Systems show promise, can be tailored for success

Data and technology are recasting many industries, including insurance, but the brave new world is hardly perfect and tech tools that help solve problems can create new challenges.

Products are rarely a perfect fit out of the box and generally must be made to suit a user’s operations.

“Typically, off-the-shelf products need to be tailored to certain specifics of a business,” such as geography or business segment, said Gaurav Kapoor, Toronto-based senior vice president, head of strategy, digital and operations, for NFP Corp. in the broker’s North America construction and infrastructure group. 

“Risk management information systems, while they’ve come a long way over the years, may not provide the one-stop solution that you need,” said Audrey Rampinelli, New York-based senior vice president of risk management and insurance services at Mastercard Inc. 

“The emerging technologies we’re seeing today, such as generative AI, are amazing but still require the human element to tailor the solution to your approach,” said Kyle Duke, senior vice president and practice lead, construction loss control, for Newfront Insurance in Dallas.

Not every system fulfills expectations, said Christie Weinstein, Morris Plains, New Jersey-based director of risk management and insurance for Honeywell Inc. and a Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. board director. 

“I’ve put time into systems and had them not pan out,” Ms. Weinstein said. A given tool may be selected to perform a given task, but “once you start the integration process, you realize it can’t,” she said.