By FINTECH Books Contributor, Alejandro Nino Insurance companies will help protect their brand, reputation, intellectual property and customer data. This will ultimately help to ensure availability and a strong customer experience.Insurance companies have traditionally gained economies of scale by industrialising their processes, products and services. However, following one of the worst financial crises in history, insurance companies saw a significant increase in the regulatory framework. As a result, insurance companies found their commoditised products and services ready for disruption. Insurance companies not only need to improve their customer experience; they also need to stay ahead of the innovation game. Success in this digital era will depend on the ability to respond wisely to the threats and opportunities of InsurTech innovation. Because InsurTech is naturally digital, the sector’s wide scale investment in this area requires an increased focus on data protection and cyber security. By building digital assets on top of a holistic digital platform. 2017 will be the year of “integration”. In order to be successful in building a robust ecosystem, integration platforms will need to offer insurance companies the possibility of reducing the risks related to this new way of doing business by providing end-to-end security for its entire participating community. It is paramount that InsurTechs be vetted before they are connected to the platform thereby ensuring a secure environment. As insurance companies have multiple types of antiquated systems, it will also be important that the platform has the ability to establish and maintain interfaces with different systems. On the other hand, in order to survive in this competitive market, InsurTechs need scale. Therefore, integration platforms will be a key step for the success of any InsurTech as they will offer InsurTechs the possibility of integrating their businesses with insurance companies and financial institutions. Integration platforms can become a hedging mechanism not only for insurance companies but for InsurTechs around the globe and ultimately creating the insurance ecosystem of the future.