Insurance Times Advent Calendar: Mark McDonald

Every day for the festive period continuing until Christmas Eve, Insurance Times speaks to a selection of industry personalities about what they’d like to find under the tree for 2024.  

What was your insurance industry highlight of 2023?

With lots of great work happening in the industry in 2023, it’s difficult to choose a single highlight, so instead I’ve selected one from our team here. This saw consultant Patrick Hayward at Altus create a whitepaper discussing the future of claims, entitled Service disruption: Next stop for claims. 

Excellent effort from all involved, with it covering extensive research. It provides the baseline for further focused discussions the industry will have on claims in 2024 and beyond given the challenges we’re facing into. 

A real credit to the team here, one I’m proud to work for.   

What is your Christmas message for your insurance colleagues

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not just for Christmas. Unlike some other themes we’ve seen over the past few years, AI is here to stay, but the industry needs to take a considered approach, look across the entire business model and where the technology can truly add value, optimise processes and genuinely improve overall customer experience.  Oh and talk to a friendly consultancy who can help you navigate all of this.   

What do you hope to find under the industry’s Christmas tree for 2024?

With the dramatic increases in premiums we have seen this year, this is clearly having a knock-on impact on the perception of the industry.  For 2024, I would love the industry to really invest in changing the perception through better education for customers on the importance of insurance and why premiums are increasing. 

Proactive, supportive and relevant customer communications, coupled with a focus on prevention and risk minimisation activities, will also have a positive impact all round.  We’ve got an opportunity to change the perception of Insurance, so let’s do it!