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TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Why technology isn’t a silver bullet An insurtech leader lifts the lid on why each business’s tech transformation will look a bit different
like change,” he says, although he adds that because we live in a world where change is the norm, businesses that are going to survive in any industry must be agile. One source of confusion for many is the mix-up between digital transformation and digitization. Digitization, Sahota explains, is when organizations apply technology to an existing way of working, but it doesn’t change the underlying process. Digital transforma-
“We don’t want everybody to be the same, so the change journey is different for every organization”
The two key drivers of technology in insurance, according to Charles Taylor InsureTech CEO Jason Sahota, are the revenue side with its emphasis on customer retention and acquisition, and the operational cost and effectiveness side. He believes that to move the dial and build a successful business strategy, you need to use both. Charles Taylor’s InsureTech arm was launched, Sahota says, “with a view of bringing technology to really solve business problems … not to be a software product provider.” He adds that to really comprehend
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business problems, you have to understand where the client is, where they want to go and how to help them get there. “The differentiating factor in every business is the people,” he says. “And we don’t want everybody to be the same, so the change journey is different for every organization. But technology is not the silver bullet on its own.” Sahota believes there’s a simple explanation for why industry players might be slow to embrace digital transformation. “I think there’s just the general underlying [principle] that human beings don’t
Applied Systems snaps up Indio Technologies
Brokerage management software provider Applied Systems has agreed to acquire Indio Technologies, a tech solution for insurance applications and renewals. The acquisition will help Applied achieve its goal of digitizing the commercial lines submissions process. By integrating Indio’s solution with Applied Epic, Applied hopes to provide brokers with a collaborative and automated data capture experience, increase the speed of insurance applications and renewals, lower costs, and reduce the risk of errors and omissions.
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tion, on the other hand, involves changing the way of working through the use of technology. In the insurance sector, digital transformation mainly revolves around a move toward customer-centricity, Sahota says. He concedes that it’s difficult for an industry that has traditionally been product-focused to emphasize the customer instead, but he points out that this is a fundamental adjustment required of and being embraced by insurance – and there has never been a better time for innovative insurance solutions. “To watch your ideas and visions become a reality and watch individuals achieve their potential [is] fundamentally what I do now,” Sahota says. “I have the best role ever.”
Price tag of Lloyd’s innovation plan revealed
A recent report by the Financial Times revealed the expected cost of Lloyd’s of London’s ambitious plan to become “the most advanced marketplace in the world”: around $394.5 million. Lloyd’s intends to fund the initiative via senior debt, taking the marketplace’s total amount of debt in issue to around $1.44 billion, and thereby avoiding increasing levies to members. Under the Blueprint One plan, Lloyd’s plans to cut costs by streamlining processes and launching services such as an electronic risk exchange.
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17/01/2020 2:40:05 AM