Personal Sustainability for Today’s Insurance Professional

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By: Bernd G. Heinze, Esq., President of Heinze Group, LLC

Over the past 36 years, it has been a privilege to continue working in the insurance marketplace: first as an insurance defense and coverage trial attorney, vice-president and national chief litigation counsel for a property and casualty insurance company, executive director of a professional insurance trade association, and now as a legal and insurance executive today. During these years, I have been able to observe what makes a leading professional and the values that will sustain them as they ascend through their career. Here are five thoughts to consider:

  1. Differentiate Yourself. There are thousands of insurance professionals in the industry. What makes you stand out from the rest? Be a sponge and absorb everything you can read, observe, hear and see. Then, find one thing, just one thing, and become an expert in it. Be the “go-to” person on that topic in your organization and to its customers. You can start a podcast, blog, or offer to speak at functions.
  2. Stay humble, loyal and caring. No matter what your role is throughout your career, consider the organizational chart as horizontal versus vertical. Take an interest in and treat everyone respectfully and on the same level as you. It is an uncommon trait these days. Remember, what’s more important…a professional title on your business card or the testimony of how you will be remembered? When you’ve made it into a management or leadership role, forget about “empowering” your team. Inspire them! Don’t just give them tools and resources, give them your heartfelt interest, encouragement, and inspiration of goals they can achieve by exemplifying your personal brand of leadership. Share the credit. No one gets where they want to go alone.
  3. Never eat lunch alone. Everyone has a story to tell. The insurance business is still built on trusted relationships. The more we share that golden hour with others, the more we can learn, expand, and foster our professional network. Watch those new ideas and opportunities harvested from a conversation over a salad, soup or sandwich and a Diet Pepsi.
  4. Burn the Boxes. Remember the phrase “think outside the box”? Forget about it. The boxes and those who think outside of them are history. Don’t look back for inspiration from them: you’re not going that way. Think ahead and of writing on a blank canvass or iPad screen and ask the question: “What if?” It’s more important to ask the best questions than having all the answers. In today’s marketplace, we’re all looking for the next big idea or how to change the paradigm. Constantly challenge the status quo and use your own personal skills to creatively develop that new portrait and landscape.
  5. Serve your community. Get involved in a non-profit, your church, temple or synagogue, little league, 4-H, or senior center. Rather than asking “what’s in it for me?” ask “How can I serve?” You will exponentially lift up the lives of others and yours in the process. Life is balancing yourself, family, profession, and spending yourself in a worthy cause.

Today is best time to be in the insurance marketplace. Thanks for what you’ve done and all you’re going to do. You’ve got this. Make a difference. Leave a mark. Be sustainable.

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The Path Well Chosen

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By: Catherine Reese, Chief Claims Officer at Tower Hill Insurance Group

No matter what path you choose in insurance, you’re helping people.  From Underwriting to Claims, our industry is focused on reducing risk, protecting people from economic devastation, and making them whole when a loss occurs.  As we move through 2019, we’re doing that in a world that’s rapidly evolving with new risks, changing expectations, and a shifting talent framework.

A quickly changing world means that new risks are surfacing faster than ever. 

ADAS systems reduce the risk of crashes, but can increase severity and lull drivers into false complacency.  The gig economy brings in income, but many participating don’t understand the coverage gaps renting a room, delivering food, or driving people to the airport in assets that were previously 100% personal can create.  We carry devices in our pockets that send data on where we are and what we’re doing to a dozen companies, but rarely know the end use of that data.  Pictures of our children feed into facial recognition on social media, and even DNA goes online.  New products and endorsements continue to evolve as these challenges arise, and it’s also our goal to educate our customers as their lifestyles evolve.

As our customers interact with more Amazon and Uber-like platforms, their expectations continue to shift.  Policyholders want to be able to get information on demand and follow policy acquisition and claims as closely as they do an online order.  IOT-driven usage and behavior-based products have customers taking a more active role in their products and pricing, however each customer will have unique comfort levels.  Early adopters and innovators may be comfortable buying a policy online, letting their connected home monitor their water use, tasking Alexa to report a claim for them, watching a YouTube video about the Claims process, integrating their Google calendar for an inspection appointment, and seeing updates through push notifications.  But others may not be comfortable enough with either technology or insurance to take that approach, and will need a hybrid of personal, device-supported, and automated touches.

To personalize the digital and personal experience for each customer, our industry has to keep evolving our approach to talent.  Automation is a fantastic tool to support this evolution, as it speeds up or eliminates “if-then” and widget moving processes, giving insurance professionals the ability to focus on decision making, emotional intelligence, and simplifying processes for our customers.  This shift from more tactical duties to higher-level tasks and strategic thinking is positive, but it requires adaptation from our professionals as they distill information from more sources than ever before, then determine the best way to personalize that information for the customer through dozens of potential channels.

Talent strategies will have to recruit, train, and retain skill sets that may not exist yet, all while distilling the invaluable institutional knowledge of our long-time professionals.  Customers and employees expect flexibility, and that flexibility has to be enabled by the right systems and communication strategies.  It’s an exciting time to be in insurance, because with new risk comes more opportunities than ever before to fulfill insurance’s foundation of protecting others.

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Digital Insurance: Technologies and Strategies Driving Insurance into the Connected Age

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The ability to accurately discern the past and predict the future based on nothing but data points and the experience of actuaries and adjusters has served the industry well up to now. Insurance is, after all, a multi-billion-dollar, truly global industry. While this remains the case, the landscape is now radically different to the past, thanks in part to the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT). The use of these technologies that collect, record and transmit live data has proliferated exponentially over the past decade, and for a data-reliant industry like insurance, the impact has already been profound.

They may already seem ubiquitous but estimates of how many IoT devices will connect our cars, homes, communities, medical services and work lives by the year 2020 range from 30 billion[i] to 50 billion[ii]. Whatever the precise number, this will generate (and already is) a huge amount of data to be analyzed and monetized.

This increase in the quality and quantity of available data is already producing some significant outcomes; the process of writing policies can now be far better informed by what is known about the risk level of an individual or entity, as opposed to simply what is known about the claims generated by an entire class of risk. Some carriers have already begun this transition; John Hancock, for example, announced in 2018 that all new life insurance policies must henceforth use digital fitness trackers to monitor policyholders[iii]. Using the high-quality, objective data derived from IoT, it is now possible to assess claims more accurately and efficiently, and in some cases, even prevent them from arising entirely.

“IoT is already enabling customers to avoid bad things happening to them. Some people call it prevention. I see it as empowerment of customers.”

Nick Ayrdon, Head of Strategy & Development at Aviva

In turn, this is changing how insurers interact with customers, both before and after a claim, with one executive predicting that that we are in fact “shifting from a claims-handling business to a claims prevention one”. As the value proposition of exchanging data for value becomes more concrete, it could become a strong pull-factor driving uptake of connected insurance products. And yet, already operating in an environment of squeezed profits, high regulation and low consumer trust, the industry is witnessing something of a perfect storm at present.

There is no question as to whether the global insurance industry is going to go digital, and most of the industry understands why it will. The real problem for most is how it should happen and creating an environment in which they can maximize the value of insurance technology. As Michael Lebor states, this is not simply a case of reorganizing a particular department or function: “In my opinion, IoT is not a product, it’s a paradigm shift, a completely different way for technologies to interact with each other. Devices are going to be talking to each other, there are going to be hubs, and we must leverage that throughout the entire lifecycle of our product, whether for distribution, or on-boarding customers, or using it for claims and first notice of claims. It’s not one product, it’s a holistic way of thinking.”

Any transformation of this nature will invariably lead to substantive changes in how insurance carriers operate internally and whereas digital insurance projects were generally siloed to innovation departments in the past, executives agree that is starting to change. While the survey found that only 14% of senior management teams were currently affected by the introduction of insurance technology, the most commonly cited reason was that initiatives had not yet reached the point where it had become necessary (the implication being that management will take a more active stance when projects have scaled sufficiently).

Similarly, American Family Business Development Manager, Shaun Wilson, suggests “until there are a lot of devices providing a lot of data about specific risks, the carrier is not going to have the insights about whether or not these devices mitigate risks to any level of significance. That’s the promise of this approach, but nobody has enough data yet to validate the hypothesis.” As carriers leverage connected technology more and the impact on the business deepens, however, we can expect to see greater top-down management and involvement from board level stakeholders[iv].

To provide a comprehensive overview of the progress and prospects of Connected Insurance, Insurance Nexus have produced the Connected Insurance Report, an in-depth study of the progress of insurance technology globally, today, and in the future.

As the industry begins to understand how it can exploit the possibilities of connected and insurance technology, the Connected Insurance Report has crystalized the concerns of those tasked with turning an unprecedented technological revolution into market-ready products. At first glance, one might assume that the ability to learn more about the risks they are insuring should allow both for policies to closely follow the risk over time, and secondly that the ability to gather more information about a claim will discourage fraud. The net result should therefore be greater profit for companies, and lower premiums for their customers.

At second glance, it is just as clear that the picture is much more complicated than that. As we talked to more and more executives, it became apparent that the industry is only just beginning to work through the practical problems it faces. Indeed, questions as basic as the best way to install a sensor in a building are still the subject of lively debate. Ultimately, the world of insurance may be next in line for the kind of creative destruction that the tsunami of digitisation had brought to IT, telecoms, media, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, financial and business services.

The Connected Insurance Report was researched and produced by Insurance Nexus in collaboration with the IoT Insurance Observatory. It is the first of its kind to conceive of insurance IoT holistically, as a paradigm shift necessitating changes in insurer business models, organisational structures and technology stacks. Insurance Nexus surveyed the experiences of more than 500 insurers and reinsurers to assess where they sit in the connected insurance market and to extract the challenges they face and their stories of success.

Along with a panel of 20 industry leaders who have been operating at the sharp end of the IoT revolution, Insurance Nexus looked at these hurdles and opportunities and pulled them apart to provide readers with the case studies with actionable insights to help guide decision-making as the industry tackles its own strategic milestones.

[i] https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/popular-internet-of-things-forecast-of-50-billion-devices-by-2020-is-outdated

[ii] https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/insight-insurance-internet-things

[iii] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45590293

[iv] https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2019/03/insurtech-trends-2019.pdf

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What Is Your Plan For Change?

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By: Stephanie Behnke, Vice President, Claims Strategy and Business Solutions at The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.

Everywhere we turn, we see that our industry is changing…rapidly. For the most part, we look forward to the evolution of digital technology, artificial intelligence and more insightful data analytics. But for every new technology we deploy, there is a ripple effect through our organizations that is easily overlooked. While change is constant, and we’re warned to prepare our teams for it, we often don’t hear how we should prepare, nor do we make change an intentional and measurable part of our projects.

When we manage change well, we remove uncertainty, anxiety and fear. We empower our teams to safely challenge, question and adapt to what is happening around them. Regardless of the change management technique you select, the data is clear; projects that include change management as a part of project discipline are up to 40% more likely to succeed. Now that we’ve established that change management is critical, how do you get started?

All change management has one thing at its center: People. To succeed with any initiative, it is important to recognize where your team currently is, and where you’re asking them to go. Does the project touch one part of your organization or many? Will there be downstream consequences to other teams? Are you changing a core capability, or just augmenting it? Knowing how significant the change will be for your team drives the program itself. Small changes require less rigor, significant changes require more frequent one-on-one employee interactions.

A quick change readiness assessment before a kickoff can help managers gauge the receptivity of their organization and identify any gaps in skills, knowledge or interests. Since research suggests it takes 66 days to form a habit, be sure your plan allows team members enough time to become acquainted with the new tool or process, and plenty of time to practice new skills. Setting up a test environment is a great stress-free way to introduce new technology.

Wherever possible, pilot teams should be established to help build change champions. Posting adoption metrics can generate enthusiasm and create friendly competition while focusing teams on a common goal. Finally, rewarding adoption and sponsorship should be used to incentivize teams to continue good habits.

To get the most value from your change management program, integrate it into your overall project plan by including and tracking key milestones and metrics. The objectives and success factors that you publish set the tone for the project and put a focus on results. Just bringing discipline to your process can help increase visibility and remove uncertainty.

Using a mature change management discipline, such as the ADKAR Method, may help your teams stay informed of what is changing and why, while creating an enthusiasm and desire for change. It also helps to ensure the right training has been deployed and test your organization’s abilities long before deployment. Finally, this method helps establish reinforcement programs that reward team members for embracing change.

So, before you launch that next project, ask yourself “What’s my plan for change?”

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Taking Charge of Your Career

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By: Dan Franzetti, Chief Operating Officer, QBE North America

With the advent of many new technologies and rapidly evolving threats such as cyber, the insurance industry is a very dynamic place to be. In my 25-plus years in the business, I can’t think of a more exciting time. And the industry needs new leaders. There’s a large cohort of senior leaders set to retire in the next decade. Replacing them is a significant industry issue.

Given this backdrop, young insurance professionals have a tremendous opportunity to rise and steer their careers in directions they will find stimulating, challenging, and rewarding. But it is not one that can be taken for granted. The old days of doing a great job in your current position and expecting the company to notice you and hand-hold your way up the career ladder have long gone. In fact, I’m not sure they ever existed.

I recall a point more than 20 years ago when I asked a senior executive about my career and what he and the company were thinking. His response was a mildly rude surprise. He said he was paying little attention to my career. He said when he woke up and took his shower every morning, he was contemplating his career and professional development and what his next moves should be. He advised me to do the same for myself.

While I was taken aback at the time, I took his advice. From then on, I redoubled my efforts on plotting my career path, setting goals, and deepening and broadening my capabilities. Now I owe him a debt of gratitude.

The approach that has worked for me starts with thinking about the job I want to be doing two to perhaps five years in the future. Sometimes, this is the hardest part because there’s no objective right or wrong answer. To make the decision, it helps to have relationships with people in a broad set of areas and levels who can give you perspectives.

Once I have decided the job objective, I think about the skills and relationships I need to achieve it. The relationship part is very important. That’s how you inspire people to teach you the skills and think of you when the right job becomes available. I then write down in detail a plan and timetable for acquiring the skills and relationships. Holding yourself accountable is key. I assess my progress every month.

Progress often requires moving laterally instead of up so that you learn and gain perspectives that will eventually help in higher positions. In my career, I’ve moved laterally as often as upwardly.

While you can’t expect your company to take responsibility for your career, you should look for ones that provide the environment for you to grow. For instance, at QBE we provide tools and training for employees to create their development plans and encourage regular sessions with their managers to discuss progress and possibilities. A willingness to take and act upon constructive feedback is the best way to grow. The insurance industry holds great promise for young professionals, and by taking charge of your development and growth, you can have a very long and rewarding career.

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