The Interface – October 2019

TEC H | TELCO | F I N T ECH | DIGITA LISATIO N | A I | MACHIN E LEAR NING

Issue 7 | October 2019 | www.theinterface.net

THINKING LIKE AMAZON WI TH JOHN ROS SMAN

Customer centricity in the digital transformation of insurance Koh Yi Mien, Managing Director Health and Employee Benefits at AXA Hong Kong, explores how technology is only one part of the digital transformation journey

5 SMART FACTORIES CHANGING THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

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WELCOME TO THE OCTOBER ISSUE OF INTERFACE MAGAZINE This month’s exclusive cover story features an interview with Koh Yi Mien, Managing Director Health and Employee Benefits at AXA Hong Kong. Koh Yi Mien reveals how technology is only one part of the healthcare insurance giant’s digital transformation journey.

Yi Mien points to a global drive for greater transparency, accountability, use of data and technology as well as promoting customer choice as key drivers of change in the insurance space. “It’s no longer a case of simply providing reimbursement to people when they need treatment,” she says. “It’s about being the patient’s

E DI TOR I N CH I E F Andrew Woods

SO CIAL M E DIA MANAG E R

partner throughout their whole life… so we are there to

Callum Rivett

help and support them in their times of need.”

CON T R I B U T I NG E DI TORS

Elsewhere, we have an absorbing interview with former Amazon exec John Rossman, Managing Partner

Dale Benton Kevin Davies

at Rossman Partners, who explores the concept of

CR E AT IVE L E AD

digital transformation in his book Think Like Amazon. We

Mitchell Park

also feature Jay Weintraub, founder and CEO of event InsureTech Connect, who explains why it’s the largest, most focused and relevant gathering of insurance industry executives, entrepreneurs and investors in the world. Plus, we list the greatest events and conferences of the year ahead.

I hope you enjoy the issue!

ADVE RT DE SIG N E R Rebecca Side

VP G LOBAL F I N T E CH & I NS U RT E CH Alex Page

VP T E CH NOLO G Y Andy Lloyd

VP P RO C U R E M E N T Heykel Ouni

P R E SI DE N T & CE O Kiron Chavda

ndrew Woods, Editor in chief A content@b2e-media.com

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CONTENTS

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AXA HONG KONG

30

JOHN ROSSMAN

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CONTENTS

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JAY WEINTRAUB

54 5 THINGS

66 EVENTS

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AXA Hong Kong: customer centricity in the digital transformation of insurance WRITTEN BY D a l e B e n to n PRODUCED BY A l ex P a g e 10

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Koh Yi Mien, Managing Director Health and Employee Benefits at AXA Hong Kong, explores how technology is only one part of the digital transformation journey

I

n early 2019, the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) was introduced in Hong

Kong by the Food and Health Bureau to regulate indemnity hospital insurance plans offered to individuals, with voluntary participation by insurance companies and consumers. The VHIS was designed as a means of encouraging and supporting customers to purchase private healthcare services and for Koh Yi Mien, Managing Director Health and Employee Benefits at AXA Hong Kong, this scheme represents a broader transformation of healthcare and insurance

timely fashion.”

Yi Mien also points to a global drive

services. “Currently, the demand on

for greater transparency, accountabil-

healthcare in Hong Kong in the public

ity, use of data and technology as well

sector is incredibly high with very long

as promoting customer choice as key

waiting times and waiting lists,” she

drivers of change in the insurance space.

explains. “As a result, people just aren’t

“It’s no longer a case of simply provid-

getting timely access to treatment. The

ing reimbursement to people when they

private sector in Hong Kong, which is

need treatment,” she says. “It’s about

world-class, has capacity. So, if we can

being the patient’s partner through-

rebalance and shift some of the elective

out their whole life so that when they

work from public to private, it will free up

need healthcare, whenever and wher-

more people to use the public service in a

ever they are, we are there to help and

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AXA HONG KONG

support them in their times of need.”

The modern-day insurance customer is very different from the customer of the past. We live in times of greater access to information through the advent of social media and the increasing influence of the Internet and this has resulted in insurance customers being more knowledgeable about their conditions and asking more questions of their doctors than ever before. As a result, the balance between the customer and the healthcare provider is becoming more equitable. “Customers and patients, as a result, are becoming more demanding,” says Yi Mien. “Gone are the traditional ideas that doctor knows best. It’s not uncommon w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

13

Mr. Pradeep Satya, Founder & CEO at Synergy Synergy’s ‘Astra – Process Automation Framework’ accelerates Digital Transformation of Insurers The mobile revolution has taken the world by storm, creating entire industries while revolutionizing others.

The needs of an ‘insurance customer’, or should we say the ‘mobile customer’, has evolved too – demanding simple products that are easy to buy, real time policy data, seamless policy updates and finally an efficient and faster claims settlement.

While a few Insurers have been able to seamlessly tran-

sition to meet the demands,

The Astra Advantage –

many are facing an uphill task given the inherent limitations

Flexibility, Speed and Immediate Benefits

of legacy technologies, aged

The value of Astra lies in its

ineffective processes and big investments required to

highly customizable & configurable structure, which

revamp old technologies.

Insurers are now looking for

caters to different process & technology needs, and the

‘smart transformation’ ap-

speed with which you can

proaches and ideas that can deliver quick wins & smart

implement them. Rules-based configurators allow insurers

alternatives that can eventually merge into the larger

to quickly automate processes, and data integrators help

technology upgrade.

Synergy has been at

to connect with legacy / mo-

the forefront of this ‘smart transformation’ model, working with Insurers in identifying, designing & delivering effective quickwins. The award winning ‘Astra – Process Automation Framework’ has delivered significant measurable gains for Insurers in Hong Kong & Indonesia. This is a simple and efficient change framework where ‘process knowledge, automation & data’ come together, says Pradeep Satya, Founder & CEO at Synergy.

bile technologies seamlessly.

On an average, a process solution is delivered in a short span of 12-15 weeks. Once live, the solution can record near real-time benefits from day one.

Astra Framework is also being effectively utilized in Software Quality Assurance where it has helped to assess the functional elements against the technical enhancements, a great benefit where core platforms are being upgraded.

By bringing together a boutique mix of Insurance domain and technology expertise, Synergy is now a preferred Knowledge and Transformation partner for major Insurers. Synergy currently operates in Hong Kong, India, Singapore & Malaysia.

To know more about Astra and Synergy, please visit www.synergysolutions.asia 15

w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

for patients to see their doctor with a

very traditional sector sure, but asking

list of demands, while expecting to be

patients or customers to book weeks

serviced.”

in advance and telling them they don’t

Running parallel to becoming more

really have any choice is becoming

knowledgeable and demanding is

increasingly unacceptable and so health-

the use of smartphones and how it

care becomes a commodity,” says Mie

has created a culture of service in an

Koh. “They, like any other customer, vote

instant. When customers purchase

with their feet and want 24/7 access

etiquettes or use banking services, they

to quality healthcare without waiting

expect the ability to be able to access

directly from us as the insurer.”

and complete these transactions and

The informed customer and patient

services via their smartphone devices.

have also transformed the relation-

Fewer and fewer people are accessing

ship between customer and doctor. It

physical bank branches and the health-

is no longer a bilateral relationship and

care insurance sector, despite being still

the entire healthcare ecosystem works

very traditional, is feeling the effects of

to provide services from prevention

this instant demand. “Healthcare is a

right through to treatment. The result? w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

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Insurers like AXA work with customers before they are sick and encourage them to maintain their health, but they also work with clients during their illness and even afterwards AXA will continue to treat them in their rehabilitation. “During their healthcare journey, customers want some handholding in order to navigate the very complex healthcare system, to make sure they get the right healthcare provider, doctor and hospitals that are best for them in their time of need,” says Yi Mien. “This can only happen if we are using digital so that it becomes more real time.”

AXA has been embracing technology for a number of years to be able to serve and effectively work with its customers. It achieves this by starting with the definition of a product, because the product sets the rules. Yi Mien highlights that the rules would often be how AXA would spell out the terms and conditions, the provisions, but these rules also set the customer expectations. Throughout late 2018 and 2019, AXA has invested in digital to enable its customers to buy online, service online, claim online and check-up online. The company also launched a servicing app called Emma, a ‘digital companion’ that enables even faster service. Yi Mien describes this 18

AXA HONG KONG

“ Gone are the traditional ideas that doctor knows best. It’s not uncommon for patients to see their doctor with a list of demands while expecting to be serviced” — KO H Y I M I E N MANAGING DIRECTOR HEALTH AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS AXA HONG KONG

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By integrating next-gen digital solutions into the world’s most demanding IT systems, we are helping the insurance industry bring new products to market up to 80% faster.

Digital transformation by DXC Technology. dxc.technology/insurance

app as a true “health companion”. She

means that we have more comprehen-

is also keen to highlight that the tech-

sive and more reliable data.”

nology is only part of the story. AXA has

Comprehensive and reliable data is

built a vast medical network with some

crucial to the technology journey of AXA,

of the leading hospitals and doctors and

but it is also integral to the customer

customers simply having to log into their

journey. With a customer’s entire elec-

companion app to be able to access this

tronic medical records stored effec-

network at the touch of a button. “All

tively and securely, as Yi Mien notes,

they need to show is their digital card,

why would they go anywhere else?

their e-card, and with the QR code, the

The data that an insurer handles is

provider just scans it. All of the data is

often complex in nature, but this data

downloaded and all they need to do is

is processed through artificial intelli-

sign, get their treatment, and then when

gence, with AI being used to process

they discharge, just sign that they have

claims more effectively and interpret

received the treatment and off they

the information to allow AXA to create

go,” she says. “The hospital will bill AXA

rules and algorithms to better serve its

directly so there’s no out of pocket. The

customers. AXA also utilises AI through

data is also transmitted to AXA which

its companion app Emma. “Emma is our

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chatbot,” explains Yi Mien. “Emma has

and it maintains this as it continues to

been built up based on a multitude of

implement new technologies. “If you

Q&As that our customer services team

look at banking as an example, we all are

have recorded and collected over many

so used to accessing our bank accounts

months and years. As we continue to

at any time, be it through our phones

build, and more people use Emma, then

or online,” says Yi Mien. “If we want to

the quality of the responses she has in

speak to someone, we can. If we want

her arsenal will improve.” In the first two

to go into a branch, we can. I believe this

months of operations, Emma recorded an accuracy level of 50%. Yi Mien firmly believes that as more people engage with Emma and as a result, the chatbot will evolve and become more of a realtime navigator that can direct customers across the whole ecosystem.

In the global discussion around AI, the topic of transparency is often a key point of debate. With governments around the world shining a spotlight on exactly what data is collected and how it is used, AXA ensures that it maintains an open and transparent dialogue with its customers.

As customers engage with Emma and the companion app, they can at any time request their transcripts. Should they choose to speak with a human adviser, all calls are recorded and again they can access those recordings should they wish. Not only is this an example of AXA complying with global governing laws, it also highlights that the customer is at the very heart of every decision it makes 22

AXA HONG KONG

Dr Koh Yi Mien Managing Director, Health and Employee Benefits & Executive Committee member AXA HK Dr Koh is an experienced Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer with international experience across the private & public sector and government. She is the Managing Director, Health and Employee Benefits & Executive Committee member of AXA HK and specialises in employee benefits, insurance, regulation, commissioning, population health, governance, strategy, operations, partnerships and much more. She is a strong business development professional with Fellowships from Medical Royal Colleges in UK, Australia, and from the Hong Kong College of Community Medicine and Hong Kong Academy of Medicine.

She is passionate about improving the health of the population and sees insurance as playing a key role in driving value to achieve the long-term sustainability of the health ecosystem.

w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

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AXA HONG KONG

is the way to go with insurance as well.

We make it easy for our customers to contact us. We are doing everything we can to allow that.”

“Healthcare is quite personal, so we are doing what we can to allow customers to speak to people, should they not wish to use our chatbot. These are very personal journeys and digital is still in its early days, so we really have to provide different avenues and channels for our customers to contact us.”

As Yi Mien notes, AXA designs its customer journey by starting at the product and going through all the way to treatment. The company makes every decision with the customer’s perspective in mind. As a doctor by trade, Yi Mien sees that all new products are designed by doctors because they understand how the patients move throughout the whole healthcare ecosystem. When AXA designs new products, it does not operate within a vacuum. It has a customer insight group, where around 1,000 customers operate as a realtime focus group in which AXA can test its products with. “When I think about future products, we will test with this group of people and get feedback to see whether we are aligned with the current customer need. So, it’s not just w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

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technology per se, but actually meets a customer’s needs,” she says. “One other area to make sure that we are doing the right thing, because technology also costs money, is to make sure that we are very robust in what we do. AXA is unique in that we sell life insurance, health insurance, employee benefits, and we also have P&C. So, being a multi-line insurer, we have the opportunity of having one approach and cross-selling across the business lines, which is a fantastic opportunity. We can only do that through technology.”

Over the course of her career, Yi Mien has been a champion of the transformative effect of technology in becoming a greater enabler for healthcare and healthcare insurance providers

“In the past two to three years, there

around the world. One area in particular

has been a proliferation of digital tools.

that is close to her heart is the mental

Recent studies have shown that digital

health space. In Hong Kong, the wait-

tools are as good as, if not better, than

ing time to see a psychologist is close to

in-person therapy because customers

two years and if patients were to seek

prefer to talk to a robot rather than face-

private care, it is an expensive solution.

to-face because they feel that the robot

“Look at a country like Hong Kong, or

is not judging them.”

Australia, they are so vast that there

Another example that Yi Mien high-

just aren’t enough practitioners to cover

lights is in the UK, where a VR program

the breadth of the geography. Digital is

has been developed by programmers

the solution,” she says. “Digital enables

that is therapy through gameification.

people to seek, support and care at the

The treatment is consistent every time

time that is most convenient for them.”

and because of its mobile platform, it

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AXA HONG KONG

“ AXA has a clear digital strategy for sure, where it will transform its digital system and build new IT infrastructure to transform the customer experience. But the technology is only one part of the story” — KO H Y I M I E N MANAGING DIRECTOR HEALTH AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS AXA HONG KONG

is accessible. “We can provide it where

partners, collaborators, who are work-

you work,” she says. “That’s just one

ing together to ensure we are at the

example as to how we can destigmatise

top of our game and at the forefront of

mental health through technology.”

innovation.”

AXA operates within a broad health-

“Over the course of our lives, so many

care ecosystem, an ecosystem made up

different things can happen and so

of partners, providers and doctors and Yi

people will need better care and support.

Mien stresses that in the future of insur-

By having a collection of data that repre-

ance, it will be impossible for insurers to

sents our customer’s needs we are able

control the ecosystem. “I don’t foresee

to push or suggest services that better

a future where that happens,” she says.

meet those needs. In order for us to do

“Partnerships are incredibly important.

that, we need to have players collaborate

Things are moving so fast there’s no way

in the ecosystem. It’s imperative.”

we can catch up alone. We need to have

As AXA continues this digital growth w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

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journey, the next few years will be defined by improving the agility of the digital companion in order to improve the interaction with customers. AXA will also be looking at developing a digital marketplace in which customers can go shopping within an AXA owned digital platform. For Yi Mien, though, the future is clear for AXA and in order to be successful, she feels it’s down to one thing. “AXA has a clear digital strategy for sure, where it will transform its digital system and build new IT infrastructure to transform the customer experience,” she says. “But the technology is only one part of the story.”

“Unless we can transform the customer experience to deliver a service they truly value, then technology doesn’t do anything. It’s important to recognise that technology is enabling us to transform healthcare, to make it easier, faster, and cheaper for people to receive care.

That means in the long-term, sustainable healthcare and health services, which fits into sustainable insurance.”

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AXA HONG KONG

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND THINKING LIKE AMAZON WITH JOHN ROSSMAN JOHN ROSSMAN, MANAGING PARTNER AT ROSMAN PA R T N E R S , E X P LO R E S T H E CO N C E P T O F D I G I TA L T R A N S F O R M AT I O N I N H I S B O O K T H I N K L I K E A M AZO N . W I T H CO M PA N I E S CO N STA N T LY R E F E R R I N G TO T H E A M A ZO N E F F E C T, J O H N C A L L S U P O N H I S TIME WORKING WITH AMAZON TO LAY OUT 50 AND A H A L F I D E A S T H AT B U S I N E S S E S A N D O R G A N I S AT I O N S S H O U L D CO N S I D E R A S T H E Y LO O K TO TRANSFORM THEIR OPERATIONS, EMBRACE INNOVATION, AND ENTER THE NEXT ERA OF BUSINESS

WRITTEN BY D a l e B e n to n 30 30

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TALK US THROUGH YOUR CAREER AND YOUR WORK WITH AMAZON In the 2000s, I had the opportunity to be a leader at Amazon. I got to launch the Marketplace business at Amazon so that’s third-party selling at Amazon. com. Today that’s 58% of all units shipped and sold are through that platform. And then I also ran the enterprise business where we ran other large retailers’ e-commerce infrastructure for them. That included target.com, ToysRUs, Marks & Spencer in the UK, and a number of other great brands.

I left Amazon in late 2005 and got into consulting, where I started to see the impact of all the strategies and tools and approaches we took at Amazon to get the types of results we did. I started to use those with my clients. Several years after I left, one of my clients at the Bill

their team, and help others figure out

and Melinda Gates Foundation came to

their digital strategy. That’s been my

me and said, “John, I’ve seen how you

career arc.

put the little anecdotes and manoeuvres from Amazon into our business.

WE HEAR ABOUT THE AMAZON

It’s very impactful. I think you ought

EFFECT, BUT YOU’VE BEEN ON THE

to write a book about it.” That’s what

INSIDE OF THAT, CAN YOU GIVE US

really started me down the path of writ-

YOUR PERSPECTIVE?

ing the books. So, today I do a number

I mean I was there from early 2002

of keynote speaking and advisory work

through to late 2005. It was a fascinat-

where I work with leadership teams over

ing period at Amazon because that’s

a long period of time as an advisor to

really when we started to develop the

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JOHN ROSSMAN

situations, and opportunities. I didn’t develop all of these techniques. I just paid attention in class, and it was really then through my repeated practice of inserting them into my client’s business strategy of Amazon really being two

at the appropriate point with the appro-

types of businesses. One is a retailer,

priate approach that really inspired me

and the other is a platform company,

to write, Think Like Amazon, 50 and A

and a platform company builds core

Half Ideas To Become A Digital Leader.

capabilities that both Amazon and

That was really my inspiration for the

the retailer could use as well as third

book; to pass on to others what all the

parties. So, we started to get super

little moves are that you can take from

clear and work through our leader-

Amazon and put them into your busi-

ship principles, our approaches for

ness to help make change happen.

how to operate as a platform company.

It completely changed the way that I

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DIGITALLY

think about problem solving and about

TRANSFORM? YOU’VE DESCRIBED w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

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IT IN YOUR BOOK AS AN INTRODUC-

extremely efficiently and extremely

TION TO MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

predictably. That’s really operational

I think part of the essence of being

excellence, right? So on the one hand,

digital or digital transformation, is there

being digital is about operational excel-

are lots of good definitions. There’s no

lence in the relentless pursuit for driving

one right one. I believe that being digital

out inefficiencies in the business, and

is really the combination of two, what

for perfecting the customer experience.

sounded like athletic attributes, but

The other attribute of a digital organ-

they’re really organisational attributes,

isation is agility, and agility is really the

which are speed and agility. So, if you

ability to both sense and make change

think of what speed is, speed is about

happen, right? And that’s both small

being able to do a repetitive motion

change and big change. So really, that’s

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JOHN ROSSMAN

of their company going forward, but 95% actually don’t have a systematic approach for how that happens. It happens on an accidental or one-byone basis. So much of the framing of this book and the ideas from Amazon are how to be planful and systematic in both your operational excellence and your innovation.

IS THERE A CHALLENGE OF BALANCING THE NEED TO PERFORM WHILE TRANSFORMING? This isn’t about pausing what you’re doing now, but it really does set the basis. In fact, the first idea in the book is reset your clocks. Your journeys will not be a short or straight line. If I think about what’s the understated secret of Amazon’s success? Right? It’s a the ability for an organisation to inno-

25-year-old company now. There were

vate within itself, right? So, it’s really

the first 15 years of; it was struggling to

that combination of speed and agility,

survive and to make a name and a brand.

operational excellence and systematic

It’s really just the past 10 years that this

innovation that really makes a digi-

vortex of an organisation has come into

tal company. A lot of what I work with

being. So patience is, I think, an under-

teams on, and speak to audiences about

lying and underappreciated skill set of

relates to being deliberate, right? In both

leadership and management and boards.

your operational excellence and your

Amazon has forestalled and pushed out

innovation.

profitability in order to build the infra-

Every leader would say that being innovative is critical to the success

structure, and to do these experiments, and to build their business, they’ve w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

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pushed out profitability.

I think it is that addiction to quarterly profit results that creates the challenges in both being able to reinvent your business and deliver those quarterly results.

Sometimes part of the journey is about reshaping how you’re taking profits and investing it into the business.

You do have to invest in the business if you truly want to transform, and it’s not a predictable path, and it is certainly a long path. So, it’s almost irreconcilable to say, “I want to have fast transformation results,” right?

Those things are almost irreconcilable. It’s oxymoronic in nature.

IS THERE STILL INHERENT RISK AVERSENESS TOWARDS TECHNOLOGY? I think it’s actually because the technology is becoming simpler and easier to operate. Because the obvious need to innovate is becoming higher and everything, what’s being pushed to the forefront is a company’s capability of managing change. This gets to a big essence of the book, and in particular idea nine is called making the elephant dance: portfolio strategy and governance for innovation. It gets back to that observation which is most companies don’t have a deliberate systematic approach for innovation. This idea is just about one aspect of that systematic approach for innovation, which is about a portfolio strategy.

A portfolio strategy just helps to understand and outline where are your investments going, and what type of risk versus return are you expecting across those. What most companies are good at is low risk, low reward types of projects and investments, right?

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JOHN ROSSMAN

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Basically, if we execute well, we should have a return, but these are things that are not game changing types of endeavours. What most companies are not good at is the high risk, high reward types of investments, and this is really where you need to think big but bet small. You need to make these types of high risk, high reward investments as nimble and small and hypothesis-driven as possible. Â But just simply having a portfolio understanding of your investments is one key element for really understanding how am I making deliberate change in the organisation. And as your question tees up, technology is rarely the key challenge. The key challenge is in how we envision the future, how we run change initiatives in our organization, not just the technology component but the business model component, and the organizational change components to it, and the ecosystem and stakeholder management component to that. And those tend to be the things that get in the way of innovation.

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JOHN ROSSMAN

WITH TRANSFORMATION COMES A REBUILDING OF EXISTING CULTURES AND MINDSETS, WHAT CHALLENGE DOES THIS PRESENT? Idea number three is called move forward to get back to day one: change the culture of status quo. It really is about the essential awakening that leaders need, which is: are we playing offense? Are we about creating the future or are we about defence, and maintaining the status quo? Bezos frames this up by his quick little saying around we are a day one company. In one of his recent shareholder letters, he talks about what’s it mean to be a day one company versus a day two company?

If you are a day two company, meaning you’re probably healthy, you’ve been around for a while, but you’re struggling with innovation and reinventing yourself, and you see some competitive threats coming from non-traditional competitors. He gives some advice relative to creating a day one culture, and some of that advice is about don’t manage through proxy. w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

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JOHN ROSSMAN

Proxy is those abstraction mechanisms that we put in place to help manage the business. Things like surveys and abstracted metrics. The key way to get away from that is understand the exact customer experience, have transactional metrics, and set a high bar relative to the perfect order, the perfect customer experience versus looking at it in an aggregate, and really about making sure that you’re dedicating time to work in the future.

As a leadership team, we probably need to be more deliberate about working in the future. It’s amazing because people are not systematic about it. People and leaders hesitate to put time into actually working in the future. So, many of the ideas are about, ‘Whoa, what are the things I do to actually work in the future?’

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A COMPANY EMBARKING ON A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION? At the end of the day, it’s really about not the organisation transforming around me, but it’s about, well, what am I personally willing to do differently? What am I willing to learn? How am I willing to take on new practices, spend my time differently, prioritise my business results and my schedule, and my hiring practices too?

What are you willing to do differently? What changes are you willing to take out of this and make happen as part of your personal habits?

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Exclusive: Jay Weintraub, Founder and CEO of InsureTech Connect Jay Weintraub, founder and CEO of InsureTech Connect explores the digital transformation of insurance, and what makes InsureTech Connect the largest, most focused and relevant gathering of insurance industry executives, entrepreneurs and investors in the world.

WRITTEN BY D a l e B e n to n

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WALK US THROUGH YOUR CAREER JOURNEY AND HOW YOU FIND YOURSELF AS FOUNDER AND CEO OF INSURETECH CONNECT? In 2008, I launched an event series for a subset of the Internet advertising space, and it was there that I first got exposed to the world of insurance.

Towards the end of 2015, I met Caribou Honig, who was a fintech VC in search of an InsureTech conference, and that meeting could have gone really poorly or really well, and I’m happy to say that it went really, really well.

WHAT IS INSURETECH CONNECT? We are the world’s largest event that

the investors that fund them and the

discusses the digital transformation

global incumbent insurance companies

happening in the world of insurance.

that all gather at InsureTech Connect in

Insurance is one of these remarkable

Las Vegas.

worlds. It’s worth trillions of dollars in annual premiums, it connects our lives, it

AS TECHNOLOGY HAS BECOME

enables us to do everything that we do

MORE ADVANCED, HOW ARE THE

at this moment and yet it’s something

CONVERSATIONS SURROUNDING

that is sort of invisible and behind the

TECH, DIFFERENT TODAY THAN

scenes. In the last four years, the world

THEY WERE SAY, 10 YEARS AGO?

of insurance has seen this groundswell

It’s amazing how much the conversation

of activity by entrepreneurs who are

has remained the same, it’s the channels

looking at this big world and saying,

that are different. When we think about

‘Wait a second, why does it work the

customer acquisition, there are certainly

way that it does? There has to be a

going to be broad shifts in how compa-

better way.” It is these entrepreneurs,

nies acquire customers as the access to

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channels. We must remember, the core of having a great product that appeals to people may change, but it’s the core of having something worth telling that really hasn’t changed.

IS THERE A CHALLENGE IN UNDERSTANDING, AND DEFINING, WHAT DIGITAL AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION MEANS TO BUSINESS? It’s both a challenge and opportunity and it is what makes being in InsureTech such a fun place to be because is it talking about product lines. How do we use insurance in a new way? How do we take a classic product, break it

“ Insurance is one of these remarkable worlds. It’s worth trillions of dollars in annual premiums, it connects our lives, it enables us to do everything that we do at this moment and yet it’s something that is sort of invisible and behind the scenes” — JAY W E I N T R AU B FOUNDER AND CEO INSURETECH CONNECT w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

45

into a way that is better and necessary but also helps consumers? Digital transformation is going to depend on what product line you’re in, what part of the value chain you’re in and what technologies you think can actually help you serve your customers better.

There’s an immense amount of parallel transformation taking place.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL ARE SOME OF THE KEY BARRIERS FACED BY INSURANCE, IN EMBRACING INNOVATION? I would love for the answer to be technology. If we think about in the early 2000s when e-commerce was becoming a thing and people knew that they wanted to buy online, it still took 15 years before it became mainstream, and that was a technology issue. It was because mobile phones weren’t computers, there wasn’t connectivity, the cloud computing didn’t exist, so the ubiquity of what could be done wasn’t actually there. Today, we have consumers that want things and we have technology that gets it to them. It’s a fundamental culture change in a lot of cases, and insurance has been more incremental in nature. It’s an industry that is hundreds of years old and thinks in terms of hundreds of years versus any short-term trend.

HOW DO COMPANIES STAY ON TOP OF THE NEW CONSUMER DEMANDS SO AS NOT TO FALL BEHIND COMPETITORS? We have a couple of assumptions. We are assuming that over time, if it can be sold online, it will be.

We assume over time that everything will be sold 46

J AY W E I N T R AU B

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47

and written directly. The challenge

purchase their insurance, they’re going

for any business is, what is that time

to want to start digitally versus maybe

horizon? Personal lines are vastly

how the previous generation turned

consumed both directly and digitally,

to an individual. When we’re looking at

but commercial lines will one day be

insurance, it’s about locating the pain

far more direct than they are. It’s why

point? Is the product going to be sold

small commercial concerns are such a

digitally no matter what? Or is it some-

hotbed of innovation.

thing that is still going to be sold through

You think about the next generation

an individual, most likely with an advi-

of small business owner, it’s going to

sor. How do you enable that advisor to

be somebody that has grown up with

do their job better?

a phone, and so when they look to 48

J AY W E I N T R AU B

“ The challenge for any business is, what is that time horizon? Personal lines are vastly consumed both directly and digitally, but commercial lines will one day be far more direct than they are” — JAY W E I N T R AU B FOUNDER AND CEO INSURETECH CONNECT

HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO BALANCE,

being students only, to almost getting a

MOVE FORWARD AND EMBRACE

backlash for it becoming the playground

THIS NEXT GENERATION WITH-

of the parents and grandparents, and

OUT TURNING YOUR BACK ON THE

it shows the comfort of people engag-

EXISTING PREVIOUS GENERATIONS?

ing with a mobile phone as a device for

I don’t think it’s a pure split. I think

consuming and inputting information.

everybody wants to speak on the phone

I think about chatbots and other

at a certain time, and I would say that

forms of conversational AI, and it’s a

there’s an ever-growing comfort with

case of understanding how it helps you

people who are happy to speak on the

to make the experience better versus

phone or not speak on the phone. We

looking at it as just a, ‘Oh the young

look at Facebook, right? It went from

kids, they want to engage with their w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

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phone.’ We have to say, what does it

search of a nail. Well let’s make it a box

help us do better, faster, and at scale?

for everything, and we see it ultimately

We have to look at these things for very

leads to poor outcomes.

specific performance enhancers and then always have an escalation process

HOW DO YOU WORK TO ENSURE

knowing that if there’s a certain level

THAT INSURETECH CONNECT IS

of complexity, if there’s a certain level

RELEVANT TO THE DISCUSSIONS OF

of frustration, if there’s nuance, then

TODAY IN A TIME OF NEVER-ENDING

there’s a trigger for people to always

DISRUPTION?

speak to a human. People can be guilty

What is our role? Our role is to convene.

of looking at tech as the box that

When we think about the goal of insur-

everything fits into. It’s like a hammer in

ance, both to enable people to live and

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WHAT CAN ORGANISATIONS, AND THE INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE, BE DOING NOW TO OPEN THE DOOR TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF SKILLED WORKERS THAT’LL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO INNOVATE AND CONTINUE TO OPERATE IN THESE NEW AND EXCITING TIMES? It’s one of those great questions that has horrible answers because the businesses operate at scale. It’s about repeatable process and it’s about having the data and then acting. What we’re talking about now is, no one knows the data. We wouldn’t have guessed 5 years ago that having somebody who was really good with a mobile phone and understood Instagram could be a person that is immensely valuable to the largest organisations, and yet today, you think take risks and to get people back to

about some of these competencies…

a pre-loss state faster, our hope is to

People are saying, ‘Oh, we want you to

always keep an eye on what’s happening

know how to use social because having

and look at how we reduce the coverage

our 10,000 employees engaged in social

gaps and say, what is actually making

is actually one of the best ways for us

a difference? Who is actually making a

to get seen and get noticed.’ But a lot of

difference? How do we make sure they

these skill sets we have are not obvious

get enough time on stage? And more

until they’re obvious.

importantly, how do we enable the

The best thing is to look at the

attendees, via technology, to connect

younger generation and at how they

with each other so that start-ups meet

engage. Study them as consumers first,

an investor they might not have?

as this is how they consume and then w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

51

look to understand what that means, every five or 10 years. The hardest part is we can oftentimes see where the future’s heading, but we don’t know how long it’s going to take. There’s a real discipline that says, how do we separate out some of these new skill sets, new future activities, how do we stay on top of it, without trying to either shift the entire organisation or treat it as something that is not that important today.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS KEY TO REMAINING SUCCESSFUL IN THIS TIME OF OPPORTUNITY AND CHALLENGE? Never underestimate the power of relationships, because it’s the people who are ultimately the ones that are creating the next thing and the closer you are to the creators, the closer you are to the ecosystem itself. I think it is also being calm; you have to be calm and stop listening to the noise as much. We think about the companies that have dramatically changed our lives. I think about some of the big tech companies: Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple. There are thousands upon thousands of start-ups that are doing interesting things, but the number of them that are going to ultimately change the way we do business 52

J AY W E I N T R AU B

“ Never underestimate the power of relationships, because it’s the people who are ultimately the ones that are creating the next thing and the closer you are to the creators, the closer you are to the ecosystem itself” — JAY W E I N T R AU B FOUNDER AND CEO INSURETECH CONNECT

are slow in their growth, in a way, before they fully change us.

Be a little patient and learn about ecosystems and make sure that you have at least someone or a team that is comfortable with these new platforms, so that when one of them becomes dominant like Facebook or Apple there’s at least some embedded knowledge about how these things work. Listen, but don’t overreact. Be patient. There’s usually always time, even though it doesn’t feel like it in the get-go.

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5 WAYS IN WHICH AI IS REVOLUTIONISING THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE AI IS NO LONGER A SCIENCE-FICTION WRITER’S DREAM, IT’S BEING IMPLEMENTED I N I ND U ST R IE S A L L OVE R TH E WO RLD. WE LOOK AT 5 EXAMPLES OF HOW AI IS REVOLUTIONISING THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE

WRITTEN BY D a l e B e n to n

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1

MARKS AND SPENCER In early 2019, M&S announced a new Technology Transformation Program, one that will allow M&S to become a digital-first business and deliver key improvements in customer experience. As part of this transformation, M&S has partnered with Microsoft to investigate and test the capabilities of technology and artificial intelligence in a retail environment. M&S will look to integrate machine learning, computer vision and AI across every endpoint – both in its stores and behind the scenes. Every surface, screen and scanner in its stores will create data – and enable employees to act upon it. Every M&S store worldwide will be able to track, manage and replenish stock levels in real time – and deal with unexpected events.

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5 WAY S I N W H I C H A I I S R E VO LU T I O N I S I N G T H E R E TA I L E X P E R I E N C E

2

JOHN LEWIS/ WAITROSE

The John Lewis Partnership is currently partaking in a three-year trial, deploying robots to one of its farms, which grows produce for its Waitrose & Partners brand. The robots, named Tom, Dick and Harry, are delivered in partnership with the Small Robot Company. Each will be equipped with a camera and AI technology to gather topographical data, while autonomously obtaining accurate, plant-by-plant data in order to enable higher farming efficiency. The data will also be used to develop further machine learning capabilities. The trial will also provide the John Lewis Partnership’s Room Y innovation team with valuable insight to support innovation and inform how robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used further in other areas of the business.

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3

WALMART

One of the biggest retail compa-

by Walmart employees. If an

nies in the world has been pilot-

item isn’t scanned at checkout,

ing and implementing artificial

the cameras will detect the and

intelligence solutions across

notifya checkout attendant of

its stores for a number of

the problem. The AI technology

years. As part of a technology

allows Walmart to monitor its

program, called Missed Scan

inventory product quantities, but

Detection, Walmart has deployed

also significantly reduce theft

AI-equipped cameras in more

across its stores.

than 1,000 of its stores. These cameras, developed in part with Everseen, tracks and analyses activities at both self-checkout registers and those manned

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5 WAY S I N W H I C H A I I S R E VO LU T I O N I S I N G T H E R E TA I L E X P E R I E N C E

4 AMAZON

Amazon Go represents a whole

when products are taken from or

new era of shipping. The concept

returned to the shelves, keeping

is simple, walk into an Amazon Go

track of them all in a virtual cart.

store, pick up whatever you want

Once customers leave, Amazon

and walk back out. The idea is to

will collate all of the data and

create a “Just Walk Out” expe-

produce a receipt and charge the

rience. Described as the “most

customer’s Amazon account.

advanced shopping technology”, customers simply download the Amazon Go app. Powerful machine learning and AI technology automatically detects

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5

MORRISONS One of the UK’s largest food

reinvigorate replenishment

retailers with more than 120,000

based on customer behaviour

colleagues in 494 stores serv-

in every store. Over a 12-month

ing over 11 million customers

period, Morrisons was able to

every week, Morrisons turned

generate up to 30% reduction in

its attention to AI with JDA

shelf gaps and a 2-3 day reduc-

Software. Looking to vastly

tion in stockholding in-store.

improve the customer experi-

AI technology has also enabled

ence, Morrisons looked at reduc-

Morrisons to close the execution

ing queues at checkouts, and

gap, optimising availability while

improving on-shelf availabil-

reducing wastage, enhancing

ity. Morrisons invested in Blue

shelf presentation and meeting

Yonder – a Demand Forecast

stockholding targets.

& Replenishment solution from JDA, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to improve demand planning and

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EVENTS OF 2019/20 W R I T T E N BY Kev i n D av i e s

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THE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY CAN EASILY BE DESCRIBED AS THE MOST MERCURIAL AND TRANSFORMATIVE. NEW IDEAS AND INNOVATIONS ARE FUNDAMENTALLY SHIFTING THE BENCHMARKS OF BUSINESS PERFORMANCE, SKILLS DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT. THESE TECHNOLOGY CONFERENCES PROVIDE E XPERTS AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS WITH A MUCHNEEDED BIRD’S E YE VIE W OF WHAT ’S HAPPENING NOW AND WHAT THEY CAN EXPECT TOMORROW…

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17.10.19 IOT TECH EXPO GLOBAL 2020 The world’s leading Internet of Things event covering the entire IoT ecosystem.

The IoT Tech Expo Global is the world’s leading Internet of Things event which will introduce and explore the latest innovations across the entire IoT ecosystem, covering Manufacturing, Transport, Health, Logistics, Government, Energy, Automotive, Insurance and more.

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EVENTS

25.10.19 VEGAS BLOCKCHAIN WEEK

The Second annual Blockchain and

advisors, and application developers

Cryptocurrency Technology event, World

will descend on Las Vegas to discuss

Crypto Conference (WCC), embrace

the most pressing topics facing our

major partnerships with other notable

emerging industry.

event organisers and work together to

WCC 2019 will afford 3 days of

deliver Vegas Blockchain Week, from

intense discussions, product demos,

October 25th to October 31st, 2019.

expert keynote addresses, panel

Executives, enthusiasts, and profession-

discussions with industry thought

als from global enterprise companies,

leaders, and announcements from

financial service providers, investment

the best and brightest in the industry

firms, traders, advisory & auditing

showcasing new products, ideas, and

institutions, blockchain focused startups,

commercially viable applications of

academic institutions, government policy

blockchain technology. w w w.the i nte r fa ce .n et

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13.11.19 BIG DATA LDN Big Data LDN (London) is a free to attend conference and exhibition, hosting leading data and analytics experts, ready to arm you with the tools to deliver your most effective data-driven strategy.

Discuss your business requirements with 130 leading technology vendors and consultants. Hear from 150 expert speakers in 9 technical and business-led conference theatres, with real-world use-cases and panel debates.

Network with your peers and view the latest product launches & demos.

Big Data LDN attendees have access to free on-site data consultancy and interactive evening community meetups.

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EVENTS

09.06.20 5G WORLD 98% of operators view attending 5G World as important to their job role, so come and learn, network and partner with 2,500 telecoms professionals at the only global event defining the future of 5G, where 63% confirmed operator speakers at 5G World are CxO and VP level.

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Experts in procurement and supply chain Founded in 2008, Prokura is an entrepreneurial consulting company specializing in procurement and supply chain. Led by highly-experienced specialists from McKinsey & Company and The Boston Consulting Group, Prokura has already become a key player in the market, creating significant savings for leading private and public organizations in Nordic countries.

Prokura’s expertise combines deep functional skills and product, process, and service-industry experience to help clients build competitive and differentiating purchasing and supply chain capabilities that deliver value and allow companies to operate profitably and invest in the future.

Our expertise covers a broad spectrum of skills and we have developed a number of our own tools and methods. These include; diagnostics and optimization potential assessment, development of strategies and objectives and optimization of organizations, systems and processes.

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