Intact Financial Corporation to open digital centre in May

Intact Financial Corporation (IFC), Canada’s largest provider of property and casualty insurance in Canada with $7.3 billion in premiums, announced on Tuesday that it has launched Intact Lab – its centre for digital excellence.

The Intact Lab will be based in Montreal at the company’s 2020 Robert-Bourassa office and is scheduled to open in May, IFC said in a press release. This centre will house user experience and digital analytics specialists, project managers, front-end developers, R&D teams, and other experts who will work closely with all areas of the business to drive digital innovation and create solutions that will benefit customers, brokers and the industry.

The lab will bring together R&D and digital experts from across the company, and will support all of the IFC brands, including Intact Insurance, belairdirect and BrokerLink. The lab will focus on developing world-class digital solutions to provide Intact customers with an unrivalled service experience, and brokers with industry-leading business solutions, the press release noted.

“The property and casualty insurance industry is quickly changing. We also recognize that our customers’ needs and expectations are evolving as new technology continues to emerge,” said Louis Gagnon, IFC’s president of service & distribution, in the release. “The Intact Lab will provide us with the opportunity to accelerate our digital leadership, while leveraging our expertise, so that we can continue to provide our customers and brokers with outstanding service and support. We are extremely excited about this next step in the evolution of our business.”

Gagnon said this technological step will “embed digital into the core of Intact’s business in order to build digital connections both within the organization and with customers. It’s about being transformative, and designing leading-edge products and services that will strengthen our connection with customers,” he added.

Intact Lab will also have satellite desks at other Intact offices across the country.

IFC employs more than 11,000 employees and insures over five million individuals and businesses through its insurance subsidiaries. It is the largest private sector provider of p&c insurance in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Québec and Nova Scotia. The company distributes insurance under the Intact Insurance brand through a wide network of brokers, including its wholly owned subsidiary, BrokerLink, and directly to consumers through belairdirect.