London’s insurance market is poised for transformation; it’s time to grab the bull by the horns
This week Grayce partnered with The Insurance Network on its TINtech London Market 2025 event, which covered all things transformation and tech in the insurance sector. And what a day it was. We connected with existing clients and new contacts, had important conversations around change and transformation, and gathered a whole host of insights from some excellent speakers.
So, where to start when reflecting on nine hours full of insights? The Network’s pre-event survey is a good place to identify what key themes drove the day. The survey, which quizzed hundreds of senior insurance professionals ahead of the event, revealed which transformation topics are at the forefront of their minds right now:
- AI and its potential for increasing operational efficiencies and streamlining processes
- Transforming legacy systems
- Culture, building teams’ openness to change, and overcoming resistance to change
These top themes won’t come as a surprise to most - particularly AI taking the top spot. However, it’s important to note that for all the opportunities AI presents, it does bring its challenges. The main concerns for C-suite surrounding AI presented on the day were how to make data usable, trackable and secure. Ethics also featured heavily. Many of these points align with our recent research on how C-suite leaders from FTSE350 companies view AI.
Yet, if the sector can crack these challenges, AI really could be revolutionary, particularly when it comes to modernising and increasing efficiencies and replacing clunky legacy systems. However, organisations must proceed with care and ensure they review and update their AI strategies regularly, as the technology is constantly changing, and what is put in place now will likely look completely different in six months’ time. On this, kicking off the AI Innovations talk, Gary Burke, Transformation Advisor and Consultant, shared compelling insight into what AI looks like when it goes rogue. He was followed by Gallagher Re’s Paolo Cuomo, and student of philosophy, Allega Cuomo, who explored the importance of deepening understanding around the ethics of AI and embedding these principles into frameworks. Listeners were equipped with supporting terminology, as the semantics of ‘unethical’ AI, sociopathic intelligence, and ethical debt were explored.
Whilst there was more than enough content to cover AI exclusively in this piece, there are other, equally as pertinent discussion points that came out of the day. Not least, around people, culture, and resistance to change.
The insurance sector mustn’t ‘do a Blockbuster’
Despite all the potential for digital transformation within the insurance market, a resounding sentiment for the day, echoed by multiple speakers, was concern around the London market insurance sector waiting for change to be forced upon it. Blockbuster’s story was presented as a stark warning that whilst it was once a market-leading, multi-billion-pound brand, its reluctance to change and move with customers’ evolving requirements ultimately led to its fast demise.
Chris Loake, CIO of Hiscox, spoke simply but eloquently on this topic, relaying that ‘market-leading is a temporary state’, and in fact, being a market leader can often slow companies down and make them less agile. It was a sobering story for many in the room who agreed that the insurance industry is still, on the whole, resistant to change, which could end up being its Achilles’ heel.
‘Small wins’ communication is crucial to change buy-in
A keynote from Stephanie Ogden, CEO at HDI Global covered the resistance to change conundrum perfectly, led by the powerful statistic that generally just 20% of people like change, 50% sit on the fence and need to be convinced, while 30% are actively resisters. If our maths is correct, that’s 80% of people that aren’t on board with change – and that’s before anything has even happened. Stephanie also raised an important point concerning the fine balance between transformation vs stability, citing that people are 60% more productive if they feel secure in their roles. With this in mind, she quite rightly asserted that building a continuity of great communication is key to successful change projects.
‘Quick win’ communication was covered by both Stephanie and other speakers on the day as crucial and something that must be prioritised. Leaders and change teams should be regularly communicating with the wider organisation on the small wins – i.e “look what we’ve delivered already, we’re going in the right direction.” It was rightly noted that when talking about projects in ‘years’, change managers usually turn people off with the complexity. The importance of having a dedicated team responsible for communicating throughout the entire change project is something we at Grayce always advocate for. In fact, we often place Analysts into organisations with a sole remit of managing change. Stephanie ended her keynote by summing up that if we don’t get the people and the comms right, there’s no point even thinking about the tech in the first place. Agreed.
The insurance pro of the future
Of course, we can’t talk about culture, people, or tech without thinking about what the insurance professional of the future will look like. Hiscox’s Chris Loake made a crucial point that while tech skills will be increasingly in demand, tech acumen shouldn’t really be the number one hiring driver. Due to the fact that the half-life of technology is currently around 2-3 years, half of the tech learned in traditional university degree studied over a three-year period will actually be irrelevant after the degree is completed.
Instead, ‘softer’ skills such as curiosity, adaptability, and commercial acumen should be prioritised when hiring the insurance pro of the future. This very principle is embedded in Grayce’s DNA: a defined set of competences and attributes that we prioritise when recruiting our talented young Analysts, many of which were reflected by Chris. It’s our ethos that if the soft skills are there, the technical ones can be learned. Of course, it helps that Grayce’s proposition of working predominantly with bright young talent means they are digitally-native.
Grayce’s take
The Insurance Network provided a great opportunity for networking and hearing the latest from industry leaders - we can’t wait for the next one. It was amazing to feel the palpable energy of a room filled with people genuinely passionate about digital transformation. We’ve had direct insight into the willingness for change of several forward-thinking insurers over the past decade, having worked with many leading insurance organisations on their change and transformation projects.
It's our view that the insurance sector is well-poised for transformation and can benefit from massive acceleration as a result, but agree with the sentiment of many others at the event – it’s time for the sector as a whole to take the bull by the horns and embrace technology now. Evolve or be overtaken.
