Collaboration necessary to advance insurtech

LAS VEGAS — Collaboration will enable the way forward as the insurance sector adopts and deploys new technologies, according to two company CEOs who stressed partnerships Wednesday at the InsureTech Connect Conference in Las Vegas.

“Regardless of the challenge, I believe there’s a better way,” said Tony Kuczinski, president and CEO of Munich Reinsurance America Inc. in Princeton, New Jersey. “I believe that by joining forces, we have a better chance a leveraging new ways of thinking, new technology and data, and other areas.”

“We have more partnerships now than at any time in our history,” said Dan Glaser, president CEO of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc.

Munich Re’s own effort to accelerate the claims process in the wake of a catastrophe event involved pulling in expertise from within and outside the company, and even included a seasoned claims adjuster using his field experience to help inform an artificial intelligence system, according to Mr. Kuczinski.

Mr. Glaser also said progress was a matter of priorities and focus.

“How much do you spend on running the company versus changing the company?” Mr. Glaser said, adding that most multinationals, including Marsh, spend too much money running the company.

One large new partnership, Marsh’s $5.6 billion acquisition of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group PLC, “makes us better. It’s as simple as that,” Mr. Glaser said. “JLT punches above their weight in specialization and their reinsurance business.”

He then turned his attention back to the inevitability of technology’s progress.

“It’s not going to be a choice,” Mr. Glaser said. “The future is digital.”