Jahangiri: From an innovation standpoint, what is the ‘next big thing’ in insurance?

Pasricha: I don’t think that there will be ‘one big thing’ that will change insurance in the next few years.  Like many other sectors it will be a combination of a number of factors and technologies that will continually evolve the landscape.  There are a number of technologies such as remote computing, cloud computing, Web 2.0 etc. that have been maturing around us, but have not yet made a major impact on insurance. There is also a substantial potential for insurance to leverage a wealth of data and information that is now becoming available from non-traditional sources to assess risks and help in the underwriting and claims settlement processes. Examples include location- based services, telemetry, social information, use of external data sources and a greater reliance on real time information rather than historic or a point in time information. 

Jahangiri: Claims processing is still largely manually driven.  How close is the sector from automating end-to-end claims processing?

Pasricha: I think the sector has made a lot of progress in the last few years in deploying technology to automate parts of the claims management process. Areas of automation in the industry so far have focused on areas such as lodgement, triage, payment, and the process orchestration thereof.  It is important to keep in mind that a large part of the claims process involves steps that by very nature require human judgement and skill, such as loss assessment, coverage assessment, negotiation and settlement with claimants.  Practically, these parts of the claims process are not just difficult to automate fully, but by taking claims automation beyond a logical point in these areas you are exposed to risks of poor judgement, fraud and deterioration of customer service.

Jahangiri: How do you see the customer channel evolving in the insurance market within the next three years?

Pasricha: I expect to see a step change in the adoption of technology oriented customer channels. In the retail market this would be an increase in the penetration of the internet channel for full policy lifecycle management. Traditionally, the internet channel has had a modest take-up rate for the closure of new business and very little deployment for management of other lifecycle events such as renewals, alterations and claims. I see this increasing dramatically within the next three years.  In the intermediated market, I expect growth in the number of online placement channels and a more diverse range of products and services being automated and externalised between insurers and intermediaries.

Jahangiri: How far into the future do you think technology roadmaps should be planned; and how can such plans remain agile in responding to market developments?

Pasricha: In my view, each organisation needs a long-term technology roadmap with a minimum timeframe of 5-10 years – longer if possible. If you look around the financial services sector, you will see that most organisations are still heavily reliant on systems that were developed 20 to 30 years ago. This indicates that IT systems in financial services tend to have a very long shelf life, and are very expensive and cumbersome to replace.  Technology roadmaps must therefore be adept at anticipating needs of the organisation well into the future.  I would suggest that the key to agility is to treat the roadmaps as a rough guide and remain flexible in implementation.  Fundamentally, the organisation will work with the roadmap into the future and rely on it to provide the basic guiding principles to new developments. Competitive dynamics and market changes will always influence business priorities.  Regardless of how good an organisation’s strategic planning is, no one can ever anticipate all the possible changes to the business environment.  In light of this, I tend to take the roadmap as a guide and try not to stray too far away from it.  More importantly, I treat it as a long-term journey with near-term check points. If business needs to dictate a deviation in the short-term, we try to factor in the cost of the ‘course correction’ i.e., the cost of the ‘zig’ and the ‘zag’ in making the investment decision.

Jahangiri: What keeps you motivated about your job – is it the technology or the sector?

Pasricha: The biggest source of motivation for me is the environment I have around me at QBE: working for a progressive company with strong business acumen and an embedded philosophy of core essential behaviours; having colleagues with mutual professional respect and trust for each other; being able to contribute to the company’s success in the market; being part of a winning team and getting a sense of personal accomplishment. 

I have now worked in three different industry sectors, and for me these factors are much more important than the business my company is in or working in a technology related role.

Jahangiri: Every IT leader, particularly at your level, has a legacy they wish to be remembered for. What is yours?

Pasricha: I hope that together with my colleagues we can make our IT function even more agile, more efficient and continue to be a major driver of competitive advantage for QBE. I would like it to be an even better place for our people to work in, one that draws, develops and retains high quality people and motivates everyone to do their best.