Agenda
2021 Tech event agenda
2021 Agenda
09:15 – 10:00
Tech Talks: What Now for the Digital Strategy?
Panel discussion discussing what next for the digital strategy in insurance
Over the last year, what were once 5 year digital strategies were condensed into a matter of months as companies reacted to the limitations of the pandemic. The pace of change, already fast, has got faster! We will be asking our panel:
- What does this mean for digital strategies moving forward?
- Did digital tools already in place stand up to the test of Covid? How would you asses digitalisation’s role throughout the pandemic?
- Do future strategies need to consider the large-scale events like the pandemic or are they immune to volatile markets and external chaos?
- How did your company look to utilise its digital strategy over the last year? Was it a case of starting from scratch or tweaking what was already in place?
Stephanie began writing about insurance over 12 years ago when she joined the Post team as a reporter in 2004. Since then she has worked her way various roles on the magazine and became editor in 2013.
In addition to writing about the insurance industry, Stephanie also has a thing or two to say about it, and is often asked to comment on various areas of the industry on television and radio.
As editor, Stephanie is also heavily involved in the brand's events, and is instrumental on both the Rehabilitation First Awards, and the British Insurance Awards judging panels.
Over 10 years of experience leading large-scale change in both the public and private sector within a number of different industries: financial services, broadcasting, betting and gaming, digital, government.
Proven track record of delivery across a wide spectrum of initiatives: IT (greenfield, re-platforming, migrations, cloud; agile and waterfall), wholescale operating model transformation, merger and acquisition, new product launches, and process re-engineering.
After starting his career in motor underwriting, Peter switched to broking, and eventually led a management buy-out of the UK commercial division of Farr in 2000 which he then named FMW Risk Services Ltd. He grew this business to approximately £25m gross written premium before selling the business in December 2007 to Oval. In 2012 Peter was appointed Chief Executive of Oval and he ran the business through until its eventual sale to Arthur J. Gallagher which completed in April 2014.
In May 2015 Peter concluded a management buy-in of Aston Scott and then led the merger with Lark Group in 2017. As Group CEO of Aston Lark he now leads a business with circa 1,500 staff operating from offices across the UK and Ireland and writing approximately £650m of gross written premium. Aston Lark is backed by the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs alongside Bowmark Capital LLP.
Peter is also non-executive chairman at Hastings Insurance Services Ltd, the broker arm of Hastings Direct, and up until recently served as chairman of the Large Brokers’ Advisory Board at the British Insurance Brokers Insurance Association (BIBA). He is currently Deputy President of the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Peter lives in Colchester with his wife, Sue, and has three children aged 21, 19 and 14 and his hobbies include cycling, golf, shooting and watching rugby.
Vivek is the Managing Director of Polaris UK, which is an insurance industry owned organisation that promotes and facilitates digital trading within the industry. Currently this is done by providing digital trading Standards, the industry’s most widely used rating engine ProductWriter and the imarket gateway that connects broker back office systems to Commercial Lines insurer systems. Polaris’ products and services are used by over a hundred organisations in the industry and Vivek reckons it is the industry’s oldest insurtech, set up long before the word insurtech was coined. Vivek is responsible for developing the organisation’s strategic priorities in consultation with its Board of Directors, who are senior leaders from Polaris’ shareholding organisations, both insurers and brokers.
Prior to joining Polaris in February 2019, Vivek was the Chief Digital Officer for Gallagher UK, leading the development of a multi-product, multi-country digital distribution platform and a variety of targeted online and mobile apps. Before Gallagher, Vivek worked for Brit Insurance and for NIG, primarily leading the development of their online distribution propositions. Vivek has over seventeen years of experience in digital distribution of general insurance. He has also chaired the British Insurance Brokers Association’s cross-industry Innovation Working Group and was a member of TechNation’s Insurtech Board for its first three years.
15:00 – 15:45
Tech Talks: Insurtech Insights and the Industry Disruptors
Panel discussion investigating the opportunities, challenges and market trends in the insurtech space
Our panel discussion will be held with representatives from the insurtech space, firms disrupting the industry and innovators who are trailing new solutions, built on a digital foundation. The analysis and discussion within this session will be covering:
- How insurers aim to become agile and nimble, regardless of size of policy portfolio
- Building a culture of innovation – what can we take from the pandemic to trial a new approach to digital solutions?
- How can insurtechs bring new products to customers that larger insurers are unable to and exploit market opportunities?
- What pitfalls and obstacles must be overcome when building out a totally digital business operation
Phil has a long track record in start ups having built three business’ in the insurance sector, the last of them becoming the largest white label supplier of general Insurance in the UK. He went on to invest (and Chair) a number of business’ from music, to sports clothing to the insurance sector, and worked with a range of Private Equity Houses in their insurance related investments such as Simply Business, winner of 'Best Company to Work For' two years running. Alongside this he chaired two charities and spent 10 years as Deputy Chair of his local hospital. In 2017, Phil stepped back into the front line setting up DeadHappy to take on Life insurance, and with Venture capital support, is aiming to completely change the customer experience and purpose of the product.
James is Development Director for Ki Insurance, the Brit incubated digital challenger insurer. His role is to lead on technological, product and strategic developments for the business. James joined Brit Insurance in 2019 as Head of Innovation to setup and lead the innovation function. Previously he setup the InsurTech Gateway at Hambro Perks, an early stage insurtech venture capital fund and co-founded Pluto, an award winning travel insurance startup, backed by Zurich. Prior to Pluto, he started his career in Strategy and Corporate Finance at EY and Accenture.
David George is the founder and CEO at Bikmo, a specialist insurance brand, technology business and BCorp focussed on cycling and adventure sports.
You experience the world from your bike. It is a unique feeling only you know and you deserve a partner who preserves this feeling at all cost.
Insurance today is broken. It failed at serving its purpose - offering peace of mind when you need it the most. We challenge the current model of insurance is the right one.
Laka is the first company protecting the unique feeling. From exploring the world, in cities or nature, on streets or paths, defying the weather and living life to its fullest.
Ride freely, know you are covered.
Chris Frogner is co-founder and CFO of Arma Karma, a pending BCorp Insurtech start-up focused on disrupting the Next-Gen insurance market with its innovative approach. He is ultimately responsible for overseeing the day-to-day running of the business, with particular focus on tech, risk management solutions and process automation. He has a background from Bloomberg and Barclays Wealth.
09:15 – 10:00
Tech Talks: Blending Digitalisation and a Customer-Friendly Operation
Panel discussion analysing how insurers and brokers can blend technology into their customer journey
Our panel already recognises the sweeping changes that AI and automation are bringing to insurers, as well as the potential the technology offers. This panel will look to expand the discussion to uncover:
- Where in insurance AI can have the greatest impact
- How insurers ensure that customer are comfortable engaging with automated systems
- Using AI to build a smarter operation, and building the team necessary talents to maintain and update an automated system
Andy is CTO at Confused.com and was part of the founding team that pioneered the tech behind insurance comparison 18 years ago. With a mission in mind to help make customers' lives easier, Andy and his team are always striving to enhance how we use tech to bring better services and products to the industry.
Alan is the Portfolio Director for Ki and is responsible for the algorithm that underpins the Ki product, covering research, development and engineering. He leads a blended team of actuaries, data scientists and engineers building out what is a first for the Lloyd’s of London market. Alan joined Ki from Direct Line Group, where he was the Head of Analytics and Data Science, working with the business to drive increased value from data through the adoption of new skills, techniques and technologies. Prior to that he was at Deloitte where he built and led the machine learning practice for the Financial Services group within Risk Advisory. This primarily involved the creation of Machine Learning enabled products to help risk and operations teams do things faster and better across insurers, asset managers and banks. This included AI-driven products to monitor and manage call centres for regulated organisations, developing digital assistant software for banks and consumer goods organisations and leveraging open source datasets to better quantify corporate credit risk. At the start of his career, Alan did a short stint in academia where he completed a PhD in Particle Physics whilst working at CERN.
Tony Tarquini is European Director of Insurance at Pegasystems. He is a thought leader, advisor, mentor, conference speaker and chairman. Co-author of The InsurTECH Book (an Amazon best-seller), he applied lessons learned in success and failure from an early life as an international athlete competing against the world’s elite, to forge a successful, high profile career in insurance IT and consulting. He has won industry awards for IT innovation and created an extensive network of contacts and a strong reputation amongst the major players in the business
Tony is a graduate in Economics and Accountancy from the University of Dundee and the advanced leadership programs of both INSEAD and Henley Business School. A regular conference speaker for 30 years, Tony is frequently quoted by the industry and national press on insurance issues and has written a monthly column in Insurance Times. He appears regularly on social media, such as LinkedIn, publishing thought leadership articles, which always attract comment and debate, and is known for his ability to communicate the market's challenges and opportunities in an effective and engaging way.
Graham joined Allianz as Chief Claims Officer in June 2008 with responsibility for customer service delivery and technical integrity. He is a member of the UK Management Board reporting into our UK Chief Executive Jon Dye. Over and above his Claims responsibilities Graham has leadership for Procurement, Fraud and Complaints at a company level. Graham is a member of The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) Board and is Chairman of Thatcham at an industry level.
11:30 – 12:00
Get the Edge: Working with third parties to create an innovation success story
Interview with insurers and brokers hearing their solution success stories
Hear from insurance professionals with a technology story to tell. From successful solution implementation, to a broader look at the digital strategy, join our Get the Edge interviews to hear directly from the industry how they have embraced technology and built their digital future.
Gianni Biason, Head of Property and Specialty Solutions at Swiss Re, will be speaking to Jonathan Swift about Swiss Re's incredible success in its strategic partnership with radar satellite-based flood monitoring provider ICEYE. Hear from Gianni how the project was implemented, working in conjunction with third party solution experts and the end results of the project.
Gianni began his career with Swiss Re in 1995 in the Aviation department and joined the management team in 1999. In 2005, Gianni was named Business Expert in Aviation Treaty Underwriting. Since 2016, Gianni has been leading the development team of Swiss Re’s digital parametric platform. In 2017, he became Head of Parametric and Emerging Solutions and joined Swiss Re’s management team for Property & Casualty Solutions. Gianni the became Head of Property and Specialty Solutions in 2018 working with key global clients, brokers, FinTech and Start Ups.
12:00 – 12:30
Get the Edge: Building better data success and improving your analytics capability
Interview with insurers and brokers hearing their solution success stories
Utilisation of data has never been so important to the insurance industry, and with such vast volumes of data to analyse, data analytics has assumed a considerable role in today’s world.
Our session will investigate how insurers can take data at the fingertips and better use what’s available to transform their operation.
Listen to the very latest in our interview with David Flandro, Managing Director, HX Analytics - Howden Insurance Group.
David Flandro is Managing Director of HX Analytics, Howden Insurance Group. In this capacity, he leads HX Actuarial, Catastrophe Modelling, Advisory, Business Intelligence, and Research teams. David has held multiple positions in the sector including Global Head of Analytics, JLT Re and Global Head of Business Intelligence, Guy Carpenter. He began his broking career as a member of the Industry Analysis & Research team at Benfield. Before that, he was an equity analyst at Merrill Lynch, covering European insurance. David is frequently involved in major pitches, client relationships, and complex transactions. He has been a regular presenter at various industry forums, and he has been frequently published on several topics in the insurance and reinsurance business. David holds an MBA in financial engineering from MIT.
15:00 – 15:45
Tech Talks: The Next Tech Wave for Insurers
Panel discussion pinpointing the new solutions revolutionising the UK insurance sector
Blockchain, 5G infrastructure, cybersecurity and more. What solutions are next coming next to revolutionise insurers business models?
Digital transformation will continue apace as we move through 2021 and come out of the COVID-19 chaos. From concept to implementation, new technologies are continually optimising performance, driving efficiency and enhancing quality. As insurers look to revolutionise their operations and take advantage of the latest solution in the market, hear from experts who will discuss:
- The technologies they see as most transformative and reshaping the insurance industry
- Which solutions will genuinely allow insurers to become more customer-centric, improve pricing and create operational efficiencies
- Whether the pandemic has changed the perceptions of which technologies should be implemented to meet the new business environment
Steven Petrevski serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Data & Analytic Services at Aon. He is responsible for driving its growth strategy through new capabilities that leverage emerging technologies for digital businesses and accelerating foundational Data and Analytic Services capabilities. He joined Aon in July 2017.
Prior to joining Aon, Steve was the General Manager of Security and Fraud Solutions at First Data. As GM, he was responsible for product development, sales and support for over one thousand financial institutions and one million merchants spanning local businesses to the world’s largest retailers and banks. Before joining First Data, he was with JPMorgan Chase and focused on driving technology strategy and business development across the cyber security, fraud, and analytics sectors by leveraging emerging technology connectivity with Silicon Valley. Previously, Steve worked in multiple roles at UBS including systems development and architecture in the Investment Bank and in the Technology Strategy and Alliance function and as a technology consultant at IBM and BearingPoint.
Petrevski also advises start-ups including Nanowear, a connected-care and remote diagnostics platform utilizing cloth-based nanotechnology, that is FDA cleared and is clinically validating applications for COVID-19 and congestive heart failure; and ForgePoint Capital, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage companies in cybersecurity.
Additionally, he supports a number of charities, including The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Steve holds a BSE in Industrial and Operations Engineering from The University of Michigan and an MBA in Marketing from The University of Georgia.
Angela Moran is IS Group and UK&I director of business management at RSA Group. She has over 10 years’ of IT project, change management, and consulting experience across a range of industries including Financial Services and Oil & Gas, with broad experience shaping and leading large-scale change and workforce transformation initiatives. Angela was named in Insurance Businesses 2021 Elite Woman list and in her spare time Angela can often be found horse riding or playing polo.
James has worked in many fields of technology, both inside and outside the insurance sector, including telematics, smart home and cyber risks. From a background of fraud and crime analytics, he is currently Manager, Smart Technologies for Allianz UK, working to ensure the company is well positioned to exploit new innovations and opportunities in a world of accelerating technological change.
The Smart Technologies team at Allianz has two primary functions. The first is to maximise the potential of IoT solutions already in place (such as telematics for young drivers). The team does this by breaking down the areas of benefit (claims, pricing, fraud etc.) and analysing the data to gain a view of how the technology contributes to each area. The second function is to identify, research, trial and evaluate new technologies, which support new and emerging propositions such as smart home, smart technology for commercial lines insurance and cyber insurance.
Michael Porter has worked in InsureTech for most of his career, in particular within SAAS and digital technologies supporting property claims transformation. Michael joined Symbility Solutions Inc. in 2015 leading their UK business before taking responsibility for the business’ growth outside of North America in 2017. Since the acquisition of Symbility by CoreLogic in 2018, Michael has been leading CoreLogic’s Insurance business in Europe. Today Michael’s focus is on developing CoreLogic’s market and proposition strategy to successfully supports CoreLogic’s Customers through their claims digitisation journey and beyond. Michael has a broad range of experience in the property claims arena, having worked closely with some of Europe’s largest insurers in developing and executing on digital transformation initiatives and market first change programs over more than 10 years.