine care or preventative steps to avert emergencies.13 Insurers can
find prime opportunities to launch complementary services such as service aggregation, pet food delivery,
telemedicine, etc. Insurers looking to break into the pet insurance field could potentially capture market
share through such services.

3 Distribution overhaul: Change how products get to the market

❙ Direct-to-consumer (D2C) transformation: The personal insurance space has seen a shift toward direct
buying as customers embrace ecommerce and as products become simpler. With similar trends
driving the pet insurance space, it is inevitable that pet owners would turn toward the D2C model. The
recent success of pet-care comparison sites like Chewy or PetSmart is an early indicator of this emergent
trend. Insurers should strive to adopt a more targeted, omnichannel, digitally-enabled distribution model
to align with this new buying paradigm.

The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree / 5

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❙ Digital marketing: Millennial consumers do not respond well to traditional advertising messages. 14 Rather,
millennials are known to follow only brands they trust. In addition, they expect their insurers to connect
with them through their preferred digital channels. Pet insurers should thus look to build trust and connect
with millennial customers through a tailored digital marketing strategy. A great way to engage this
segment
is to embrace online and social media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. For
example, sharing informational videos about pet care within these channels is a potential way to keep
customers engaged and connected. Such videos could cover topics such as how to clean your dog’s ears,
which vaccinations are required based on a pet’s age, or how to keep a pet safe during seasonal weather/
temperature swings, to name just a few. Insurers should aim to morph from being sellers of insurance who
also provide pet care information, to being pet care experts that also offer pet insurance.
❙ Ecosystem-driven distribution: Insurers should look to deliver synergistic value by collaborating with the
other members of the pet care ecosystem: retailers, veterinarians, employers, animal shelters, breeders,
pet health payment providers like pet credit cards, and pet care savings plans. By partnering with such
channels, insurers can better establish the true value of pet insurance and achieve more revenue and
market penetration than solo efforts. Bundled offers (i.e., liability insurance bundled with pet buying, or
discounts with pet food partners on insurance purchases) can help drive such collaborations. Growing
interest in the pet insurance sector from other players in the pet world also provides insurers partnering
opportunities. For example, Petco recently acquired petinsurancequotes.com, an online pet insurance
comparison site, reflecting its intention to expand beyond pet supplies into pet insurance.

Pet insurers should look to build trust and connect with

millennial customers through a tailored digital marketing
strategy. A great way to engage this segment is to
embrace online and social media platforms.

6 / The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree

Digital Business

Digital user experience enhancement: Transition from customer

satisfaction to customer delight
4
Traditionally, price has been the main differentiator in the pet insurance market. With the rise of millennial
customers, however, pet insurers are increasingly impelled to differentiate through an enhanced customer
experience. Capturing the attention and loyalty of this segment can be challenging. Insurers need to simplify
and digitize customer journeys across digital channels, and to delight customers with a 360-degree selection
of value-added services beyond mere insurance. Figure 2 depicts a representative set of front-end capabilities
that pet insurers will need to provide.

For pet insurers to effect this shift requires a human-centered design perspective. This involves identifying
the personas of key stakeholders, tracking their user journeys and supplying relief for key pain points as
well as opportunities for additional revenue streams across these journeys.

Key customer self-servicing capabilities

View product information.
View reviews.
Get quotes.
Compare quotes.

Buy policy.
Buy with pet credit cards & other innovative payment solutions.
View policy information.
Download policy document/ID.
Buy complementary services (pet food, accessories, wearables).

Provide pet care service options (like nearby day care, sitting centers, grooming centers, training, pet parks, etc
Virtual coaches: pet food requirements, health tips, manage pet medical history (vaccinations, medications, rou
Schedule appointments (vets, pet services).
Monitor pet activity through wearable devices & suggest preventive care recommendations.
Gamification/rewards to motivate owner to keep pet active & healthy.
Collaborate with peers & share information.
Access to animal control agencies, shelter organizations & rescue groups.

Fill claims.
Upload documents/bills.
Track claim status.
Automate claims FNOL with network vets.
Create safety perimeters & track pet location.

Self-servicing policy servicing capabilities like policy changes, cancellations, additional coverages.
Add pets & change coverage.
Renew policies.
Store pet-related documents like medical bills, photos & medical records.

Source: Cognizant
Figure 2
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 Digital

Representative functional architecture for the modern pet-insurance

core platform
MARKETING

Digital marketing

Customer (pet parent) analytics

Flexible integration
Enable omnichannel
distribution

Modular product
configuration engine to Extensible rating
enable set of innovative engine
products faster

Create submissions Quoting capabilities Review submissions UW desktop with Flexible rating &
& capture details (quick quote) & UW referrals AI decision support pricing capabilities

Instant approval/ Policy changes: Cancellations,

Automated &
rejection (e.g., high- Binding & issuance add new pets, reinstatements &
UNDERWRITING manual renewals
risk/exotic pets) & POLICY MANAGEMENT add/ remove rewrites
BILLING coverage
Flexible capabilities

New payment models

CONTENT MGMT.
Automated document/bills reading

AUTOMATED WORKFLOWS Real-time notification

CLAIMS MANAGEMENT

Source: Cognizant
Create
Figure 3 claims FNOL
Medical bill intake & Claims validation & Segmentation &
(app/mail/email/fax/ Reserves
upload of documents eligibility assignment
P.O. box)
REPORTING
Automated Manage claims communications
Split claims & Automated workflow Claim (explanation of benefits &
approvals Improved report generation capabil
reroute claims & manual referrals Payments other documents )
& error-handling

Claims & operational audit Loss control service Claims analytics

5 Core modernization: Shed the legacy

Legacy core systems of existing pet insurers were built, patched and upgraded to support traditional manual
Digital Business
processes. flexibility and scalability that are required for success. Insurers have to reimagine and modernize their core
These aging systems, rules and processes to promote flexibility, agility, innovation and speed-to-market. The “core” of
systems are this effort should revolve around business capabilities, as this will ensure that the derived technical
bound to capacities will best align with business outcomes. Figure 3 presents a representative functional architecture
affect the for a pet insurance platform.

8 / The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
DISTRIBUTION

Extensible user portals & mobile enablement

 Digital

Key business capabilities for pet insurers include:

❙ Flexible configuration of products/coverages; support white labeling of products.
❙ Flexible rules engine, one which allows ratings, business rules and workflows to be easily configured and tuned.
❙ Flexible rating, pricing and billing capabilities to support newer products.
❙ Unified dashboard view of all claims and relevant policy details for adjusters to process claims more accurately.
❙ Integrated case histories to provide an integrated view of customer interactions.
❙ Automated quote generation, policy binding, billing and claim processing workflows.
❙ Seamless integration with external interfaces/systems.
❙ Document management capabilities including scanning and capture/storage.
❙ Automated generation of omnichannel customer communication documents including explanations of benefits
and all correspondence.
❙ Support for all desired payment modes.
❙ AI- and analytics-driven risk management and claims auditing.
❙ Timely reporting capabilities (monthly or quarterly).

6 Data-driven process renovation: Unlock the power of data

Pet insurance carriers can accelerate their digital evolution with advanced AI, which will enable them to
automate core capabilities in new ways, such as the following:
❙ Intelligent process automation (IPA) will enable the direct issuance of low-value/low-risk policies and the
straight-through processing of low-value claims. IPA will also help integrate optical character recognition
(OCR), intelligent character recognition (ICR) and deep learning technologies. Some examples: reading
unstructured scanned medical bills and intake claim documents, creating an automated FNOL, setting an
automated initial reserve and assigning the best-fit claim adjustor, if required.
❙ AI will enable machine-learning-based decision support for underwriters and claim adjustors.
❙ AI coupled with intelligent automations will also allow carriers to continuously mine case and claim data to
identify fraud and security risks in real time.
Figure 4 (next page) shows some of the use cases in the pet insurance value chain that data/AI can help enable.

The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree / 9

Digital Business

Key AI-enabled use cases across the pet insurance value chain

Distribution Underwriting Claims Policy Servicing

❙ Multichannel analytics ❙ Create intelligent pet risk ❙ Read unstructured ❙ Mobile/online chatbots
& opportunities to profiles based on policy documents like pet to help in pet policy
cross/up-sell pet submission, pet parent photos/videos, determine servicing.
coverage. social/online data, vet potential illnesses & assist ❙ Automate pet policy
❙ Identify cross-sell/ records & other data advanced reserving, servicing workflows.
unbundling sources . segmentation & adjustor
opportunities with ❙ Underwrite analytics assignment.
existing personal based on similar ❙ Leverage OCR/ICR/deep
insurance customers. pets (breed, age, learning to automate intake
❙ Prospect scoring & state/location). of hospital/vet bills & other
analytics for agents. ❙ Recommend optimal documents.
coverage limits, copays ❙ Assimilate medical records
& price. & categorize pets’ medical
❙ Automated UW for reports.
applicable cases. ❙ Apply pet claims analytics
for adjudication.
❙ Employ pattern-based
advanced fraud detection.
❙ Integrate with pet IoT
devices & generate loss
prevention alerts.

Source: Cognizant
Figure 4

10 / The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree

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The reconfigured pet claims journey

Cutting-edge technologies such as AI and advanced analysis enhance and simplify the user experience, while concurrently
enabling claims-process automation and heightened efficiency.

CLAIM EXPERIENCE
CAPABILITIES

Raises a claim
FNOL, uploads Answers additional Receives digital
medical bills questions/uploads explanation of
documents Tracks the benefits
claim status

Receives
payout

• OCR/ICR-driven • AI-driven reserve • AI-driven auto • Automated generation

reading of medical bills. setting. adjudica- tion & claim of explanation of
PROCESS estimation. benefits.
• AI-driven invoice • Intelligent routing of
CAPABILITIES review and additional claims to referrals or • AI-driven fraud pattern • Automated claims
information auto adjudication. detection. payout.
• AI-driven bill/text
summarization for
referral adjustor.

Source: Cognizant
Figure 5

The question is, what to tackle first? Most of the new entrants in the pet insurance space are betting big on
innovative claims experience capabilities as a key differentiator. With the success of this formula in other
insurance lines, pet insurers are smart to shift gears on their claims experience as well. While keen industry
competition drives this mandate, the shift also helps pare insurers’ large claims-processing expenses. Today’s
claims process
is cumbersome, with highly manual processing of paper bills and human-intensive adjudication. AI and advanced
data analysis offer a great opportunity for pet insurers to upgrade both user experience and in-house efficiency.
Figure 5 depicts a next-generation claims process, intersecting both front-end and process capabilities.

7 Loss prevention service change: From indemnification to prevention

Finally, another potentially strong differentiator for pet insurers is loss prevention services. Pet owners two
overriding concerns are their pets’ health and security. One way that pet insurers can continuously engage
with their customers and better promote safety are device- or sensor-driven alerts – which, by reducing injury
claims, can in turn translate into premium discounts.

The growing use of devices and wearables provides a great opportunity for insurers. Recent investments by
RSA insurance are a harbinger of things to come. 15 By enabling their systems to integrate with third-party
wearable-device data (pets’ activity level, heart rate, bowel movement frequency, etc.), pet insurers will gain
significant insights. They can continuously monitor these data streams and pass contextual recommendations
The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree / 11
Digital Business
Digital

Representative real-time loss-prevention scenarios

Three stories that show how pet wearables and owner apps work in conjunction to help ensure the animal’s health and welfare.

John receives an alert about John takes Lassie to the vet,

Lassie on reduced activity who confirms that Lassie is
Lassie has been wearing levels, fewer burnt calories indeed obese & has a
an IoT wearable for over a over the last quarter & a developing skin disease. The
year. John monitors the possible skin disease. The pet vet administers corrective
stats on his phone via an insurance app sends John an actions, reducing the chance
IoT app. alert to please consult a vet of an obesity-related illness
to manage diet & provide any or a skin condition &
needed treatment for a skin preventing a potential claim.
disease.

John gets an alert on his

John immediately checks the
phone from the pet John reaches home, quickly
live feed from the WiFi camera
insurance app & IoT app stops the bleeding & takes
installed in his house, and sees
about Lassie’s unusual her to a vet. A major issue is
that Lassie is lying hurt and
activities/patterns – an averted as John is able to
her leg is bleeding. John
abnormal heart rate & an administer critical & timely
rushes home while monitoring
increase in her anxiety treatment.
the live feed and health levels.
level.

John & Lassie are walking

John checks the app for
in the park. Lassie is
location details. The app John uses the live tracking
spooked by some
provides an accurate location features on the app to locate
commotion, and runs
of where Lassie is and a live Lassie: they are reunited.
away. John is unable to
update of Lassie’s
find her.
movements.

Source: Cognizant
Figure 6

to the pet owner to help improve their pet’s health; doing so means a proactive approach to reducing
probable claim losses, versus the traditional reactive approach. Insurers could further track pet parent
activities by integrating with social and online data, stay abreast of the pet’s risk ecosystem and deliver
contextual wellness recommendations. For example, insurers could issue mobile alerts to the pet parent
during a vacation trip with the pet in tow, alerts such as wellness information based on climate
conditions, nearby pet clinics or pet care centers, water/calorie intake parameters and potential health
hazards.
Gamification can help deliver an even more vivid experience.

See Figure 6 for several such loss-prevention scenarios.

12 / The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree
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Conclusion
The pet insurance market is ripe with significant untapped opportunity as evidenced by changing customer
dynamics, the advent of pet technology and entry of insurtech players. Insurance carriers that take advantage
of these developments to innovate with new customer-centric insurance products and services by driving a
holistic digital strategy will be tomorrow’s market leaders. This journey will not be easy given the challenges
of updating legacy processes, modernizing archaic systems and changing consumer behaviors. Designing a
lean, cost- effective and digital-enabled operating model is critical, as insurers reimagine the future of pet
insurance.

Endnotes
1
“Pet Insurance Market value to hit $10 billion by 2025: Global Market Insights, Inc.,” Globe Newswire, Oct. 14, 2019,
https:// www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/10/14/1928923/0/en/Pet-Insurance-Market-value-to-hit-10-billion-
by-2025- Global-Market-Insights-Inc.html.
2 “Lemonade is capitalizing on the burgeoning pet insurance market in the US,” Business Insider, 2020,
https://www. businessinsider.com/lemonade-launching-us-pet-insurance-2020-2?r=AU&IR=T.
3
“Why the Pet Insurance Industry is Booming,” dvminsider, July 22, 2019, https://www.dvminsider.com/why-the-pet-
insurance- industry-is-booming/
4 “How Millennials Spend on Their Pets,” petbusiness.com, 2018, http://www.petbusiness.com/How-Millennials-Spend-on-
Their-Pets/.
5
https://www.dvm360.com/view/pet-health-insurance:-how-(and-why)-to-cater-to-millennials.
6 “Pet health insurance: how (and why) to cater to millennials,” dvm360.com, 2020,
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact- tank/2019/09/09/us-generations-technology-use/ft_19-09-
03_digitaldividegenerations_1/.
7
“Current And Future Role Of Wearables In Healthcare,” digitalistmag.com, 2020 https://www.digitalistmag.com/customer-
experience/2019/06/04/current-future-role-of-wearables-in-healthcare-06198759/ and Global insurer RSA has made its
first external investment in a financial technology company – Pitpatpet, vettimes.co.uk, 2019,
https://www.vettimes.co.uk/news/ rsa-invests-in-wearable-technology-firm/#.
8
“Pet genomics medicine runs wild,” nature.com, July 25, 2018, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05771-0.
9
“Revolutionizing the Pet Medical Insurance Industry by Processing Claims in Seconds – Data Science at Trupanion,”
https:// www.dominodatalab.com/customers/trupanion/.
10 Deb Smallwood, “8 Exemplars of Insurtech Innovation,” Insurance Thought Leadership, Sept. 22, 2016,
https://www. insurancethoughtleadership.com/8-exemplars-of-insurtech-innovation/.
11
“Pet Insurance:A good deal? Or a rip off?” Nbcnews.com, 2020, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/43916934/ns/business-
consumer_news/t/pet-insurance-good-deal-or-rip/#.XuFSF0VKhPZ.
12
“Millennials are interested in buying non insurance complementary services or products from Insurers,” Cision, 2019,
https:// www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-62-of-millennials-would-put-pets-health-before-their-own-
300978756.html
13 :Wellness Rewards for Routine Care,” embracepetinsurance.com, https://www.embracepetinsurance.com/coverage/
wellness-rewards.
14
“Millennials don’t respond well to traditional advertising messages,” Lyfe Marketing, 2019,
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/ blog/marketing-to-millennials/.
15 “Barks and bytes: the rise of wearable tech for pets,” Guardian.com, 2018,
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/ feb/03/wearable-tech-for-pets.
The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree / 13
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About the authors

Chris Blatchly
Chief Digital Officer & Consulting Leader for Insurance, Cognizant

Chris Blatchly is the Chief Digital Officer and Consulting Leader for Insurance
at Cognizant. He helps insurers harness the power of new technologies
and the information it creates to build their capabilities and transform their
businesses. As a former consulting partner, software company business unit
leader and large company IT executive, Chris has a unique perspective on
technology strategy and executing process-driven business change. He has a
deep background in insurance and financial services, and has often been in
the forefront of working with the latest technologies and successfully implementing them for his clients.
Chris holds an MBA in marketing from the University of Toronto, a master’s degree in economics from
Western University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Trent University. He can be reached at
Christopher.
[email protected] | www.linkedin.com/in/chrisblatchly-3981a39.

Ramanujam Venkatesan
Property & Casualty Insurance Consulting Leader, Cognizant

Ramanujam Venkatesan is a Director for Cognizant Consulting’s Insurance

Practice, and leads the Property & Casualty (P&C) Insurance Consulting
Practice. Ram has advised many insurance carriers across North America,
Europe and Asia-Pacific. He has extensive experience in setting up venture
strategies for leading companies across the globe. Ram is also a thought
leader who has published many papers and articles about opportunities in
the insurance industry. He has a postgraduate degree in management from
the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University
of Madras. Ram can be reached at [email protected] | www.linkedin.com/in/ram-venkatesan/.

14 / The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree

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Vinodh Stanley Stephen

Insurance Consulting Manager, Cognizant

Vinodh Stanley Stephen is a Consulting Manager within Cognizant

Consulting, focused on the insurance industry. Vinodh has worked with
senior insurance executives across North America and the Asia-Pacific
zone. His consulting experience includes business transformation advisory,
innovation advisory, digital strategy, process change, operating model
redesign, platform modernization and business case development. Vinodh
has also conceptualized innovative solutions and published many thought
leadership papers in the digital insurance space. He has a master’s degree in
management from the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR) and a bachelor’s degree in
engineering from Anna University. Vinodh also holds certifications from AICPCU and CII. He can be reached
at [email protected] | www.linkedin.com/in/vinodh-stanley-stephen-50206218.

Vinay Alexander
Senior Consultant, Property & Casualty Insurance, Cognizant

Vinay Alexander is a Senior Consultant within Cognizant Consulting’s

Insurance Practice. A certified AINS professional, Vinay has 10 years of
experience working with multiple P&C insurers and brokers across Europe
and North America in IT product development, functional implementation,
business analysis, business process consulting and digital transformation.
He received a PGPM in marketing and sales from the Great Lakes Institute of
Management, Chennai. Vinay can be reached at Vinay.Alexander@cognizant.
com | www.linkedin.com/in/vinay-alexander-830301bb/.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Thomas Gukelberger, a Cognizant Assistant Vice President, and Mitchell
Janoff, a Cognizant Consulting Director, for their thoughtful feedback and inputs in the creation of this
white paper.

The New Age of Pet Insurance: Barking up the Right Tree / 15

About Cognizant Insurance
Cognizant’s Insurance Practice, one of our largest industry verticals, partners with insurers to evolve their business and technology landscapes and enable
end-to-end digital transformation. Thirty-three of the top 50 U.S. insurers and seven of the top 10 global insurers rely on us to help manage their
technology portfolios, comprising their life, annuities, and property and casualty insurance lines. From large-scale core system renovation to cutting-edge
technologies like AI/ML, advanced analytics, blockchain and automation, we partner with enterprises to envision and build the digital insurer of the future.
Learn more by visiting www.cognizant.com/insurance.

About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq-100: CTSH) is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, transforming clients’ business, operating and technology
models for the digital era. Our unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build and run more innovative and efficient businesses.
Headquartered in the U.S., Cognizant is ranked 194 on the Fortune 500 and is consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world. Learn
how Cognizant helps clients lead with digital at www.cognizant.com or follow us @Cognizant.

World Headquarters
European Headquarters India Operations Headquarters APAC Headquarters
500 Frank W. Burr
1 Kingdom Street #5/535 Old Mahabalipuram 1 Changi Business Park Crescent,
Blvd. Teaneck, NJ
Paddington Central Road Okkiyam Pettai, Plaza 8@CBP # 07-04/05/06,
07666 USA Phone: +1
London W2 6BD England Thoraipakkam Chennai, 600 096 Tower A, Singapore 486025
201 801 0233
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7297 7600 India Phone: + 65 6812 4051
Fax: +1 201 801 0243
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7121 0102 Phone: +91 (0) 44 4209 6000 Fax: + 65 6324 4051
Toll Free: +1 888 937 3277
Fax: +91 (0) 44 4209 6060

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photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission from Cognizant. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. All other trademarks mentioned
herein are the property of their respective owners.

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