Insurers must ensure technology gap does not get too wide: DXC’s Bacsu

The biggest challenge facing many insurers is how they ensure the gap between their own capabilities and those of the leaders in technology transformation does not grow too wide, Brian Bacsu, chief technologist, DXC Technology, told delegates at Intelligent Insurtech Europe 2018, which is taking place in London today (Monday October 15).

Bacsu said that there are several races going on within most insurers: the first and most important is internal as they grapple with the challenge of IT modernisation and how they update their own systems internally to keep pace with the changes going on in the industry.

He explained that many companies are transitioning from an API economy to a so-called conversational economy, whereby there is more engagement and conversations taking place with third parties and external companies. The next step will be a move to a cognitive economy, whereby the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“But the impediment to the creation of a cognitive economy is the effort it takes to teach machines how to be cognitive – that is where a lot of efforts are taking place now,” he said.

He described the way the industry is now dealing with digital transformation as “progressive decomposition” whereby they transition from closed platforms to an ecosystem of platforms and providers and different alliances as the “corporate immune system is gradually broken down”.

He added that within this environment, data becomes increasingly important and increasingly accessible to carriers able to put it to good use. The companies that succeed in leveraging this, will gain a march over their rivals, he said.

“Data is the centre of so many things – yet so much of it goes unused,” he said. “But the reason for that limitation, apart from regulatory restrictions, has been it has been so hard to access on closed systems. Yet as we transition to digital platforms and an ecosystem of platforms, this can change. It will allow us to move forward and take the next step towards modernisation.”

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