Only 19% of respondents said that aligning their technology strategies with Lloyd’s Blueprint Two was ‘very important’

Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has named the most important drivers for technology transformation in the London market, as revealed in new research published today (5 July 2022).

The report, entitled Underwriting transformation survey, highlighted that the most popular motivation for tech transformation was to lower firms’ expense ratios - 72% of respondents identified this as a very important reason to embrace technology.

In part, this is because London market firms have historically competed on expertise rather than new technology, meaning that organisations’ “systems and tools” have often been “a secondary consideration”.

PWC’s study mainly featured respondents operating within the Lloyd’s of London marketplace (76%). Other respondents primarily work in the London company market (57%), overseas territories (55%) or for global reinsurance platforms (31%).

The majority of respondents (27%) are employed as tranformation or innovation strategy leaders - 19% of respondents are chief executives, 21% are chief underwriting officers and a further 21% are chief operating officers.

More than half (67%) of all respondents said the desire to better leverage management information and data was a very important driver of technology transformation in their businesses, while 51% cited sustainable growth and scalability as the main goal behind technology changes.

Alignment with Blueprint Two – Lloyd’s of London’s initiative to digitally futureproof the marketplace - was a low priority for respondents, however, with only 19% giving this as the main reason to introduce technology transformation.

Andy Moore, partner at PWC UK, said: ”London’s continued success as a global insurance hub depends on successful digital transformation.”

Digital Transformation_PwC

Source: PWC

Fit for purpose?

PWC’s survey additionally identified two key areas for technology investment - underwriting workbenches and portfolio management tools.

It believes underwriting workbenches can operate as “workflow, productivity enhancement and decision support tools” to aid underwriters. Meanwhile, low code platforms can deliver cost effective and speedy tech deployments, PWC noted.

More than two-thirds of overall respondents (68%) agreed that their exposure management tools were “fit for purpose” - 48% thought this about their rating tools, 21% agreed when it came to their policy administration systems and 13% concurred when speaking about their portfolio management tools. 

London market coding data

Read more…No code technology – an untapped opportunity for the insurance sector?

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Michael Cook, partner at PWC UK, said: ”Carriers are collecting more data, but value is understanding what data to use and how to provide usable insight to underwriters when they need it.”

PWC’s report has recommended six key actions to support technology deployments:

  • Ensure business strategy is informing technology transformation.
  • Set clear and realistic objectives.
  • Set an end-state technology design for the business.
  • Ensure technology investment aligns with any cultural change programmes.
  • Standardise business processes.
  • Adopt common data standards, such as Lloyd’s Core Data Record.

 

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