Small insurers can leverage tech to beat the market
But board-level sponsorship is required
The ability of nimble insurers to implement cutting edge technology is delivering a significant edge in their efforts to compete with the world’s biggest underwriting groups.
In its new white paper “Transcending the Normal: A new model for risk management”, leading international specialist commercial insurer and reinsurer, IGI, has said it believes that smaller nimbler insurers have the ability to leverage cutting edge technology in a way that cannot be replicated by their larger peers.
However, IGI said the success in the ability to implement such technologies was dependent on the right sponsorship from board level, and an engaging mindset to deliver on the benefits technology can bring with it.
The group added that insurers must ensure that risk management is not being sucked into the compliance process but is rather a clear and defined discipline.
“So much time has been spent churning numbers and ticking boxes that the role of risk management has become removed from contributing to the strategic and commercial goals of insurance and reinsurance companies,” warns the report. “There is nothing more frustrating than seeing teams of talented people maintaining documentation and grinding out numbers or Excel spreadsheets.”
“These repetitive activities use opaque models to measure and report risk and have little value to the business. As a result, teams of highly talented professionals are bogged down in time-consuming and relatively low value tasks.
“By transforming the way we work, we can free up skilled people to use analytics in an intelligent way that brings real insight into the business. When we do this, risk management and capital modelling sit at the very heart of the organisation. “