The next time you’re brainstorming the next big idea, don’t extend a meeting invite to your executives. Instead, make sure as many of your frontline staff members as possible are there. The thing about great ideas, said Aly Dhalla, co-founder…
If you ain’t first, you’re last. That’s the mantra Ricky Bobby lives by in the movie Talladega Nights as a race car driver. But when it comes to innovation, if you ain’t first, you’re probably better off. It can be…
Scaling innovation across a business can be a challenge, as most organizations start innovation in a “pocket, team or lab,” a speaker said late last month at the Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference. Simon Chan, head of corporate innovation thought leadership at…
Having a flexible and accommodating schedule is key to incorporating innovation into an organization, the director of Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company’s Innovation Outpost said recently. Last June, Wawanesa opened its Innovation Outpost lab in Kitchener, Ont. One of the first…
While Canadian organizations are investing in emerging technologies and innovation, few of them are managing the associated risks, a report from PwC Canada suggests. Jennifer Johnson, a partner and national financial services leader with PwC Canada, says that when she…
Vancouver-based Fineqia International Inc. has taken an equity allocation in Black Insurance, a Tallinn, Estonia-based digital insurance startup on the blockchain that has set its sights on creating a direct investor-to-broker relationship, bypassing the need for a traditional insurance company.…
Companies often make two common blunders when they seek to disrupt themselves. First, some talk about hiring a bunch of “intrapreneurs” – creative geniuses who break all the rules and swim against the corporate tide – and then silo them…
Leading innovation in your brokerage? Here are 6 steps for successfully directing change in your organization without making waves.
Canadian insurers have emphasized work on their front-end systems to provide a direct-to-consumer experience. Now that carriers are working on their legacy systems to better integrate with brokers, will a direct broker-to-consumer experience be far behind?
It is still “early days” for most insurers in Canada when it comes to employing artificial intelligence (AI), but exploration and use of the techniques is accelerating very quickly, Greg McCutcheon suggested Monday during InsurTechTO in downtown Toronto. “I would…
New research out of the United States assessing 600 start-ups identified as relevant for personal lines insurers indicates these new players may fail, but they are having a tangible impact on the p&c insurance industry and how it delivers services,…
Technological innovation is not among the goals of some government regulators overseeing insurance markets, but some can be persuaded to allow innovation if a determined insurance provider presents “a good case study,” speakers suggested Tuesday at the Insurance-Canada.ca Executive Forum. “We as insurers have hidden behind the regulators for a long time and have said, ‘Gosh, I would love to do that but I won’t be allowed to,” said David Crozier, president and chief executive officer of Everest Insurance Company of Canada. “We…