Claims Club: Ex-Lloyd's CEO Ward urges wider tech focus

That was the view of Richard Ward, executive chairman of Cunningham Lindsey, pictured, who was speaking at Post's Claims Club last week.

The former CEO of Lloyd's noted that the London market started using electronic claims forms during his tenure and that it was a "fantastic step forward" in replacing paper.

"But frankly it is a bit of hygiene and housekeeping really. In this day and age should we be that proud of ourselves that we store records electronically?" Ward asked.

"We have achieved other things as a result of ECF in terms of data, so we know how long it takes to process claims, and how many touch points there are in the process. So that enabled us to introduce the claims transformation process in Lloyd's, which has had an impact on customers in terms of the time it takes to get money to the insured."

He continued: "If you don't deal with your hygiene factors then you start to get a bit smelly. But I wonder if it is the right focus in the market, and we are missing the point and not seeing the wood for the trees."

Ward went onto discuss whether those that work in EC3 were a bit too self-obsessed with the London market.

"It is a fantastic concentration of insurance talent. But sometimes I do wonder if we are becoming a bit too insular and self-congratulatory about what we are able to do without seeing the bigger picture. Are we too parochial?

"What is happening in the wider world? I don't need to ask you, I need to ask your children because they are the ones who really know what is happening because it is all about the connectivity. And the way the internet and sensors are changing everything we do, from smart scales to electronic toothbrushes.

"It might sound big brother-ish. But my conclusion is that customers are managing their risk a lot differently to how they did it 10 and 20 years ago; and they will manage it very differently going forward. And we as an industry have to respond to this internet of things and connectivity."

Ward concluded: "I assume everyone wants well-managed claims, but that is just hygiene. And I do worry - to keep up the analogy - that we are slapping on too much deodorant at the moment to disguise the smell, because we are not necessarily doing as good a job as we want to do.

"And if we don't respond to these [technology] changes, someone like a Google will think ‘this is an easy win', as they have all the data, and better ways of helping customers manage their risks [in the changing world] than we do."