Mark Lingafelter (pictured), president of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance, says the insurance industry has already toppled the most challenging part of managing the global coronavirus pandemic.
By overcoming the initial onset of strict lockdowns and the ensuing rapid transition to remote working, Lingafelter thinks the biggest challenge for the industry over the next six months will be centred on operational resilience and continuity plans.
“Broadly, it continues to be: ‘How are we going to operate effectively as a business in a remote working environment? That includes both: ‘How do we look after the welfare of our team?’ and ‘How do we ensure that our business is able to operate and thrive, and that we can continue to build and take action to improve our position’,” he explained.
“The challenge for the next six months is suddenly different – I think that we have to continue to look after the welfare of our team as we remain in a remote working environment,” he continued. “But for our colleagues in Melbourne that are dealing with the lockdown and level 4 restrictions and the curfews, this presents a whole set of challenges where, mentally, we were all prepared for a return to the office environment and a return to normal for the teammates that are taking care of kids at home.”
One month ago, there were hints that Australia was “getting better,” and Lingafelter was hopeful his team would soon follow the team in New Zealand in returning to a normal working life in the office.
“I think there is a particular challenge with the recent setbacks in Melbourne,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is keep our communication super open - we’re trying to tune in to how our team is feeling and we’re trying to provide support wherever we can.”
The first challenge for Lingafelter and his team is to realise that the next two to three months will be, “in some respects”, tougher than the last two to three months. He said that for some of his employees, it’s starting to feel a bit like “Groundhog Day” where they have the same routine day after day.
“I think from a business standpoint, we need to succeed in two arenas,” he continued. “One is that we continue to face the day in, day out challenges which we’ve largely met around running a business in a remote working environment. That means going from the natural flow of discussion on the floor with a number of teammates and impromptu meetings, which is a big part of the Berkshire Hathaway Specialty culture, to staying with the somewhat more formal virtual team calls, which can be tough after a full day of being on video calls.”
Additionally, Lingafelter said he has to “maintain and continue to improve the underlying business performance” in that remote environment, while also acknowledging that this period is “very important to the development of the business,” as Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance is only five years old in Australia and New Zealand.
“We believe that the changes presented by today’s market really present, on balance, a strong opportunity for our business,” he said. “It’s important for us, strategically, to be alert to new opportunities with our customers and brokers. Some days, it can feel like your plate is full just continuing to meet the needs of your renewal book, responding to new business opportunities that are presented, and servicing the claims arising from your existing book. But we need to remain available and ensure we maintain the capacity to step into more strategic opportunities presented by this market.”
A focus on remaining strategically positioned in the market and finding new ways to build the business are also priorities for Lingafelter for the rest of 2020.
“We need to be asking ourselves if there are additional product lines that we should be bringing into our business,” he said. “Are there additional partnerships in the brokerage community that we should be stepping into, introducing ourselves to and trying to see if there’s a match?”
