Evolving Casualty Challenges: A Buyer’s Perspective
Disruption is quickly becoming a constant in the insurance business today. Autonomous vehicles, wearable devices and the gig economy are just some of the new technologies currently shaping the liability and employment landscape. But what’s next? In this session at the 2018 Advisen Casualty Insights Conference, casualty insurance buyers discussed the evolving challenges to their businesses and industries.
Panelists included:
- David T. Carlson, U.S. Manufacturing & Automotive Industry Practice Leader, Marsh (Moderator)
- Alan Gier, Director, Global Risk Management & Insurance, General Motors
- John Kline, Director, Risk & Insurance Management, Discover Financial Services
- Amy Wagner, Vice President, Global Products, Insurance & Risk Management, Ryder System, Inc.
Every industry is experiencing disruption. For instance, transportation is changing tremendously. From autonomous vehicles, to safety technology, to the way people are purchasing their vehicles – many aspects of the industry are in flux. There is also significant market risk because competitors are racing to develop massive technological changes to both product and operations.
The financial industry is also experiencing massive change. Brick and mortar banks are diminishing. Banks are striving to use a direct-banking model, which means they will meet your needs anywhere through things like mobile banking. This new business model is bringing new opportunities, but also new exposures.
Risk management has to change to keep up with the various disruption. As professionals, we need to step back and take a new perspective. Risk managers need to be consultants. They need to be at the table and included in the up-front conversations to help mitigate risks starting at the operations stage. Technology may be a driver of much of this disruption, but it will also help improve risk management.
The disruption goes deeper than we think. For instance, safer cars means less accidents, which means less fatalities and less organ donors. So, the disruption in the auto industry can, ultimately, impact healthcare. We need to start thinking outside our specific industry because it is all becoming interconnected. In risk management, we need to start taking the “six degrees of separation” approach. A traditional approach is only going to yield a traditional result.