Innovation, Lessons, Overview, Trends
Gilad Shai
Bryan Falchuk - The Future of Insurance
Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Insights, Startup
Gilad Shai
Nick Lamparelli - InsurTech Talk

Nick Lamparelli joined Gilad and the InsurTechLA community for an unscripted InsurTechTalk. In this broadcasted event, Nick was in the interviewee's seat. We had the opportunity to learn about Nick’s day job and dive into flood insurance and how to build insurance programs.

Nick Lamparelli - InsurTech Talk
Alex Devoto
Scream

The 1996 movie ‘Scream’ taught us one thing: Don’t answer the phone! And much like the characters of that movie, so to insurers should heed this advice when engaging with Millennials.

Scream
Entrepreneurship, Startup
Gilad Shai
Startup Life

A startup has a life but the people who breathe life into it…, well, they usually don't.

People like the idea of a startup. It is romantic. The excitement diminishes when they find out the extent of their responsibility and compensation. Basically, most people really want to work for Google. Google is a multibillion-dollar behemoth that has all the risk management tools and processes to support it. And yes! They still have all the perks and cool parties at the end of Google I/O.

Innovation, Overview, Startup, Trends
Gilad Shai
Innovation as a step function

Step Up

The entrance of startups to the insurance industry, nearly four years ago (2015), introduced a change, innovation, that made all the components, whether they are linear or passive, to react. The new teen spirit that the startup introduced acted as a step function that increased the value of the industry. The input may be a nice and clean function. It has a ripple effect that affects the entire pond until is converges on the new and higher level.

Innovation as a step function

Portugal

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Interview with Nuno Horta Innovation at Ageas Portugal

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Interview with Nuno Horta Innovation at Ageas Portugal

The insurance industry is evolving.

"Evolution is the survival of the fittest." — Herbert Spencer

The innovation teams, in the insurance companies, are acting as one of the forces that help the company to change and adapt in its lifetime. Please read a recap of an interview that I conducted with a force of "enterprise survival" and growth - Nuno Horta.

What is innovation for you?

Innovation is an answer to a problem - you have a problem, a pain, here is a remedy for it. There are incremental pains that you can manage. A classic example, let's remove the paper from a process that can take two days to fulfill.

"People mistake innovation with creativity. You can be very creative and have great ideas like building the next wheel, but, in my opinion, it is to be smart with what you have."


Paulo adds "it all about making money from the resources at hand. This is the guideline for me." Paulo's pragmatism and background in a large IT consulting company add an important dimension to the team as they deliver value by "remedy innovation" (solutionizing) and "specialist" (internal consultants).

What is the mission?

There is a multi-year plan in place.

1. Unlock the startup culture in Ageas business units. The insurance industry is known to be conservative, but today they are more receptive to change than anyone else. It is part of the innovation team job to work with them and show them new ways to do things and develop their own projects. The company is open to hearing these changes.
2. Challenge the status quo. Bring up new value propositions and new opportunities.

"We need to bear in mind that the only way to make innovation is when the business is making money and the business is flowing."