TINtech 2023 Reflections

Highlights and insights following TINtech 2023

 TINtech 2023 had a new, bigger home on the second floor at 155 Bishopsgate – the event's growth since 2009 is a testament to how technology is driving strategic change in the industry, and how harnessing it is now essential to enabling successful operating models.

Here are five reflections from the day.

Replatforming and ecosystems are a reality

It feels like we could look back on 2023 as a tipping point where the convergence of different technologies, data and ML started really driving forward and enabling a new way of working within insurance – akin to the impact of the iPhone launch in 2007, and how that changed society - and (eventually) insurance.

A number of talks during the day evidenced this, especially in the context of discussions around replatforming and the emergence of ecosystems with the potential to disrupt traditional operating and distribution models – a prospect we have been talking about for some years that is fast becoming a reality

Ben Tyte from EY gave a great definition of what the “Platform Age” means for technology architecture and business operations:

“When we talk about platform, we're effectively talking about an ecosystem where you can easily and quickly integrate, plug in to (and unplug from) the best in class, enabling rapidly emerging players to offer better customer experiences, different products and different services (and with the emergence of artificial intelligence) the ability to quickly integrate into new, exciting solutions"

What’s changed this year is that organisations have actually embraced this change, developing new platforms capable of API enabled digital trading and customer service.

 

We need a new approach to deliver successful
change in insurance

If we really are at the dawn of a new digital era, then we will have to revisit traditional management models for delivering organisational change that were designed for the manufacturing era. This is a prerequisite if we are to deliver ROI through digitally focused businesses and operating models: the old ways just won't work anymore.

Three key challenges emerged from the day:

1) Having the right skills and capabilities is a huge challenge for the sector as we move from traditional to digital processes. How will we compete to attract and retain talent for the future?

2) Before you can deliver change you have to have the right culture and behaviours in place. Creating high performance teams with the ability to innovative and embrace change is tough and requires planning, leadership and resource.

3) Ensuring you have clarity over your strategic vision and how the changes are going to help achieve your goals is critical – make the right decisions, design with focus and ensure you deliver.

 

Data standards and ethics

Data is the foundational layer upon which the technologies we use today, and importantly, the AI technologies of the future, will be built. Understanding how your data is structured and interpretated by machines to make decisions is critical, as it comes with both regulatory risks and the potential to damage your business. Some key questions were raised during the discussions including:

Do you know how decisions are being made by your machines and what data they are being trained on?
What safe guards do you have in place to ensure bias does not creep into the your AI decision making processes?
Does your organisation employ a Head of Data Ethics? Quite a few at TINtech do. Are there enough to go around?

 

Achieving the sweet spot between people, culture
and technology

It’s been said before, but is worth reiterating here – you can’t just plug in a new piece of technology and expect it to be successful adopted and deliver ROI without ensuring the implications of the change on your people and processes are taken into acount form the outset.

The change management that goes alongside any technology initiave is critical, and will need to evolve as organizations become even more digitally enabled. Your approach to change will have to change...

 

The best is yet to come

There was a genuine excitement and enthusiasm to embrace the opportunities that these new technologies present to help reshape insurance products, services and customer experiences. As Gary Nuttall observed, there are a whole load of technologies, and the buzzwords to go with them, on the horizon that have the potential to drive significant disruption and opportunities in the near to medium terms:

“Next Gen Web, Spatial Computing, Peer to Peer disintermediation, Metaverse, Blockchain (still), Web3.0, RWA’s, Three Factor Authentication, Cyber Threats, Digital Asset Custody and compute on a card… oh and Quantum Computing”

As always with digitalization, this as a journey not an end state, so I look forward to continuing the discussions and seeing how these issues evolve over the coming months and again at TINtech in June next year.