6 Questions: Dennis Barnes, RGA and RGAX
April 18, 2022 6:46 AM
How did you come to RGA and take the reigns of its innovation efforts?
I joined RGA in August of 2017 and came in as an industry outsider. My background was in advertising and marketing and entrepreneurship. When RGA wanted to unite its efforts around the world and create an innovation brand under the RGAX umbrella, I was fortunate enough to come in and do that.
Our early strategy involved some early-stage investing primarily for learning and identifying partners that we could leverage potentially to find efficiencies in our business. We had three innovation brands around the world and we consolidated those to one innovation brand, RGAX.
Our early strategy involved some early-stage investing primarily for learning and identifying partners that we could leverage potentially to find efficiencies in our business. We had three innovation brands around the world and we consolidated those to one innovation brand, RGAX.
How has that strategy evolved?
Not too far into that journey, we saw opportunities to bring solutions that were either organically created or through acquisition to our customers. You might be familiar with our partnership with TransUnion on term life and accelerated underwriting. We also bring in different types of skills to the organization and provide more value to the customers. A few years into doing that, we realized the tension started to form between innovating and managing products and businesses with P&Ls that are trying to grow and meet client's expectations.
So as a part of a strategy refresh, which we kicked off this past fall, we took those mature capabilities and we spun them into different parts of the business – getting alignment of our risk selection and underwriting tools and moving that into one area [for example]. We took these capabilities and moved them closer to the core, and then let the RGAX team really get back to innovating.
So as a part of a strategy refresh, which we kicked off this past fall, we took those mature capabilities and we spun them into different parts of the business – getting alignment of our risk selection and underwriting tools and moving that into one area [for example]. We took these capabilities and moved them closer to the core, and then let the RGAX team really get back to innovating.
How does that play out in interacting with customers?
Instead of creating something and then taking it to our client and saying, “Would you like to try this,” we'll come up with a problem statement and approach a client and say, “Would you like to co-create? You've got an innovation team, we've got an innovation team, let’s build something together.” We're really honing in and focusing this effort on our existing clients, deepening those relationships with them. In the long term, our aspiration is reinsurance growth.
What are some of the trends impacting life insurance transformation? How is the pandemic changing perspectives?
Well, you talk about the impact on mental health of the pandemic, and it's been eye-opening over the last two years. And so we've really started talking about wellbeing – that overlap of mental health, physical health, financial health. Even on the data side, having my identity protected– there's just so much that goes into being a whole and well human. We've got several days carved out [soon] to dig into those possibilities and narrow our focus. We've seen an increase in demand and I think the time is right to promote awareness and engage more people.
How do digital technologies help support products that are of higher value to consumers in this era?
There's an opportunity to re-establish long-term care with all the emerging technologies that are out there. There’s a “sandwich generation” who are trying to manage life at home, a career and a parent with health issues, You can go back into mental health, things like dementia and Alzheimer's and areas where we know these issues are gonna have a big societal impact and an impact on our insurance clients and us as a reinsurer. We are all in on the notion of wellbeing and trying to figure out what's our role in helping solve parts of this problem,
We've even invested in a few Internet of things companies, one of them is K4Connect. There’s monitoring of older adults and as the adult caregiver, I can know whether someone’s opened the fridge in the last three days or not, or left the back door open. That's an interesting tech for us to watch.
We've even invested in a few Internet of things companies, one of them is K4Connect. There’s monitoring of older adults and as the adult caregiver, I can know whether someone’s opened the fridge in the last three days or not, or left the back door open. That's an interesting tech for us to watch.
What about something that’s less mature that you think could be enabled more in the near future?
One thing I think P&C has come a long way with that life and health hasn't is around embedded insurance. We've been thinking about the possible applications of embedded and ways to reach new audiences. Being a purpose-driven company, we're trying to get financial protection in more hands with more robust benefits
That's another one of those areas where partnerships are going to be key. We need to find the platforms that already engage consumers and where they might add an insurance solution. An example of an organization that we've been exploring is within the cruise line industry. Imagine as a consumer having just watched stories of people on cruise ships during the pandemic. And if they could offer from the moment you step on the ship to the moment you step off coverage, whether it's a health issue or accident, there's a benefit. It could be a click away consumer choice, or it could be just embedded in the ticket. The pace is ever increasing. We need to be ahead of the curve, looking around the corner, understanding what's coming and being able to provide some insights to our customers.
That's another one of those areas where partnerships are going to be key. We need to find the platforms that already engage consumers and where they might add an insurance solution. An example of an organization that we've been exploring is within the cruise line industry. Imagine as a consumer having just watched stories of people on cruise ships during the pandemic. And if they could offer from the moment you step on the ship to the moment you step off coverage, whether it's a health issue or accident, there's a benefit. It could be a click away consumer choice, or it could be just embedded in the ticket. The pace is ever increasing. We need to be ahead of the curve, looking around the corner, understanding what's coming and being able to provide some insights to our customers.