InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant

Digitizing how risk flows: the future of commercial insurance (308)

In anticipation of our upcoming release of panels from our most recent event in New York in June, we are taking another look back at our star-studded line-up from March. 

We asked: what does the future of insurance look like? One answer is digitising how risk flows. In this discussion, industry experts Nigel Walsh from Google Cloud, Meghan Hannes at K2 Cyber, Zaheer Hooda at Cytora and Charles Clarke at Guidewire delve into the current progress made by insurers, the challenges they encounter, and a playbook for accelerating AI-assisted underwriting. 

Watch this space for more releases soon...

Key talking points include:

• Is the industry heading in the right direction with regard to AI?
• “Augmentation” - why using the right vocabulary matters
• The perspective of insurers working for technology companies - what is working?
• The rallying cry for insurers
• How to make a case internally for adoption of AI?
• Don’t aim for the moon, aim for standardisation
• Can generative AI solve technical debt?
• Implementation differences between SMEs and large corporates

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe why the word ‘augmentation’ is important in insurance
• List reasons why carriers should consider digitising their risk flows
• Summarise at what stage is the industry currently at with adoption, what is holding it back and what does the future look like

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 308 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Joe O'Connor, RDT: Claims, Customers and Composition Engines - Why Orchestration is the Key (307)

Is your insurance technology up to speed?

This week on the podcast, we have an insightful conversation with Joe O'Connor, Deputy CEO of RDT. RDT is a well-known software and services provider for the motor insurance industry, with plans to expand into the specialty market. Joe discusses how technology provision has changed over the last decade, what RDT has learned from providing services to general insurers, what the specialty market can learn from achievements in the retail sector, the launch of its new workflow and orchestration platform (ACE), and RDT’s future plans. Learn how RDT has identified a market need, worked with existing customers to build technology to meet those needs, and why they have great hopes for ACE, now that they are ready to "come out to play."

Key talking points include:

• RDT’s transition from traditional software to managed service and SaaS.
• Expanding scope beyond the traditional focus on motor and niche insurance sectors.
• The impact of claims inflation and degradation of claims handling skills.
• The launch of ACE (Agile Composition Engine) and its role in orchestrating insurance processes.
• The importance of ecosystem integration and selective platform partnerships.
• What specialty insurance can learn and leverage from prior investment in technology for the general insurance market. 
• Future directions for RDT, including expansion into specialty insurance markets.

Useful links

RDT Whitepaper - This paper explores the impact of technological advancements and customer demands on insurance claims processing, highlighting RDT's ACE platform and various industry trends.

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the issues facing claims professionals and the role that technology and automation can play. 
• Identify why data and platform ecosystems are so important and how to set about building them. 
• Explain the power of orchestration in automating tasks and multi-platform composition

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 307 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Jonathan Liddell, Mitiga & Wiebke Cundill, HDI Global SE: On-demand climate risk analysis for the future (306)

Is climate risk a part of your analysis?

On the podcast this week we are spotlighting an important collaboration between Mitiga, a climate risk intelligence provider, and insurer HDI Global. As climate change rises to become one of the most pertinent and defining risks of our generation, find out how the partnership is working to evolve the landscape of climate risk management for various industries. One such asset is Mitiga’s platform EarthScan.

Joining Matthew is Wiebke Cundill, Senior Risk Engineer at HDI Global SE and Jonathan Liddell, Customer Success Lead at Mitiga.

Key talking points include:

• How EarthScan can help customers understand the risks posed by climate change
• The transition from focusing just on natural hazards to climate risk
• Downscaling data into an asset class
• Business as usual, Emissions peak in 2040 or Paris-aligned future?
• Mitiga helps HDI move into the future 
• How HDI offers site specific assessment of climate risks - from site to consulting and adoption
• Importance of trust and collaboration
• Understanding EarthScanTM

You can listen to our past episode with Dr Verena Brenner from HDI TH!NX here and find out more about HDI’s climate risk reporting services here.

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify why granularity of data is important when it comes to understanding and modelling future climate risks
• Explain why insurers cannot simply rely on past data when considering resilience toward climate 
• Identify what types of future has Mitiga modelled, what are their differences and why are all three of these scenarios important

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 306 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Jonathan Gonzalez, Co-founder & CEO: Raincoat: Exploring Truth, Fair and integrated parametric insurance (305)

In the first iteration of our upcoming parametric series with Raincoat, Matthew sat down with Jonathan Gonzalez to delve into how parametric insurance can be integrated with traditional indemnity insurance, the technical and regulatory challenges, and the importance of creating products that customers perceive as fair. 

Watch this space for some very exciting episodes coming up.

Key talking points:

• Importance of iteration and scaling 
• Parametric should be looked at as a tool
• The connection to smart contracts and parametric
• What is ‘truth’ in insurance?
• What is ‘fair’ in insurance?
• The key to successful integration
• How much human intervention goes into running the model
• Evolving role of brokers 
• The openness of the insurance industry to new solutions

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe the connection between smart contracts and parametric and why this is important
• Explain the difference between ‘truth’ and ‘fair’ in insurance
• Identify how the role of the broker can evolve when it comes to parametric insurance and its integration

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 305 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

How insurers are overcoming underwriting challenges in 2024 (304)

Unstructured data - is this a challenge that will ever go away? Or can it be a challenge which insurers adapt to work in their favor…

At our last New York event in March, InsTech gathered three leading industry experts to candidly discuss what change in the industry looks like to them, specifically in the way unstructured data is handled and managed. 

We all know streamlining underwriting processes and optimizing data intake & routing will aid with precise risk pricing, but how are the US’s biggest carriers approaching the problem?

Hear from Patrick Gallic at Tokio Marine HCC, Georgeanna Munger at Allianz Commercial, and Brad Craner at Zurich North America about pocketed digitisation, implementing best practices, moving blame away from the brokers and how generative AI can serve to repurpose the underwriter’s time for the better.

Key talking points include:

• What are the current challenges underwriters are facing 
• How is technology addressing these issues
• The dichotomy between late-career and early-career underwriters - what can be learnt from this
• Technology adoption is an evolution
• Is too much data the problem? 
• The ‘art v science’ of underwriting 

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify why implementing best practices for underwriting is important
• Identify reasons why unstructured data is such a problem and can it be solved
• Summarize what the ideal form of technological integration can look like for an underwriter and how it could possibly repurpose their time

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 304 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Louw Hopley, Co-founder: Root: The future is embedded (303)

Root provides platforms and API for insurers, MGAs, brokers to build, launch and manage digital insurance products and embedded experiences in South Africa and the UK.

Matthew Grant caught up with Louw Hopley on the opportunities and challenges in the insurance industry, focusing on the role of embedded insurance in adapting to changing customer demands. Discover all from the emerging areas Root is planning to tap into, to the company’s appointment of a new CEO and regional manager. 

Key talking points:

• A year of progress and expansion
• The development of insurance distribution
• The future of embedded insurance
• Root’s journey: leadership and company growth
• Innovations in insurance: from digital assets to angry AI

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe what is embedded insurance and how it can help insurance adapt to changing customer demands
• Explain why customer demands have shifted and why insurance has not kept up with it
• Identify the necessary steps and changes a company can make when expanding globally and entering new markets

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 303 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Russell Higginbotham, CEO: Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions: Making society more resilient - using new data to close the protection gap (302)

Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions was launched two years ago to make Swiss Re’s unique knowledge and tools available across the insurance value chain.

Swiss Re’s strongest point of knowledge is property - around which we centre this podcast. Robin Merttens spoke to CEO of Reinsurance Solutions Russell Higginbotham on approaching climate-related risks in the insurance industry as well as managing the balance between data accuracy and inclusivity of insurance products for customers.

Key talking points:

• The implication of climate change on property insurance
• If you are running an insurer now - what should you be focusing on?
• What should the whole ecosystem be doing with climate change? Planning the future
• Understanding ‘uninsurability’ 
• Partnerships with Google X, the moonshot factory and acquiring Fathom

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how better data can help tackle the insurance protection gap
• Explain how acquisitions can help a company gain better data and why partnerships are important in the industry
• Summarise why climate change is such an important risk and what insurers should focus on to tackle it best

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 302 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Rosina Smith, CPO: McKenzie Intelligence Services: Innovation and the insurtech journey - are we there yet? (301)

McKenzie Intelligence Services (MIS) helps accelerate disaster relief and economic recovery for insurers.

Matthew Grant spoke to Rosina, Chief Product Officer for MIS, who shares insights from her MBA dissertation's findings on the adoption of technology in insurance, highlighting the necessity of collaboration between insurtechs, insurance companies, and other stakeholders to drive innovation and effectively address the insurance protection gap. 

Key talking points include:

• Transitioning from working for a large organization to the world of startup and scale up
• MBA Dissertation - the process of writing and publishing 
• Managing biases - reconsidering the issue with the protection gap
• Collaboration and disruption - where do you stand as an insurtech?
• Evolving approaches for insurtechs
• What you should avoid in partnerships

To read Rosina Smith’s dissertation ‘Barriers to Adopting Insurtech in Natural Catastrophe (Re)insurance’ you can reach out to her on LinkedIn.

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Specify what is the insurance protection gap and why it has historically been misunderstood
• Identify some reasons why a business partnership between a insurtech start up and an insurer might not be successful
• Summarise why insurtechs need to reevaluate their strategy when partnering with insurance carriers

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 301 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Dag Lohmann & Brandon Katz: KatRisk: High speed, high resolution catastrophe modelling (300)

KatRisk is a catastrophe modelling company providing global inland flood, storm surge and windstorm loss assessments for some of the largest insurers, reinsurers and brokers in the world. 

Taking a macrocosm approach, the company’s models offer an open software architecture, allowing users to better understand correlated risks and to make modifications to suit specific needs.

Matthew Grant caught up with Dag Lohmann and Brandon Katz on the company’s development such as taking on strategic investment from TA Associates, and the challenges that come with modelling correlated risks such as tornadoes, tornadoes, straight-line winds and more.

Key talking points:

• The journey to strategic investment
• Innovating catastrophe modelling with advanced technology
• Client collaboration and transparency: a core ethos
• Leveraging high-resolution models for underwriting and risk assessment
• The future of catastrophe modelling and climate reporting
• Looking ahead: expansion and new developments

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define how correlation has changed the methods catastrophe modelling is conducted
• Identify the different types of government bodies that work alongside catastrophe modellers and why
• Summarise why catastrophe modelling tornados is difficult and why granularity of data can help

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 300 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Richard Hartley, CEO: Cytora: Decision ready risk - the future of commercial insurance (299)

From episodes 68, 227 and now episode 299, InsTech has consistently caught up with Cytora and followed the company’s growth and expansion. 

Alongside Google, Cytora supported InsTech’s March event in New York, after which Matthew Grant caught up with Richard Hartley on the company’s growth, entering the US market and its impact on the insurance industry.

Cytora focuses on data integration, partnering with numerous data providers to enhance the underwriter's workflow and ultimately transform manual insurance processes into digital ones.

Key talking points include:

• Developing the vision as the technology develops
• Digitizing risk - rendering it decision read
• Collating the team - collaging different backgrounds in Cytora
• Case studies - real-life examples of how Cytora helps carriers including Markel and Allianz
• Heterogenous data in a homogenous view - ecosystems
• Judgement and data - subjectivity

If you like what you're hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

To find out more about InsTech, our membership and offerings visit www.instech.co or contact us hello@instech.co

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how by partnering with different data sources, a platform provider can help an underwriter understand their data in a simpler, unified way
• Define what digitization of the insurance industry is and what it could look like
• Identify how platforms can help underwriters save time and focus on what they do best

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 299 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.