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After spending more than 20 years in the software industry, primarily focusing on business intelligence and predicative analytics, Kristin Hackney was drawn into the insurance work – leveraging her experience in technology with the insurance industry at Applied Systems, a leading provider of software to insurance businesses.
Responsible for Applied System’s customer delivery strategy and the executions of professional services, support and cloud-based solutions, Hackney is in the throes of insurance’s quickly digitizing marketplace. “Insurance is undergoing rapid digital transformation, reshaping fundamental business practices in an environment of constant change and evolving competitive landscape,” says Hackney. “Digital technology has also simultaneously created a different kind of insurance consumer — one who asks for on-demand self-service via computer or mobile device from every company they do business with.”
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With young consumers encroaching into the insurance space, mobile and self-service applications are a must for insurance companies in order to communicate and perform transactions on the consumers’ terms. With the generational shift in the industry underway, the doors are wide open for career opportunities. “There is no better time to evolve business practices as we bring new and diverse backgrounds into the industry,” she says. “We need strong leaders who bring new perspectives from other industries to the table, and who aren’t afraid to challenge how it’s always been done.”
According to Hackney, the convergence of technology and consumers’ changing preferences in the industry have agencies adopting new and innovative technologies that blend the personal and trusted advice of an agent with customer preferences for interaction – “that is a tremendous business opportunity to capitalize on,” she says.
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