Philip Bell believes that when it comes to new technology, slow and steady wins the race
It may have taken a while but it seems there is finally a desire by brokers to trade commercial business through online platforms, says Philip Bell, former chief executive of Open International.
Bell, who is now onboard as a consultant for the company following its £276m acquisition by broking powerhouse Towergate, cautions that the key is managing expectations.
With the launch of Open International’s online broking trader platform PowerPlace– currently being piloted to 40 Countrywide brokers – the message is clear: slow and steady wins the race.
Bell and new managing director Chris Guillaume said it’s always been the company’s philosophy. “We are taking it slowly from a technological point of view because we want to make sure it works before building expectations,” said Guillaume. “This is the way we always do it. We are relatively conservative compared to our competition.”
Bell said the company’s philosophy to take things slowly is not influenced by the troubles its competitors have experienced in the past. But surely that must factor in. The past is littered with failed technological initiatives. A most notable example of that is connectivity platform Kinnect – an electronic trading platform set up for Lloyd’s that ended disastrously and cost £70m.
Martin McLachlan, managing director of Polaris, which runs imarket, admits that they may have been too hasty is raising the expectations of brokers in terms of its online trading capabilities. Although the technology has been proven to work, it seems the insurance industry expected too much too soon and were left, in some cases, disappointed.
Although many see the business potential in online commercial trading following the success of electronic motor insurance trading, it may be unnecessary for contenders to race to the finish line.
Bell predicts it will be at least 10 years before 97% of SME business is traded electronically.
This gives companies the opportunity to iron out the kinks because history has shown that the insurance industry, bred from a culture of manual paper shuffling, will quickly lose interest in a technology that is complicated and inefficient.
