Straight from the source: Top 10 insurance executive Q&As of 2022
December 28, 2022 12:48 PM
Liberty Mutual thinks digitally for customers, claims reporting
Michael Shashoua
"My vision is about how to transform how we work, to bring the business and
American Family group updates claims systems with customer-centric focus
Michael Shashoua
Beth Skogen/Beth Skogen Photography
"We've had a lot of work and a lot of learning, and also have done a lot of listening across the claims team to make sure that we're creating a brand new company and a brand new culture as we brought all of our team members together. It's making sure that we incorporate the values of the American Family Insurance Company but also recognizing individual nuances and needs of each of the companies in the American Family group."
5 Questions: MetLife global tech and operations head Bill Pappas
Nathan Golia
MetLife
"We are not tech for the sake of technology. We're not doing data for the sake of doing data. We're not doing cyber for the sake of doing cyber. We need leaders to be able to have all those capabilities that we just talked about, but also being embedded and activate that customer promise. We spend time on what type of training that you need, domain training and expertise. But also what it takes to lead today is incredibly different from what it was even 12 months ago. We have learned over the last couple of years that dollars are dollars, but people want to feel that they're belonging to a company, that there is a greater good out there."
State Farm Q&A: Small business support, digital transformation
Kaitlyn Mattson
Interview subject: Rand Harbert, executive vice president and chief agency, sales and marketing officer for State Farm
"We do want to be there, face-to-face with our customers but we also want to have a digital platform that is easy for customers to access in two ways: if you are new to state farm and for existing customers to use the site as a work partner to help them do the things they need to do and be able to do electronically."
Read the full interview.
"We do want to be there, face-to-face with our customers but we also want to have a digital platform that is easy for customers to access in two ways: if you are new to state farm and for existing customers to use the site as a work partner to help them do the things they need to do and be able to do electronically."
How Travelers sees digital helping middle-market
Kaitlyn Mattson
Interview subject: Scott Higgins, executive vice president and president of middle-market and national property, business insurance field for Travelers
"This is a renaissance period for technology and we have to be a part of the conversation. For example, the ability to take data and aggregate it in a way where you can make meaningful, thoughtful decisions that's what we're going through. Distribution is also changing. A higher percentage of our business is coming from fewer distributors and so as that happens, it forces us to think a little bit differently as well. It's an exciting period for us at the company."
Read the full interview.
"This is a renaissance period for technology and we have to be a part of the conversation. For example, the ability to take data and aggregate it in a way where you can make meaningful, thoughtful decisions that's what we're going through. Distribution is also changing. A higher percentage of our business is coming from fewer distributors and so as that happens, it forces us to think a little bit differently as well. It's an exciting period for us at the company."
The Hartford Q&A: Digital customer experience
Kaitlyn Mattson
Interview subject: Claire Burns, chief marketing and communications officer at The Hartford
"We're investing in data to inform better decisions for our employees and to understand the risk customers face. Insurance is meant to protect customers from risk but also help prevent and mitigate risk. We want to help customers face risks that are on the horizon and do it in a way that may prevent claims. We have an Internet of Things lab and a lot of the devices can help customers have better behaviors including telematics, water sensors and wearables. "
Read the full interview.
"We're investing in data to inform better decisions for our employees and to understand the risk customers face. Insurance is meant to protect customers from risk but also help prevent and mitigate risk. We want to help customers face risks that are on the horizon and do it in a way that may prevent claims. We have an Internet of Things lab and a lot of the devices can help customers have better behaviors including telematics, water sensors and wearables. "
MassMutual’s tech transformation: migrating off legacy systems
Michael Shashoua
"Getting that shared understanding of risk and shared kind of philosophy around it, is an ongoing challenge as it relates to legacy systems. People are retiring and there's key, niche institutional knowledge that you need to understand those systems enough to decide what to do with them, whether it's divest from them, deprecate them or try to optimize them, you need the people who understand them. By the day, by the week, by the year, more of that talent is becoming increasingly scarce just because of time. That reinforces the need to go fast, which then reinforces the need to make sure you can manage your risk."
Mutual of Omaha gets IT, business operations on same page
Michael Shashoua
"It's better for IT to not just be handed a requirements sheet, but to actually deeply understand that customer problem. Similarly, the business teams get a better understanding now of why it's important to fill out the data in a certain way. Those two pieces can fit together in building the customer experience that we want."
CNA brings data into the cloud, uses AI for predictive analytics
Michael Shashoua
"The buzzword in the industry right now is social inflation. We're seeing very large jury verdicts in certain cases that were not there in the past. The rate of inflation for these liability-type lawsuits is much higher than typical inflation. We're trying to get ahead of that, by understanding what drives these big claims that have the potential to become very large verdicts, and by building models that give us insights into the data, to target those early and be creative at settling them."
Chubb finds value in IoT technology to prevent losses
Michael Shashoua
Interview subject: Hemant Sarma, senior vice president and global digital Internet of Things lead at Chubb
"This also increases the value that the customer sees from an insurance carrier, which increases retention. That is a benefit of IoT that I see coming into play. IoT touches every single aspect of the insurance cycle. If you reduce losses for the customer over time, the risk profile of the customer improves. If it improves, their premium's going to be reduced over time. They get a lower deductible."
Read the full interview.
"This also increases the value that the customer sees from an insurance carrier, which increases retention. That is a benefit of IoT that I see coming into play. IoT touches every single aspect of the insurance cycle. If you reduce losses for the customer over time, the risk profile of the customer improves. If it improves, their premium's going to be reduced over time. They get a lower deductible."