Executive Outlook 2022: Paul Martin, KRGinsure
December 31, 2021 by Canadian Underwriter Staff
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Paul Martin, President and COO, KRGinsure
Firsts and major lessons defined our 2021. One of the biggest was learning how to bring staff back into the workplace now that there is a COVID-19 vaccine and rapid tests are easily available. I believe there is a vital importance to in-office work and collaboration, not only from a technology standpoint but from a personal interaction perspective that gives us all a competitive advantage in this market.
That said, hybrid models will be a thing of the present and the future and have instituted lasting change in our industry for work-life balance.
We have always put our customers’ needs first: from how they interact with us, how they want our services delivered, and any added value we need to bring. This increased in intensity in 2021 and I expect it to continue in 2022 as customer expectations continue to grow.
The biggest challenge of 2022 will be continuing to attract and retain qualified staff. We all need to do a better job at enticing individuals to our industry, and keeping them motivated and engaged. I fear the shortage of qualified staff in both brokerages and insurance companies is putting a tremendous strain on those who currently work in those environments.
As the market stays hard, the other challenge will be to find solutions for our customers that make sense from both a cost perspective and to create coverage that fills gaps in their insurance portfolios.
As we see the market lack the capacity on things like cyber, directors and officers liability, and even pressures on excess liability, working to fill these gaps will take even more creativity and widening of your network of suppliers to achieve success.