Unsurprisingly, the Future at Lloyd’s took centre stage at this year’s TINtech London Market event. Many were struck by the scale of the proposed changes and what these meant for the market as a whole. From the talks and workshops that I attended, I have picked two key changes that will not only innovate but may redefine how insurance professionals access the market.
Enabling Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
The conversations around this topic had a common theme, there needs to be a flexible approach to RPA. Many people in the market have shared their feelings around the risk of RPA. Risk not just of the ability, reliability or accuracy of RPA but also the risk of job automation and therefore the loss of jobs in the market. However, the conference highlighted that many leaders in the field had found that roles had evolved rather than reduced. It seemed that the best implementations of RPA tackled the repetitive and mundane while leaving high-value tasks to the person. Speakers saw the enhancements that RPA brings to the industry in terms of operational efficiency and streamlined processes rather than cost-savings as the driver. Less chance for human error and a bigger focus on data and the use of data to make informed decisions.
I think the market agrees that empathy is needed when helping teams to initiate the automation process. Hopefully this will ensure that it is approached in a sustainable way. As far as we can tell, many organisations are still at the infancy of the RPA journey and there is great opportunity to those companies that manage to balance the risks with the new capabilities in technology.
Next Gen Cloud Tech
We know that cloud technology is not just about cost savings. Offering Software as a Service, an online platform or Cloud-based infrastructure – however you would like to present it – delivers a new-look solution and not without challenges.
Many of the people I spoke with discussed their needs for cloud technology. The technologies that will drive success in the London Market over the coming years will rely not only on the raw power available to Cloud-based systems but also the speed and flexibility that is increasingly part of the offering. Companies also spoke about the need for online platforms for Modelling and Analytics – where the ability to capture and compare new information requires a platform that can expand, adapt, and maintain performance. We heard from speakers who had innovated in this way, with impressive results.
Overall, it was agreed that emerging technologies will require a continual reevaluation of our platform technologies. Updating software solutions often comes with its worries, especially with regards to the quality and migration of data. As far as the discussions went, it was evident that cloud technology will not address this directly – the challenges will still persist. However, what may well drive further cloud-adoption is the capability to evolve a solution to meet changing needs, without the large capital investment that traditional datacentres demand.
One thing is for certain, the Future at Lloyd's is driving a time of change. There seems to be real ambition for innovation, and we see progress in the way that the insurance industry is approaching technology. The ideas and discussions at the event reinforced for me, the understanding that the insurance professionals of the future will need new skills, and new tools and technologies to meet the challenging London Market of the 2020’s.
