Outsiders have been openly critical about the pace of evolution and digitisation in the insurance industry – and brokers have faced the brunt of that criticism.
But
RSA Canada’s president and CEO, Martin Thompson, thinks it’s “unfair to point the finger at brokers.” He said the insurance industry as a whole has been slow to evolve and has managed to get away with “fairly mediocre service declines” without really paying a price for it.
“The only way the industry’s going to be successful is if we reach a common standard with regards to technology,” said Thompson. “There’s nothing to be served from us all going to war with each other and trying to develop individual technology strategies. If we all run off and do our own thing, then we’re going to make the job of brokers incredibly difficult and complex.”
The insurance industry has faced criticism for falling behind other industry sectors on the automation standpoint. Other sectors are setting the standard for what consumers want and the insurance industry is being forced “very quickly” into finding a response to that.
Thompson described technology as “an enabler” – but also something that moves very fast. He said the industry needs to figure out how to work in a more nimble and agile fashion in order to move with more pace and keep up with the rapid changes happening across all industries.
“I honestly don’t think technology itself is going to be the thing that differentiates us in the future because it will soon become standard and off-the-shelf,” he added.
“What we do around technology is going to be the important thing. What kind of experience are we going to build and how well do we understand our customers and use data to our advantage? That’s what’s going to make the difference.”
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