Opinion: The myriad roles of technology

Nothing beats being in a room together with industry peers and colleagues to celebrate best practice across the sector and innovations that are fundamentally having a positive impact on each part of the insurance lifecycle.

Last month, Insurance Times hosted one such gathering with its annual Tech and Innovation Awards, held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.

For me, this award event is vital for showcasing creative, technology-driven propositions and sparking new ideas of how technology such as automation and artificial intelligence can be put to good use within the industry.

Find out which firms won prizes here – huge congratulations from everyone at Insurance Times.

Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 pandemic vastly accelerated the insurance industry’s use and adoption of technology, meaning that each year’s entries to the Tech and Innovation Awards are now spanning even more use cases and finessing even more processes.

There is also a role for technology to be an ethical power for good – in particular, around driving the UK’s transition to a net zero carbon emissions economy.

According to professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, investment in green technologies is growing at pace, meaning that the insurance sector must also look to green tech and how available cover can be adapted to support the broader roll out and adoption of infrastructure such as sustainable energy.

We explore this discussion in more detail here.

Putting the spotlight on technology innovations in our sector is important, especially considering the heavy role technology now plays in our society. The industry must open its arms to new technologies – and work to ensure its products can keep pace with the rate of digital development.