Tracy Ryan is executive vice president and chief claims officer of global risk solutions at Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. and a 25-year Boston resident. Ms. Ryan, who has served on the boards of the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. and the Workers Compensation Research Institute, recently spoke to Business Insurance Reporter Angela Childers about her favorite things about Boston, the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.’s annual conference and how she believes technology will affect the future of claims. Edited excerpts follow.

Q: What are your goals for RIMS this year?

A: My No. 1 goal is always to make sure that I have the opportunity to engage with our customers and hear how they’re doing and what is on their mind. I love that customer-broker engagement. It’s a little more personal and one-on-one. I like to go to some of the sessions and sit around and be with risk managers, some of the other carriers and (third-party administrators) and learn about the new topics that are hot in the industry. And … to see which vendors are in the exhibit hall.

Q: What role do you think technology will play at this year’s RIMS?

A: I think it’s just front of mind for everybody, whether you’re a broker, risk manager, carrier or TPA. I can’t imagine there will be a meeting at RIMS where some aspect of technology and digital capabilities isn’t being discussed. People want access to their data … people are looking for faster and easier ways to have that data managed effectively. Customers are going through this technology revolution as well, and understanding how that changes their exposure is a big piece of the discussion.

Q: How do you see technology improving claims management in the future?

A: Technology is infiltrating all aspects of our lives. Within claims, there’s a lot of power coming into the technology that our claims professionals use every day … enabling improved outcomes, access to data and making us more efficient. Just think about all the documents that come in. We now can extract the data and use artificial intelligence to provide better insights to adjusters faster. We’re also now using automation to streamline our processes, to free up our claims teams to focus on the more complex part of their jobs.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in fully utilizing technology in the claims process?

A: I think it’s the change management aspect of it. As a large claims operation, we have 3,500 people, and they’ve been doing things in a certain way. The pace of change is certainly faster than we’ve seen in the past. We’ve had to make sure we have a very robust change management process within the organization so our people are ready and able to adapt to changes in processes and how they do their work.

Q: Can you share any of your favorite hidden gems in Boston for conferencegoers?

A: One of my favorite places in the city is called Mapparium. It’s this enormous inside-out glass globe. You can stand in it and it almost feels like you’re inside a Christmas ornament. My favorite museum is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum … it’s absolutely beautiful.

Q: What should be the city of Boston’s greatest concern in hosting RIMS?

A: The weather! Boston is a fun city to walk in. Hopefully if the weather is nice, people can get out and explore. Another thing the city should be worried about is a lot of people descending … who may not all be Red Sox, Patriots and Bruins fans!