This year’s ‘Innovate, Evolve, Thrive’ theme at BIBA 2018, was definitely one of the most inspiring yet. With a heavy focus on advances in technology and data, and the implications for the insurance industry, here are some of my key highlights from our two days in Manchester…
One of the most pertinent speeches of the 2018 BIBA conference was delivered by Chief Executive of the FCA, Andrew Bailey, who emphasised that Big Data was one of the FCA’s priority themes.
Acknowledging the importance for companies to apply technological innovation to the business of general insurance, in order to assess risk with more accuracy, provide more personalised products, and keep-up within a data driven environment, Andrew’s words rang true with me.
EiB Insurance Analytics 2018 already cleanses data so that it is meaningful for in-depth data-use, addressing the very real-world problem of bad data in the industry. Our solution also segments personal and commercial lines business down to any level of granularity required for comprehensive premiums, claims and loss ratio analysis along with quote conversion ratios.
This feature is something I strongly believe will help the industry to assess their risk more accurately, whilst facilitating the strategic growth in on-demand insurance products.
Read Andrew Bailey’s BIBA 2018 keynote speech in full here.
EiB live, sleep and breathe MI, which is why we’re constantly evolving our EiB Analytics 2018 solution, to ensure that we’re always at the forefront of the technological curve. Essentially we’re ‘hackathoning’ 24//7! So it was fantastic to see BIBA introducing a hackathon for the first time this year, to help demystify InsurTech and showcase the type of innovation that is going on right now and how it can help the sector.
‘Team Spotlight’ eventually won the inaugural ‘BIBA Hackathon Trophy’, managing to come-up with an exciting new solution to help brokers understand their SME Customers.
We’ve been promised that more information will be released about the solution soon, so keep your eyes and ears peeled! And look-out for EiB’s involvement in next year’s edition!
During this year’s conference BIBA’s Chief Executive Steve White, announced their exciting plans to establish a ‘dating agency’ for Brokers and InsurTechs.
With the rapid proliferation of InsurTech companies providing innovative tech solutions to the insurance industry, it is understandably a daunting and confusing space for incumbents within insurance to fully grasp both how to access and leverage this technology-led innovation.
Steve White announced this exciting new development during his opening speech:
“Simply Googling ‘InsurTech’ isn’t likely to give you optimal results. Similarly, if you’re an InsurTech firm looking to collaborate, how do you find these firms, and crucially, the right person within them to speak to?
That’s where the idea of a dating agency was thought-up, by our cross-industry innovation group, and today I can announce that we will be launching this service which will bridge the gap between the two communities.”
BIBA’s cross-industry ‘Innovation Working Group’ have been working on three specific work-streams to help foster technology-led innovation in the industry. These are:
- to demystify InsurTech incumbents;
- help InsurTechs to become established;
- to facilitate the development of partnerships between incumbents and InsurTechs.
BIBA have promised to release more information on the initiative and how to access the agency on their website. Needless to say we are very much looking forward to learning more about how EiB can get involved in this great opportunity and continue contributing to the industry’s innovative vision !
England World Cup Winner Jason Robinson, delivered a stellar motivational speech on Wednesday, recounting that memorable evening back in the Autumn of 2003 when we defeated a team in Gold with Johnny’s right boot.
For a man of such modest stature to have been so prolific in a position which is typically assumed by someone a lot bigger, just goes to show how much you can achieve, even if the odds are stacked against you. Don’t be intimidated by the big boys, especially where innovation is concerned, size really doesn’t matter.
Big thanks to QBE for inviting him down.
Baroness Lane-Fox, the innovator behind Europe’s largest travel and leisure website, Lastminute.com, and pioneer of the Government Digital Service, provided delegates with a much needed kick-start to Thursday morning, with an enthralling keynote.
Addressing the need for organisations to take more responsibility by design for their data architecture, Martha emphasised the importance for a user focused approach to technology, addressing the problems first before adopting the tech solution.
Such an approach is echoed by EiB and our partnership model for supporting organisations to understand the issues with their data first, before collaborating and iterating to find the best solution.
It’s not too often you get to hear from someone who has flown two space shuttle missions into space, served as commander of the International Space Station and has generally achieved more than anyone else you’re likely to meet in your day to day life!
Chris Hadfield was the first Canadian to walk in space, and is arguably the best speaker I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. His wise words about embracing innovation, and the need to visualise failure before success, were the perfect apogee for arguably the best BIBA to date.
