Various factors determine the way in which people acquire their homes and design their living spaces. These include increasing digitalization and individualization, megatrends such as demographic change and urbanization, as well as sustainability and the rise of home working. With the latter now becoming anchored as a permanent solution, many people are now spending significantly more time at home. This not only leads to higher electricity and energy consumption, but also changes the requirements placed on a property and its facilities. At the same time, sustainability is becoming increasingly important. Energy-efficient building renovations and the growing use of green energy sources are opening the door for new solution offerings. Demographic change and increased life expectancy are resulting in an aging society with a rising demand for age-appropriate housing. New services and technical support solutions are needed in this context. Smart-home solutions and the growing digitalization of our homes are not only generating customer/usage data for insurers, but also opportunities for prevention and early loss detection.

Horváth investigated consumers' views on the topic of "home". The results are rather mixed. For consumers, the concept of "home" triggers very positive associations with topics such as capital investment/retirement plans, feel-good place, smart home, and the center of life. However, home is also negatively associated with issues such as costs/maintenance, rental and purchase costs, security, and environmental factors. Insurance companies seeking to expand their range of services in the Home ecosystem can adopt a simple approach here: Build on the positive associations and offer the customer simple solutions for the negative ones.

In order to successively interlink this multitude of possible products and services within a single offering, it makes sense to consider various use cases. What kinds of "journey" do customers experience in the "home" living environment, and how can these journeys give rise to beneficial interactions? We would like to explain two of these use cases in more detail.

• All-in-one service to support financing through integrated calculation models, comparison portals, personalized offers, a budget planner and a tool to review contracts 

• Products/policies to cover loss of rent/rent increases and the costs associated with remodeling, maintenance, moving, repairs, etc. 

• Moving-home portal to help new homeowners find tradespeople, removal companies, furniture storage (self-storage), as well as home improvement guides 

• Offer interlinked smart-home solutions that prevent accidents, promote safety, monitor utility consumption, and which can be sold as personalized products 

• Create an age-appropriate living environment via smart-home technology, which creates an increased level of security 

• Use connectivity solutions and telecommunications to allow customers to participate remotely in the daily lives of family members, friends, and acquaintances

Horváth can provide our clients with holistic support when implementing a home-ecosystem solution. 

Please feel free to contact us to discuss the outlined trends and solution spaces for the Home segment. 

Hesky, M. / Schröder, I.