The Leadership in Insurance Podcast - Insurtech & Innovation

Welcome to the latest edition of the leadership in insurance podcast.   In this week's episode, we were lucky enough to be joined by James YorkJames is the founder and CEO of Worry + Peace which is a review-led marketplace for the insurance market  In this episode we talk about:   Why are worry and peace not a comparison site?  Why would it not want to be  Why insurance should be brought and not sold  The inherent danger of comparison sites   Why reviews aren’t buyer-centric and how Worry + Peace changes this   It's as important to know why you don’t choose a provider as to why you did  The quandary of how we judge insurance vs how we evaluate which cover to buy   The social good of insurance Is the price worth the promise?   How do we give reviews context? What does a 5-star review actually mean?  The importance of being mission-led in a start-up  Failure – the MBA of entrepreneurship!  Transparency in the new insurance model – the key to success?  The benefit in networking and operating as an industry to evolve change   Purpose – why is it important?  Achieving innovation in insurance means we need to think bigger than insurance  The need for a generational change in leadership to embrace innovation  Can you be too profitable to innovate?  What James has learned from being involved in Insurtech UK?  Thanks to James for being a great guest    This podcast was brought to you by FinPro​​​​​​ an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex BondPlease like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast we were joined by Ron Glozman  Ron is the CEO and founder of Chisel AI a purpose-built AI-led solution for the Insurance marketIn today's episode we talked about:   How creating an app for students to study more efficiently led him to the insurance market  How the evolution of NLP created the opportunities in insurance  How AI and machine learning can create better jobs for people in the insurance  The talent gap in the insurance market – more people retiring than joining.  We discuss how the cost-saving of Ai will be utilized? Better products? Cheaper products or shareholder value? Is there a moral imperative?  Does insurance do a poor job of attracting new entrants to the insurance market?  Should we focus on the change and innovation of insurance to get more people interested in joining the insurance industry?  Not all AI is created equal? How so – Ron explains to the layman….. me!  Off the shelf vs bespoke – both have uses but we need to understand the limitations.  Where is insurance on the automation spectrum? And where will we be in 5 years!  How machine learning can aid knowledge transfer Insurance stage of evolution vs banking  The macro challenge of education for new businesses   Is the speed of change hindered by human resistance – could you let go of the wheel in an autonomous vehicle?    Thanks to Ron for being a great guest  This podcast was brought to you by FinPro​​​​​​ an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex Bond   Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast. In today's episode, we were lucky enough to be joined by Amrit Santhirasenan.  Amrit is Co-Founder and CEO of hyperexponential or HX as it's affectionately known.HX is the company you get when you take 2 actuaries with computer science degrees and they find the software landscape lacking! HX provides software solutions for insurance companies with their flagship, next-generation modeling platform, Renew.  In this episode we talked about:   Creativity in actuarial science  Why open-sourced solutions are by nature better – many minds make light work  Googling solutions is a good strategy!  Knowing where to look is as good as knowing.   Good documentation is a competitive advantage  How the tech stack of old insurers hinders their tech teams  HX started because Amrit kept waiting for someone to solve his tech problems – they didn’t so he had to do it  The parallels of starting a business and starting a family – plug for Amrit's excellent podcast “start-up dads”  The gritty reality of start-ups – you HAVE to want to do it. But it can be fun  As co-founders how do you decide who has what role?   We discuss my “less than average” leadership skills  The value of every component of the business – a business as a system and striking binmen!  Why take investment?  The huge importance of trade backing and referrals for a new business  Bootstrapping – is it useful?  How the CEO works for the team, not the other way round!  Sales teams – when to hire one? Do you need one if the product is strong enough?  How the new digital insurers have a huge leveraged advantage – new tech – no legacy   CTO roles at legacy insurers are not incentivized to change   Culture drives change and insurance suffers from Fiefdoms  How it's legitimate for profitable insurers to resist change – it's working why change it!  Thanks to Amrit for being a great guest  This podcast was brought to you by FinPro an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex Bond   Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the latest edition of the leadership in insurance podcast where we joined by Sasha Gainullin. Sasha is the CEO and Founder of battleface a tech-enabled travel insurance and services business offering truly international, customized travel cover.  In this episode we talk about:  Where the "battleface" comes from and why it's not more "travel friendly"  How travel has changed and hence the insurance cover must change with it  The unique demands on the travel claims process   Why he secretly buys travel insurance for his mum!  How the affinity insurance model of distribution can have a dangerous impact on cover  The opportunities and challenges of Covid19 impact on travel insurance  The fundamental challenge of how travel products are rated and marketed  We shouldn't be afraid of price-sensitive markets - consumers will pay for quality  Culture of mistrust between consumers and travel insurers - the impact of the "admin fee"  Why we must empower client-facing staff to make decisions  How can innovation come from C-Suite if they are the mots removed from customers?  Funding an Insurtech - and the impact of the Pandemic  Working with the right partners - "marriage should be easy" a lesson from Sashas Aunt!  How the virtual Xmas party went down - why he got asked to "shut up"  The importance of being Human!  Thank you to Sasha for being a great guest.  This podcast was brought to you by FinPro an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex Bond Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast.   In today's episode, I was joined by the CEO of Retechnica, Marco IannoneRetechnica is a business that extracts meaning from Data using artificial intelligence offering both a technology solution and consultancy services to a wide range of clients.We originally reached out to Marco because of his participation in Lloyd's lab. Marco had not previously applied the Ingenia service to the insurance market so I wanted to talk with him about his experience in applying AI to not just the Insurance market but other industries that may be more advanced than Insurance with respect to AI and learn about the best practice and its application to insurance.  In today's episode we talked about:   Being invited to Lloyd's lab and how it compares to other lab environments  How AI has progressed infancy to wide adoption  Product creation leading to service creation  What is Co-creation in respect of AI consultancy?   Marco has a great example of how AI can supplement team members  Augmentation vs automation  AI can lead to greater work-life balance and fulfillment  The complexity of insurance suggests a greater use case for augmentation   Many opportunities for AI in insurance: which has the most ROI?  Are insurance participants ready to engage with an external partner in AI?  Challenge of large companies to automate - not just technical Embracing technological change "a muscle" that can be trained  Importance of talent and the movement of talent to helping an industry embrace change  The embracing of change to automation is "grittier" than expected - resilience is required  It's key to define what success looks like!  Automation shouldn't just be on cost reduction it can lead to new products or a premium product  Getting the right people to champion automation/modernization is key to success   Top-down support is required to achieve automation   Beware SNAKEOIL in AI efforts - plenty being sold!   Thank you to Marco for being a great guest.  This podcast was brought to you by FinPro​​​​ an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex BondPlease like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the latest edition of the Leadership in Insurance Podcast. In this episode, I was lucky enough to be joined by Peter Clarke.Peter is CEO and Founder of Insurecore. Insurercore is a professional networking site exclusively for Insurance practitioners helping improve the market's inefficiencies and encourage networking in a more professional context.   In this episode, we talk about:   Micro-social media networking sites and why Linkedin isn't fit for purpose.  How a social networking site doesn't replace face to face meetings but enhances the relationship  How the pandemic and increased working from home has enhanced the need for social media  Why Insurercore couldn't have been built by someone from outside the market   The nuances of the market and the knowledge aren't being shared - a network is a way of doing that  Peter selling his house to launch a start-up when he had just been promoted!  The challenge of launching a platform - chicken and egg  Your assumptions aren't always correct - the audience dictates how they like to use it  The democratization of opportunity - the importance of enhanced networking within that  Better networks mean more business  Culture biggest prohibitor of change in Insurance  The cost base of Lloyd's shows how resistant to change the market is - it hasn't changed for 50 years  Technology should enhance the best parts of insurance Innovation is challenging everything you do - even your scanning!  By the time you "earn the right" to have your say you are often indoctrinated into the insurance market - this inhibits change  Fail fast isn't useful unless you are learning and find out why you fail!  Getting feedback from clients is key to success BUT... they are not always right!  The secret to successful change - keep trying new things  Training on systems - shouldn't they be intuitive enough?  Using platforms vs fully utilizing platforms  The importance of non-execs - filling the gaps in your knowledge  Thanks so much to Peter for being a great guest  This podcast was brought to you by FinPro an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex Bond.Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In today's episode, we are joined by the brilliant Dickie Whitaker Dickie has a portfolio of businesses and ventures he is involved with but in this episode, we focussed on his work with Oasis Loss Modelling FrameworkIn this episode we talk about:  The reason to start a business - find a problem large enough to solve that people will pay for it  Why "we have always done it this way" is the very reason to change "that way"  How important diversity - in all forms, create brilliant teams  How startup teams are not created equal - and how that's good.   Why team structures should be fluid  European vs US start-up psychology (Huge sweeping generalization warning!)   What does innovation mean?   We hear why Dickie is uncomfortable about Innovation teams in companies  Why culture is everything and why we can be so bad at articulating it within Insurance  Why "work hard, play hard" needs to be replaced with "work smart, play......how you like!"  The pandemic has shone a light on the "last person in the office" culture of office work  The importance of collaboration in the industry to innovation Collaboration starts with trust  The role of insurance in society and its unique position to impact society  Collaboration can't just is volunteers it needs rigour and structure and the best talent!  The best people don't always or don't often volunteer! (Open goal for a recruitment professional!)  The benefit of blissful ignorance in building anything  The importance of looking forward as opposed to looking back   Thanks to Dickie for being a great guest - a really enjoyable discussion.This podcast was brought to you by FinPro​​ an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex Bond  Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode, I was joined by Frank Perkins who is CEO of INARI.IO INARI.IO is an Instech operating out of Barcelona. They offer a next-generation insurance platform, they digitize and virtualize the different things that happen in the life cycle of risk.   In this episode we discuss Startups are not for everyone - creativity is as important as hard work  How the people that join at inception may not be the people to necessarily take you to completion  "Is the juice worth the squeeze" Insurance is big enough to have many problems to solve but is it a big enough issue  Insurers cannot tackle small problems - Instechs can  Innovation can be any change that creates value  The insurance culture of the fast follower can inhibit innovation   Fresh eyes to insurance are important but regulation requires insider knowledge  We should always be asking how change or innovation impacts the customers  We need to tackle each point of innovation to make things better in the aggregate for the commercial customer  Restrictions of regulated businesses and the MVP tech model   Insurance isn't broken   Connected technology is key to the future success of insurance  How connectivity between technologies is key to progress and also how consumers will judge tech  Buy vs make - the shift of mindset over time - integrate vs make job roles in insurers  Cost vs Risk with buying or making tech   Teams are built on skill, luck, and serendipity  The best definition of Innovation so far - "slightly rounder wheels"   Thanks to Frank for being a great guest - I mention the Star Wars background - you can see this on the YouTube channel so go check it out.This podcast was brought to you by FinPro​​ an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex Bond. Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of the leadership in Insurance Podcast, we were lucky to be joined by Antonin de BenoistAntonin is the COO and Co-Founder of Allphins a SaaS analytics and exposure management tool for the insurance industry  In this episode we talked about:   Antonin's entry into the insurance world from the world of finance  How do Co-founders decide who takes what role? COO or CEO?   Station F Paris incubator campus set up   How important start-up "campus" ecosystems are for new businesses for visibility  Bootstrapping vs external capital raising - why do it?  Benefits of running lean How working on Oil and Gas projects gave visibility of how insurers were underutilizing their data  The importance of Insurance companies knowing what they don't know Impact of theLloyd's lab - the importance of being able to ask the stupid question  Culture of insurance and how positive it is towards a new start-up  The importance of natural language processing to enabling AI in insurance  How AI isn't replacing underwriting its enabling better decisions  The Lloyd's lab experience and how it isn't your typical incubator - it's much more practical  What was surprising about Lloyd's as a market to someone who was from outside the market  The sales cycle challenge for start-ups: long, slow does not help with cash flow  What they learned in the energy sector and how it might apply to other insurance lines  Impact of awards on the visibility to investment capital  The drain on resources of a small when trying to raise investment  Impact of the pandemic on Allphins growth and development  The technological debt built by the pandemic and the opportunity for Instech businesses  Thank you so much to Antonin for being a great guest and spending time with me in a very busy year. Congratulations to Allphins on their success to date and we look forward to seeing what they achieve in 2021.  This podcast was brought to you by FinPro ​ an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex BondPlease like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of the Leadership in Insurance podcast I was lucky to be joined by Paul Prendergast.  Paul is the CEO and founder of Blink Parametric.  Blink is a delivery platform that allows insurance industry partners to create parametric solutions.  In this wide-reaching conversation we talked about:   Why Blink runs towards the "fires" solving solutions  How parametric solutions reduce the unit cost of insurance  Embracing technology to give greater visibility of risk  How starting with the end customer can be the wrong approach - blink start with the underwriter  Insurance as a social good - we sometimes forget that  Why the MVP (minimum viable product) cant work in the insurance space  All businesses as technology companies  Despite frustration with the speed of change, there is a huge passion, intellectual capacity, and scale in the insurance industry  The secret sauce in startups - complimentary teams - Tech is key but it must have sales  Why sales is such a dirty word in the technology space  How attitudes of successful  Instech startups in 2021 are different to 5 years ago - less adversarial Impact of social media on insurance   Insurance is cool - Insuring Elon Musks' rocket!  New entrants to insurance don't grow the market unless they solve a new problem or offer a different solution Innovation is about culture, not projects and process  How the size of the team impacts innovation  What's to stop insurers from being the AWS of insurance platforms  Technology first - how incumbents are held back by required regulatory technology changes  Innovation in insurance comes from unexpected places and so much more.  Thanks to Paul for being a great guest - I probably had 4 people tell me I had to Paul on the podcast as he is a true innovator and forward-thinking tech and insurance entrepreneur and he didn't disappoint.   This podcast was brought to you by FinPro an executive recruitment business that works in the Insurance and Instech space   Our host is FinPro Director, Alex Bond  Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.