Conversations on the Creek

Building Insurtech for a Warming Climate with Ben Zimmerman of Opterrix

On this episode of Conversations on the Creek, Rob Savitsky chats with Ben Zimmerman, Founder and CEO of Opterrix about the founding of his company, and his viewpoint on how climate change will impact extreme weather events and its implications to the insurance industry. 

Incubated inside of the venture-build studio at American Family Insurance, now known as Tenney 110, Rob and Ben spend a fair amount of time on this episode talking about what that experience meant to him. Ben shares his thoughts on how the organizational structure and culture at American Family provided the support and the resources to build a property risk intelligence platform that helps insurers proactively prepare and respond to severe weather events.

From there, they switch gears and talk about climate change, and how changes in the frequency and intensity of hurricanes and floods will lead to more insured losses in the years to come. At the same time, Ben highlights how access to new data sources and exposure visualization tools can provide the industry with a path forward for identifying, quantifying, and mitigating losses from extreme events. 

As referenced on the show, last year we recorded a parallel episode with Dan Gumpright, former New Venture Lead at Tenney 110. That episode describes American Family Insurance's approach to innovation through its investment in multiple venture concepts. You can listen to that episode here: https://www.duckcreek.com/podcasts/innovating-and-building-new-ventures-with-dan-gumpright-of-tenney-110-american-family-insurance/

Learn more about Duck Creek's partnership with Opterrix by visiting https://www.duckcreek.com/partner/opterrix/. 
Be sure to check out all our other episodes and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and visit duckcreek.com/podcasts.

Live Episode! Reimagining Small Business Insurance with Matt Morgan of Argyle

Conversations on the Creek’s first-ever, live video podcast episode was recorded during the Duck Creek Formation ’23 conference! 

In this episode, Rob Savitsky sits down with Matt Morgan, Co-Founder and COO of Argyle Insurance to discuss forming and running a new insurtech company targeting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia.

The show kicks off with Matt discussing why he decided to start Argyle. 

The conversation goes into why Matt believes brokers are so instrumental in 2023, and why he chose to partner and distribute through the broker channel rather than selling directly to SMEs. 

The episode ends with Rob and Matt talking about the role of technology to execute Argyle’s business strategy, some early results since launching into the market, and lessons learned that Matt feels might be relevant to insurers around the world.

Learn more about Argyle by visiting www.argyleinsure.com. 

Be sure to check out all our episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch the video version of this episode by visiting duckcreek.com/podcasts.

Finally, out of more than 1800 insurance podcasts, Conversations on the Creek has been ranked in the top 50 best insurance podcasts by Feedspot. Check us out there and view the full list of podcasts: https://blog.feedspot.com/insurance_podcasts/

Welcoming Imburse Payments to the Duck Creek Family with Oliver Werneyer

On this episode of Conversations on the Creek, Rob Savitsky chats with Oliver Werneyer about the founding of Imburse, joining Duck Creek, and the importance of payments to the insurance industry. 

 

Earlier in 2023, Oliver ""joined the flock"" upon Duck Creek's acquisition of Imburse. Imburse is a modern, SaaS platform that enables insures to quickly connect to the entire payments ecosystem. Through one single connection, insurers can access multiple payment technologies and providers from around the globe and manage their bill collections and claims payments. 

 

We kick off the show by talking about Oliver's background and what prompted him to explore starting a company in the payments space. 

 

Oliver then shares his thoughts on why payments is such a critical touchpoint for enhancing customer experience. He then goes on to share his perspective on the recent bank failures in the US, and some lessons learned for the insurance industry. 

 

We conclude the show with a discussion around what's next for Imburse and the main things Oliver is thinking about as he continues to fulfill Imburse's mission of simplifying insurer’s access to the payments ecosystem. 

 

Learn more about Imburse by visiting https://imbursepayments.com/. 

 

Be sure to check out all our other episodes and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and visit duckcreek.com/podcasts.

 

 

 

 

 

Demystifying Smoke from Wildfire Risk with Tim Greene of Verisk

On this episode of Conversations on the Creek, Zach May fills in as host to chat with Tim Greene of Verisk about wildfire risk and the role of smoke damage, and how advances in new data sources can help insurers better manage the risk. 

The show kicks off with Tim recapping the past couple of years of wildfire trends.

From there, they delve more specifically into the role of smoke damage, including its financial impact during claims. Tim also shares his thoughts on what homeowners can do to protect themselves from smoke damage and how insurers can work more closely with their policyholders to mitigate potential losses.

Next, the conversation turns towards discussing new approaches to leveraging data to better assess smoke damage and utilizing it to make predictions of future losses.

Finally, the episode wraps up with Tim providing his own predictions of wildfire risk for the remainder of 2023.

Note: this episode was recorded prior to the 2023 Canadian wildfires, where smoke has affected air quality across a large portion of the U.S.

Learn more about our partnership and integrations with Verisk by visiting duckcreek.com/partner/verisk/.

Be sure to check out all our other episodes and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and visit duckcreek.com/podcasts.   
   

Optimizing the Auto Claims Experience with Tanner Sheehan of LexisNexis Risk Solutions

On this episode of Conversations on the Creek, Rob Savitsky and Mathew Stordy chat with Tanner Sheehan of LexisNexis Risk Solutions about optimizing the auto claims customer experience.

 

We kick off the show by asking Tanner about some of the key takeaways from his whitepaper on U.S. auto claims trends, which provides insights into consumers’ perception of the claims experience and the reasons why some consumers opt to switch or consider switching auto insurers while others do not.

 

From there, we had a lively discussion around some of the emerging data sources that are helping propel insurers to reduce time to close claims, and the varying levels of sophistication for how insurers are adopting 3rd party data to improve customer experience.

 

We then dive into chatting about connected cars and future opportunities for insurers to leverage crash detection data and other telematics when an accident happens.

 

Finally, we close out the show with Tanner providing his future vision for how he sees auto insurers using data and analytics in their core claims systems. 

 

You can find Tanner's auto claims trends white paper by visiting https://propertycasualty360.tradepub.com/free/w_lexi83//.

 

To learn about our ten integrations with LexisNexis Risk Solutions, go to https://www.duckcreek.com/content-exchange/ and use the filter for “LexisNexis”.

 

Be sure to check out all our other episodes and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and visit duckcreek.com/podcasts. 

Unpacking ChatGPT & OpenAI with Bob Breynaert of Microsoft

Microsoft is a strategic partner and investor in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and other AI models. Given Microsoft’s recent $10B USD investment in the company, Rob Savitsky and Scott Field sat down to chat with Bob Breynaert of Microsoft about how insurers can leverage ChatGPT and other OpenAI models to enhance customer experience. 

We begin by talking about ChatGPT’s ability to have human-like conversations and why it can do so more effectively than the previous generations of bots. From there, Bob shares his thoughts on how insurers can utilize various OpenAI models for use cases such as speech to text transformation to capture a claimant’s description of events during the scene of an accident, contact center automation, and rapid response communication during extreme events.

You can learn more about our partnership with Microsoft by visiting duckcreek.com/partner/microsoft/. 

Be sure to check out all our other episodes and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and duckcreek.com/podcasts.

How We Built Duck Creek with Andy Yohn

On this episode of Conversations on the Creek, Rob Savitsky sits down with Duck Creek Co-Founder and VP of Product Strategy, Andy Yohn, to discuss the founding and evolution of Duck Creek.

We start off by discussing the early days at the company, and how in the year 2000, Andy teamed up with co-founders Doug Roller, John Roller, Becky Roller, Kerrick Tweedy, Barry Tate, Ken Toler and high school graduate, Devon Clasby to build a low-code, rating engine that would forever change the way that P&C insurers would build and manage insurance products.

From there, Andy recounts various milestones as Duck Creek evolved and expanded the company from being a single product to a suite of SaaS core system applications and add-on modules. From teaming up with now Duck Creek CEO, Michael Jackowski at Accenture, to the various acquisitions the company has made along the way in areas such as data insights, distribution management and producer self-service, reinsurance management, and payments, to the growth of the Duck Creek ecosystem of SIs and Solution Partners, it’s been an entrepreneurial journey with an exciting chapter ahead!

To close out the show, Rob, takes some inspiration from the “How I Built This” podcast and asks Andy: How much of your success do you think is because of your hard work and your skill, and how much because of luck? 

As referenced on the show, IVAN’s podcast episode where Doug Roller shares his perspective on the origin of Duck Creek can be found here: https://www.insurtechpod.com/episodes/the-mighty-duck-creek/ 

Check out all our other episodes, leave us a review and follow Conversations on the Creek on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and www.duckcreek.com/podcasts.

The Future of Insurance Personalization with Bryan Falchuk

On this episode of Conversations on the Creek, Rob Savitsky and Mathew Stordy chat with Bryan Falchuk about the future of insurance personalization.

 

As the President and CEO of the Property and Liability Resource Bureau (PLRB), and also an insurance & insurtech advisor and thought leader at insurance Evolution Partners, Bryan had lot to say on this topic!

 

We kick off the show by getting Bryan’s take on what “personalized customer experiences” means to him.

 

From there, we ask Bryan for his perspective on the industry’s adoption of text messaging (SMS) and the varying levels of sophistication in its use within the claims process for improving customer experience.

 

As the episode progresses, the conversation goes in several different directions: we chat about the pros and cons of using third-party data for personalization, use cases for leveraging AI/ML to provide more tailored and relevant experiences, and the state of usage-based insurance (UBI) and telematics for personalizing auto insurance.

 

To learn more about Bryan and his company, Property and Liability Resource Bureau (PLRB) visit their respective websites: http://future-of-insurance.com/, and https://www.plrb.org/.

 

To learn more about how Duck Creek can help insurers provide more personalized experiences, visit https://www.duckcreek.com/personalize-experiences-across-the-policy-lifecycle/.

 

Check out all our other episodes and follow Conversations on the Creek on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and www.duckcreek.com/podcasts.

Embedded Insurance with Simon Torrance

On this episode of Conversations on the Creek, Rob Savitsky and Shreyas Chakravarthy Vasanthkumar sit down with Simon Torrance, an independent advisor, corporate venture builder, keynote speaker, and an investor at Embedded Finance & Super App Strategies and at MetaFlight, to chat about all things embedded insurance.

 

Projected to account for over $700B in Gross Written Premiums by 2030 in P&C and General Insurance (25% of the total market size), embedded insurance presents insurers with opportunities for growth and the ability to provide customers with personalized insurance coverage at the point of sale of another product or service. In this new paradigm, what approaches can insurers take to stay relevant? How should insurers be thinking about their own brand as they look to partner with non-insurance brands looking to offer their end customers insurance? Hear Simon’s perspective on the state of the insurance market and how he sees distribution evolving in the future, the strategies and tradeoffs insurers might consider for winning in embedded insurance, and the technologies required to support it all.

 

To learn more about Simon Torrance, visit his company's website www.embedded-finance.io.

 

To learn more about how Duck Creek supports embedded insurance, go to www.duckcreek.com/embedded-insurance-emea.

 

Check out all our other episodes and follow Conversations on the Creek on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and www.duckcreek.com/podcasts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accelerating Speed to Market for P&C Insurance Products with Martina Conlon of Aite-Novarica

On this episode of Conversations on the Creek, we’re happy to welcome this month's guest, Martina Conlon, Head of the Property & Casualty Insurance at Aite-Novarica. Martina has extensive experience in IT strategy, best practices, organizational approaches, and technology architecture, and is the primary researcher and author of market-leading reports on agent portals, core systems, business intelligence, and technology strategy. Martina will share her insights with Duck Creek's Chris D'Souza into the challenges facing P&C insurers as they seek to accelerate product innovation, how insurer's are planning and prioritizing these initiatives for personal and commercial lines, and the key attributes insurers look for in a modern core system to sustain innovation at scale.

 

Learn more about AiteNovarica by visiting www.aite-novarica.com.

 

As a companion to this podcast, we invite you to download Duck Creek's Guide to Accelerating Speed to Market by visiting https://info.duckcreek.com/practical-guide-accelerate-speed-to-market-2

 

Check out all our other episodes and subscribe to Conversations on the Creek on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and https://www.duckcreek.com/podcasts/.