Scouting for Growth Oliver Wyman Series: Brian McDermott – Inside Victors $3bn InsurTech Success
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On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Brian McDermott, Chief Information Officer at Victor Insurance.
This podcast will be a little bit different. As Steven Abel is going to join us to highlight the value of the Oliver Wyman relationship with Victor Insurance, as a subsidiary of Marsh McLennan. Indeed, in the complex world of business, speed to value when delivering technology is critical & Victor Insurance has found a critical partner in delivering tech among others with the Oliver Wyman team.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- An MGA is a company appointed by the insurer, typically the carrier, to exercise supervision & oversight on specific & targeted insurance programmes. We do everything an insurance company does but we don’t source the capital, the carrier is the source of capital for us, they manage the risk in terms of the capital. We underwrite the risk on behalf of others & we do a lot of the administration on behalf of the carrier, claims processing, servicing, transaction processing, connecting with the broker, handling of insurance fees & processing of any financial aspects.
- We operate in 8 countries. The majority of the revenues & premiums derive from the US, around 80% left-side of the globe, 20% right-side. But, we do see immense opportunity on the right-side of the globe because it’s an untapped opportunity in territories with products & service offerings that we can provide. That’s a key strategic focus as we proceed.
- Typically, InsurTechs’ challenges include having great product but limited premium running through the platform because of the leverage they have with their carriers to bring those products onto the platform.
- We differ from Marsh McLennan in that we’re a full, front to back insurance company: We do placement of products through our digital portal experiences, policy servicing, claims processing, data reporting & analytics, & underwriting. Marsh McLennan are a re-insurance broker, they don’t typically do underwriting. Our technology environments differ in that they’re built for different scale – we’re low premium, high volume, March McLennan operate in a different market segment; enterprise, high-end businesses, we operate in small/micro market. We have to build scalable, fast products whereas Marsh is more of a heavy touch relationship-based business with their clients. So it’s difficult to align with them completely but there are a number of areas around complimentary services.
BEST MOMENTS
‘We’re trying to become the Amazon for brokers in the small, commercial & speciality marketplace.’
‘One of the key challenges I have is to make sure that we can modernise while we integrate as we go on our journey towards the future.’
‘We sit in the middle of the value chain with the broker on the left hand side, supporting the insured, & the carrier on the right, they provide the capital to us.’
‘We need to make sure that we harvest the data insights that we have: historical claims & underwriting data - & augment it with tools like machine learning, AI, data ingestion & enrichment.’
ABOUT THE GUESTS
Brian McDermott is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Victor Insurance, a leading global provider of specialty insurance programs & a subsidiary of Marsh McLennan.
Brian brings a wealth of experience to his role, with a career spanning more than 30 years in diverse industries such as retail, insurance, finance, & government.
Known for his disruptive thinking and innovation within the IT field, Brian is constantly exploring new ways to leverage contemporary technology & drive digital transformation within the insurance industry.
In his role as CIO, Brian is keen to embrace modern technologies & help drive the agenda within the broader Marsh McLennan corporation. His unique perspective, stemming from Victor Insurance's position as a high-volume, highly transacting business, enables him to provide valuable input on the digital connection between the market & the brokers & clients they work with.
As a partner at Oliver Wyman, Steven helps clients solve complex problems & lead teams to deliver insights that you can trust. Steve acquired over 25 years of experience in consulting & executive roles, delivering value to organizations via smart technological deployment.
Steve’s specialties include program management, operations, shared services, enabling technologies, business process reengineering, finance leading practices, insurance products & data, actuarial platforms, machine learning, AI, cloud solutions, business & technical architecture.
Steve is passionate about helping clients achieve their strategic goals & optimize their performance, while fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, & excellence.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.