LAS VEGAS — Collaboration has replaced revolution as the mantra in the insurtech sector as established property/casualty insurers increasingly adopt digital processes and interactions in their operations.

Metrics to measure the greater use and deployment of technology have been developed, and established technology companies are adding capabilities and staff to meet growing demand.

Managing technology adoption by companies and their employees, allowing employees to form new working habits around the emerging technologies, continues to be a component of the technological evolution of the insurance industry, experts say.

They were speaking during meetings at the annual Insuretech Connect conference in Las Vegas, where thousands of insurance and technology experts met Oct. 30-Nov. 2. 

“This conference this year is a lot more about partnering with incumbents, technology startups partnering with incumbents,” rather than being here to “disrupt,” said Bryan Davis, Atlanta-based executive vice president and head of VIU by Hub, broker Hub International Ltd.’s digital platform for personal lines. 

Technology has already penetrated the insurance sector, he said. When VIU by Hub launched in 2022, the broker estimated the number of consumers available for digital interaction was “probably in the 35% to 45% range” but now “we’re seeing that up in the 65% range,” he said.

Some 68% of Crawford & Co.’s payments are enabled digitally, said Kenneth Tolson, Atlanta-based global president-network solutions for the claims management company.

Crawford is creating a dedicated digital solutions unit to house its technology projects and products, which Mr. Tolson will head from Jan. 1, 2024.

In addition to deploying its own technology internally, the unit will sell software as a service products to third parties, he said. Crawford has two products in the market, including an auditing platform for estimation practices, he added.

Jay Rajendra, Bermuda-based chief strategy and innovation officer for Arch Capital Group Ltd., said the insurer annually writes about $1 billion of business digitally.

Elsewhere, Duck Creek Technologies Inc. formed a partnership with Espoo, Finland-based Iceye Ltd., which uses synthetic aperture radar from a network of microsatellites to provide climate-related data, which will add enhanced location tracking capabilities to its products, said Sasha Korol, Chicago-based senior director of research and innovation for the technology company.

“That helps both underwriters and claims with additional information from a location perspective,” she said.

In the cloud

In addition, after some initial wariness of cloud computing, Duck Creek’s clients are expanding their use of the internet-based computer services and storage technology.

“Customers are looking to go into the cloud,” Ms. Korol said. In the past, there was “hesitation to go into the cloud, and everybody wanted their own homegrown or on-premises solution. Now, it’s to where people are not only looking to the cloud, but they’re also looking to further optimize the benefits of the cloud.”

Origami Risk LLC, widely known for its risk information management systems, is also adding capabilities, most recently with the September acquisition of Dais Technology Inc. in Chicago, which offers a SaaS insurance platform with application programming interface technology.

“Their digital layer is something that really complemented the Origami products. That partnership has really expanded our footprint,” said Jaime Henry, Chicago-based vice president of product for Origami.

Clients, she said, are looking for ease of use. A company looking for a claims management system may not realize that policy, billing, loss control and risk management can be unified on a single platform. “They get excited at the possibility they can build something that’s one thing as opposed to a bunch of pieces.”

Risk Management Solutions, a catastrophe modeler bought by Moody’s Inc. in 2021, is seeking to leverage Moody’s wider market reach and expand beyond its core client base of mainly insurers and reinsurers to other sectors such as asset and real estate portfolio managers, who might also be concerned with physical damage to properties, said Cihan Biyikoglu, executive vice president of product at RMS in Mountain View, California.

“Moody’s understands financial risks extremely well and has an enormous trove of data that they’ve accumulated through years,” he said.

Modeling can be of value “not just for the insurance industry but for the banks and investors and asset managers and commercial real estate companies which have an interest in these assets staying healthy,” Mr. Biyikoglu said.

Companies are also seeking assistance in implementing technology systems, said Giovanni Smyth, Americas regional leader, insurance consulting and technology, for Willis Towers Watson PLC.

“There are things that flow into underwriting, there are things that flow into claims management, capital management — all these things are connected. The better you can see how those connections take place, the better you can realize the investment you made in a technology solution,” he said.

“Change management is something that I think a lot of clients don’t understand going into a project,” Ms. Henry said.

“We’re helping them with the best practices for implementing a system. I think the challenge is that’s not just your adjustments — it’s your agents, it’s your policyholders. Making sure you’re thinking through all key stakeholders” is key, she said. 

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New tech talent drawn to insurance industry

As advanced technology gains increasingly wider acceptance in the commercial insurance sector, it is also serving as a conduit for new expertise to enter the industry.

“I’m a renewable energy guy that found my way into insurance,” said Jason Kaminsky, Berkeley, California-based CEO of kWh Analytics Inc., a managing general agent targeting the renewable energy sector.

His background in renewable energy goes back 15 years and his insurance career five years.

“I was developing renewable energy assets, then I moved to a bank, and I did financing for renewable energy assets. At kWh, we actually started a data company to analyze the risk of renewable energy assets, and we moved into insurance,” he said. 

“The new actuary is a data science person, if you’re embracing data science properly,” said Bryan Davis, Atlanta-based executive vice president and head of VIU by Hub, broker Hub International Ltd.’s digital platform for personal lines. 

Mr. Davis said his “right hand” is his chief technology officer.

Taffy Jo Mayers, Atlanta-based global proposition leader, commercial P&C and specialty lines, insurance consulting & technology for Willis Towers Watson PLC, said during a conference session at Insuretech Connect last month that technology adoption by the insurance industry can serve as a recruiting tool, bringing new talent into the industry.