Xceedance’s Clausner: Industry can “reap the benefits” of opportunities through digital transformation

One of the biggest challenges for reinsurers is how to truly embed digital transformation into their organisation, according to Isabelle Clausner, vice president, client executive for southern Europe at Xceedance.

Leveraging more data can provide opportunities to create new products, access new markets and become more efficient, she told The Insurer TV during the recent Rendez-Vous in Monte Carlo.

“Digital transformation is an opportunity in itself, but the key is how reinsurers can really reap the benefits of these opportunities,” she surmised.

Clausner was keen to highlight the role that data, analytics and technology can play in managing evolving risks such as climate change, geopolitical uncertainty and natural catastrophes.

“Robotics, data extraction, content generation, and being able to automate as much as possible can bring more insights into the process, and help insurers make more informed decisions,” she added.

Digital technology challenges to overcome

Clausner cited three key challenges for reinsurers to become more efficient in how they use digital technology – legacy systems, cultural resistance and data management.

According to Clausner: “A lot of companies still work with outdated legacy systems, which really don't allow for the newer technologies to feed into the IT infrastructure.”

“There is also a cultural resistance to change, which can be bridged through training and bringing in the right expertise,” she added.

The challenge for tomorrow, she noted, would be to work out the roadmap for that digital transformation, and to achieve consistency across the industry, which “will be a journey in itself”.

Collaboration on automation and beyond

Many clients are now bringing in specialists to manage digital transformation so they can focus more on their core competencies and make their operations more scalable and cost-efficient.

While the notion that ‘Gen AI will kill jobs’ is no longer widespread, “b eing able to automate routine tasks” can free up space to ensure greater accuracy, according to Clausner.

“They [our clients] are not experts in digital transformation, so they leave this to third-party companies that look at what processes and automation can be done,” she said.

Where is innovation needed most?

Clausner highlighted that “staying on top of regulatory changes is also critical to limit the magnitude of claims,” adding that speeding up claims processes is a particularly pressing focus for innovation as it directly impacts customer satisfaction.

Having the right infrastructure to manage data and insight in a reliable, transparent way in insurance operations, policy issuance and underwriting can help insurers make more informed decisions around the emerging risk landscape, she added.

Meanwhile, close collaboration with partners that work on their innovation projects while they continue to work on ‘business as usual’ can “accelerate this transformation”.

Clausner summarised by telling us: “Data management is the backbone supporting digital transformation in the future.”

Watch the 13-minute interview with Xceedance’s Isabelle Clausner to hear more about: