Insurance's rising stars challenge industry to innovate

The insurance industry’s rising stars have urged the profession to keep up with the times to prevent being left in the past, the Chartered Insurance Institute’s (CII) New Generation London Market group said in a report.

According to the group, if the insurance profession does not learn lessons from the pandemic and innovate it may end up unable to meet the public’s needs. The group said that senior insurance leaders can improve the profession’s innovation culture through the following steps:

• Identifying their own organisation’s barriers to innovation and take relevant steps to address these issues
• Communicating an understanding of innovation that shifts the focus from improving current operations to addressing changing needs
• Promoting how innovation is achieved more effectively

“A combination of weak innovative culture, fear of failure and a predominant focus of improving current ways of working will limit the profession’s ability to address needs, said Matthew Connell, director of policy and public affairs for the CII. “This report from the CII’s New Generation Group shows the value of engaging with fresh entrants to the profession and encouraging them to challenge our processes. Professions that fail to innovate, at best, plateau. In this digital age, we all must understand what engages and empowers consumers to take action to mitigate the risks they face through insurance products if we are to remain a modern, relevant and able to meet the diverse needs of the public.”