Questions about smart contracts and why did Fizzy.axa was deemed unprofitable and shut down even if it didn't have intermediaries?

I tried searching in Reddit and Google but there was no direct answer (or at least my search terms didn't stumbled anything in particular).

I'm finally delving into the deep knowledge of Blockchain, Smart Contracts, Cryptocurrencies and trying to understand the why, pros, and cons of the technology, and what it could potentially solve. After making many mistakes in the past, I've decided to play, tinker, and get my hands dirty on technology before taking the plunge (as cons may surprise you down the line).

I came across several videos that I've been watching about the AXA insurance company and how it pioneered back in 2017 the use of Smart Contracts in the Ehtereum blockchain.

What I don't get is why would they need to use the blockchain in the first place? I mean, yes, they needed a way for customers to skip calling for the verification, but so what? Wouldn't it be easier to set up cron jobs or event systems in-house to trigger reimbursements automatically? Or was it so the user could prove that what Axa was doing was legit as everything is recorded in the blockchain? (I mean, that would work for a small company with no traction, but Axa is a multi-billion dollar company that is listed on the stock exchange. They would get scrutinized if didn't play by the rules).

In addition, why was it closed as they deemed it "unprofitable" or " has struggled to reach commercial targets with its first Fizzy product, claiming there isn’t sufficient market appetite for a blockchain-based consumer insurance product yet "?

I don't get it.

Isn't the blockchain technology transparent to the final user? I mean, you can perfectly use a traditional Web App to access the data from a blockchain and interact with it, in contrast, in VR and AR, you do need specialized equipment that is able to run specific apps.

In addition, by 2017 the Ethereum blockchain had 25,000 nodes (According to blockgeeks and a quick Google Search), so there's no way you would have the problem of the network not being strong enough to support the distributed transactions.

So what was the reason? Maintenance cost? Hosting operations? What could it be?