Guidewire Connections 18: The transformation of an industry
I had the opportunity to attend the #Guidewire Connections conference in Las Vegas last month, where some of the insurance industry’s greatest minds gathered.
At this leading industry event, insurance executives, technology vendors and service providers came together to learn and share experiences. This year, many of us felt an increased awareness of our work’s importance within the industry.
Marcus Ryu, Guidewire’s CEO, said it best during his opening keynote, stating, “Recent natural catastrophes have emphasized the critical role that the property and casualty insurance industry plays in society.” He emphasized how this supports his conviction – both on a personal level and at a Guidewire level – that society needs the largest and most efficient property and casualty insurance industry possible.
Ryu also described Guidewire’s progress toward a single application that was once only for claims and which is now available as an insurance suite. He talked about how it’s only a piece of the complex puzzle needed for the industry’s transformation.
2 themes from Connections 18
Two key themes flowed throughout the conference. During his opening remarks, Ryu outlined the evolution of Guidewire’s approach within in each of these focus areas:
1. Cloud
- Delivering mission-critical software, meaning standardized applications serving every line of business and all sizes of insurers globally.
- Delivering services to implement software, taking on full post-production responsibility for delivering cloud solutions as fully managed software-as-a-service, rather than just an IT asset.
- Providing an ecosystem of technology providers and data streams that can readily integrate into the shared insurance platform, lowering cost, effort and complexity.
2. Digital engagement
- Improving the digital experience during the intimidating step of product selection for a potential policyholder. Guidewire’s specialized solutions for personal lines and small business will be focused on digital improvement.
“It provides a completely mobile buying and service experience designed for the consumer sensibility of the small business owner, 90 percent of whom make the insurance buying decision for themselves,” Ryu said. “It also tailors this experience to market segments, reflecting different coverage needs and appetites.”
- Providing a 360-degree customer view that addresses the imperatives of a customer-centric strategy.
Accelerating our success
At the core of these trends, content services and the ability to surface content at the right time and place will be key for insurers. It will help them deliver the results the industry needs, as well as provide the best service possible to customers during their greatest time of need. These key capabilities will allow for elements of straight-through processing, complementing core system functions and providing efficiency gains to better support the customer experience while keeping costs low.
A fully integrated data platform is more relevant than ever and is what the industry needs if we are to achieve our goals. Guidewire’s approach to providing solutions like the OnBase Accelerators for Guidewire InsuranceSuite will be key to driving the greatest impact.
Throughout the week at Connections 18, many customers talked about the importance of cooperation across partners. They also emphasized the value of bringing together an agile, flexible single platform to support the rapid change transforming the insurance market. Content Services integrated with core policy, billing and claim systems is the key enabler for the foundation of true digitalization, and it will continue to play a key role in that ecosystem, bringing together people, processes and technology for the optimized digital experience.
These partnerships are enabling not only a lower infrastructure cost and ongoing run support, but allowing insurance customers the freedom to focus on selling and servicing insurance rather than running IT.
I can’t wait to seeing the continuous change in the insurance landscape and the evolution of the technology platforms that are meeting the increased demand in today’s market. And I’m already looking forward to Connections 19 in our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. Until then, Hyland is committed to working alongside partners like Guidewire to provide best-of-breed solutions that will make a difference and help the insurance industry provide the services that are so crucial to society today.
