{"id":372,"date":"2018-05-03T15:06:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insuretycover.com\/?p=372"},"modified":"2023-11-28T11:42:35","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T11:42:35","slug":"innovate-evolve-survive-the-4th-industrial-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/insuretycover.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/03\/innovate-evolve-survive-the-4th-industrial-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovate, Evolve, SURVIVE – The 4th industrial revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Blimey, what a long winter and washout of an early spring we\u2019ve had!\u00a0\u00a0 However, with the weather finally lifting a little a couple of weekends ago, I was able to give my postage stamp of a lawn a first mow of 2018.\u00a0 As the aroma of freshly cut damp grass my wafted through my nostrils and the sun warmed my back, my mind turned to BIBA.\u00a0 As an almost teetotal introvert, I have usually looked forward to the event with a certain amount of trepidation, always envious of my more gregarious colleagues, such as Simon Cooter and Keith Hector, who bound up to Manchester with the unbridled enthusiasm of Labrador puppies.\u00a0 However, despite my \u201cpre-match nerves\u201d, I\u2019ve always had an enjoyable and, more importantly, productive time.<\/p>\n

Rather happily, this year\u2019s event theme of innovation coincides with my new role leading commercial and high net worth business transformation and innovation and I am now, to the amusement of some of my colleagues, displaying some of those young canine attributes.<\/p>\n

I also realised that it\u2019s 13 years since my first BIBA conference and, with that event taking place not long after I\u2019d pivoted my financial services career into commercial insurance, it was quite a baptism!\u00a0 Looking back at the event, whilst we still, as a sector, have a long way to go far as diversity and inclusion is concerned, we are starting to see signs of progress firstly in recognising the necessity to improve gender balance and secondly addressing it.<\/p>\n

As I knocked the grass cuttings off my shoes, I wondered what BIBA would be like in another 13 years, given all the changes that the fourth industrial revolution is starting to unleash. A recent study by Oxford University identified insurance as one of the industries\u2019 most likely to be disrupted by automation, against this backdrop I wonder, will there even be a BIBA conference in 2031?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to be a little provocative here and answer that question with a \u201cmaybe\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Whilst history has shown that previous industrial revolutions delivered exponential leaps in financial and social well-being at a macro level, there have also, inevitably, been winners and losers at a micro level.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The farming industry in the United States is a good case in point.\u00a0 Technological advancements during the 20th Century delivered incredible enhancements in productivity and efficiency.\u00a0 Great for the nation\u2019s overall prosperity, but devastating for the millions of people who lost their livelihoods, along with the rural communities they lived in.\u00a0 As Mitt Romney said in 2010, \u201ceconomists and business people can acknowledge that creative destruction does enhance productivity and raise the standards of living and the people of a society. That sounds great, except creative destruction does not sound real good if it happens to you. And for an economy to thrive, as our does, there are a lot of people who will suffer as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

With technology now advancing at such breakneck speeds, the winners win faster and win bigger, but for the losers, increasingly failure is both extremely sudden and extremely painful.\u00a0 Ultimately, both progress and customers are without sentiment and that\u2019s exactly how it should be; products, services, companies and organisations should only exist if they are delivering the expected value to customers.\u00a0 History and size count for nothing.\u00a0 Well, actually they do, but not in a good way.\u00a0 The older and the bigger the company, the harder it is to adapt and the greater the risk from disruptors.<\/p>\n

As a sector, we can be rightly proud of the part we\u2019ve played in overall economic and societal progress over the last few hundred years and at the heart of this has been our ability to adapt, innovate and deliver value to customers as their needs have changed.\u00a0 As the fourth industrial revolution really takes hold, it\u2019s essential we continue to do that for our customers, but in ever more efficient ways.\u00a0 We need to prosper because of technology, not despite it.<\/p>\n

The theme for this year\u2019s conference is \u201cinnovate\u2026evolve\u2026.thrive\u201d.\u00a0 It could well be \u201cinnovate\u2026.evolve\u2026.survive\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 I look forward to BIBA in Manchester in May 2018.\u00a0 And hopefully May 2031 too!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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