Digital transformation. Industrial Revolution 4.0. We are a tech company. These are all words and trends that fill the airwaves, the newsprint and websites across the world, as futurists speak of new paradigms and businesses talk about "digitization" and connecting to "digital natives" who have grown up using technology as consumers and as employees. In the insurance industry, harnessing technology has undoubtedly been a great thing for business, making it possible to capture, analyze and store data at an astonishing rate. As a result, insurers have been given a new lease of life to benefit from improved operations across underwriting, claims and expenses, while growing their business by better understanding their data and developing more relevant, competitive products. Technology is bringing a host of new opportunities. But insurers, particularly regional firms in the United States, continue to struggle with a lack of talent as well as with preparing for the digital workplace of the future. Roughly 65% of U.S. insurance employees are over 40, according to the 2018 Ward HR and Employee Benefits Practices Study. The fact is that digital is a mindset. That means it takes much more to create and sustain it than just implementing new technologies. As part of the "2019 Business Environment Survey" from Aon's Ward benchmarking services, insurance executives were asked to consider the following questions around managing risk into and beyond the 21st century: What are the technology talent needs of an insurance business? What are the roles and skills that will be needed to harness and use the new technology? What jobs are staying, changing, or going away? And lastly, how will we compete for this new "digital-savvy" talent when high-tech companies dominate the landscape? Executives identified the following key issues facing their business: |

• Keeping up with and managing technology and innovation
• Attracting/retaining top talent, succession planning and talent management across the organization
• Maintaining profitable growth
• Remaining competitive, especially with new disrupters in the industry
• Expense management
• Adapting to changing customer expectations and enhancing the customer experience

Technology and your business

The first step is recognizing technology's place within your business operation. High-tech companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon create amazing employment experiences — both in terms of rewards and opportunities — for their tech-savvy talent, both inside and outside their technology groups, because technology and the creation and selling of technology products are both central to who they are and how they generate revenue. This contrasts with insurance companies that are enabled by technology in how they generate revenue through premiums and investment, plus maximize the value of their industry knowledge and brand. While "we are a tech company" sounds good on paper and seems like the obvious solution, it can be counterproductive to your organization's objectives, since they do not align with how tech companies operate or are structured. Instead, insurers should seek to understand how and why tech company programs are structured the way that they are. This insight can then be applied to the design of insurers' own talent and rewards programs to ensure that they are aligned with the market for tech-savvy talent, but in a way that supports and drives their business objectives. |

'Upskilling' vs. attracting new talent

The second step is knowing what technology positions and skills are truly critical to your business. The 2019 Ward Digital & Innovation Survey found that the insurance industry's greatest talent need is in technology and is most likely to see an increase in numbers over the next 12 months — followed by analytics and claims — across all sizes of company. The rapid change in technology and business means that what is deemed necessary today can quickly become obsolete tomorrow and that the need to "keep the lights on" must be balanced with the need to identify and adopt critical technology and process changes to drive the organization forward. For example, a claims professional's role may become more efficient through artificial intelligence and automation so this presents an opportunity to retrain or up-skill a colleague to handle more complex, time-consuming cases. On the other hand, to build a business model of the future, insurers must consider how to attract tech-savvy talent through assessing competitive rates of pay both within and outside their sectors — and reconsidering their value proposition as an employer. This means changing the mindset of technology being a back-office role to one that is driving the relevance of the entire firm and engaging with customers to deliver an enhanced product or service. |

Outsourcing talent

Failure to innovate was ranked number nine by insurers in Aon's "2019 Global Risk Management Survey" as consumer expectations evolve and technology can help the industry build more client-centric processes. But the real challenge is to filter through the enormity of the emerging technology landscape to stay relevant and competitive by innovating at a faster pace. Aon is helping insurers by tracking 1,200-plus startups to match partnership opportunities with insurers' strategic goals. By taking an 'analytics-as-a-service' or end-to-end approach, insurers can now access both talent and technology through new collaborations. These collaborations between insurers and their once-called 'disruptors' are signaling a new era where firms can benefit from technology by outsourcing talent and innovation. |

Updating business goals for better results

Begin to think beyond the need for skilled talent to how technology can expand and accelerate the capabilities of your entire workforce. The key is in framing the question as a business problem. For example, wanting to increase the quality of your customer service department, and then developing a solution that looks for technology, rather than a technology solution that looks for an answer. This requires raising the awareness of both sides — the technologists and the business roles — as to how the other operates and thinks. It also points toward the need to develop and foster a "digitally-ready" mindset — curious, learning-focused and agile — to drive the demand for greater innovation. Finally, it requires that organizational change toward technology and tech awareness not be limited or focused just on "traditional" IT or technology roles but instead takes into account the entire workforce. The digital future is ever-changing, hard to predict, and can appear very chaotic. But an emphasis on ensuring talent and business goal alignment, developing an agile and flexible workforce, and encouraging a solutions mindset can help your business avoid pitfalls and maximize new opportunities. Dan Weber ([email protected]) is director of Market Trends and Industry Convergence, Human Capital Solutions at Radford in Austin, Texas. This piece first published at aon.com and is reproduced here with the author's permission. See also: |

• Leading Latinxs in the insurance industry
• 4 things to know about talent in risk management
• How insurance can recruit the next generation of talent