Many brokers have shown their worth during the coronavirus pandemic, providing tons of support to clients across industries who have been having a tough time thriving, let alone surviving, through government-mandated restrictions on their business activities. Some experts in the industry have noted that the crisis has given brokers an opportunity to shine and ensure their longevity in the distribution of insurance.
For one mutual insurer – which recently introduced what its new leader has called the most ambitious transformation strategy in its history – the broker channel will continue to play an important role in the distribution of its products, and, even before the pandemic, had shown itself to be a critical component of the insurance supply chain.
“The whole ‘Next Horizon’ strategy is based on the concept of expanding nationally with national and regional brokers who we see as the future of distribution,” said Andy Taylor (pictured), president and CEO at Gore Mutual. “These are the brokers that are innovating and investing in themselves, and consolidating and acquiring other brokers.”
In line with this thinking, Gore Mutual is prioritizing the broker experience and broker connectivity as part of the technology piece of its transformation, which Taylor says makes the insurer’s existing partners excited.
“They love the agility, the pace, and the technology that we’re bringing, so we have a real opportunity to scale the business nationally working with partners that we already have great relationships with and trust,” he continued.
The pandemic has likewise opened up opportunities for Gore Mutual to implement other key components of its new strategy. One of these is stacking its leadership ranks and teams with experts from across Canada, thanks to the turn to remote working and resulting ability to source talent from anywhere.
“We will only be successful in this strategy if we can attract the right talent and upskill the organization, in terms of very specialized skills and resources that we traditionally haven’t had as a midsize mutual insurer,” noted Taylor. “The pandemic has created an amazing opportunity for us because we have already been very vocal that we’re embracing a hybrid national workforce, and what that looks like for us will be a combination of virtual employees and physical locations in key markets.”
To aid in this effort, Gore Mutual is launching a flagship office in the GTA core next year to achieve both a presence in Canada’s largest market, and also to attract the best talent in the industry. This is a big lesson learned as the mutual insurer has struggled to attract the right talent to take it to where it needs to go based on its historical office locations in Cambridge, ON and Vancouver, BC, according to Taylor.
Meanwhile, risks linked to climate change and related severe weather events, which have increased in magnitude and severity, have pointed Gore Mutual’s strategy in an important direction involving the scale and specialization of data and analytics.
“Data and analytics becomes a key differentiator in being able to price and understand your risks, understand the impact of the climate on your book of business, but also to diversify,” said Taylor. “Whereas today, we are a regional player, being much more diversified along with data and analytics, and pricing sophistication will allow us to navigate through some of the challenges that we’re facing with climate change.”
However, the biggest opportunity that Gore Mutual has with its ‘Next Horizon’ transformation journey is the fact that the scope of the strategy is “completely unconstrained,” according to Taylor. Many companies enter into a strategic planning process, and, because they’re public or owned by foreign subsidiaries, are beholden to other interests and have limits on where they can take their organizations.
“But as a mutual, we genuinely looked at it as, how do we ensure that this organization is around for another 180 years?” said Taylor. “The amount of change that we’re going to push through this organization over the next two to three years is unprecedented and very exciting, but it’s coming from a place of trying to make sure that we create an exciting, viable company for the future – for our employees, for our partners – and I think it’s really unique that we have the opportunity to do that.”
