As we bid farewell to 2023, it’s time to reflect on a year that’s been nothing short of extraordinary for Indico Data. It’s been a whirlwind of stellar events, humbling awards, and insightful conversations. Let’s take a moment to walk back through the exciting journey of this past year, filled with achievements that have not only defined our direction but also the industry’s trajectory.
Trade Shows: A Year of Networking and Knowledge Sharing
First off, our journey through 2023 was marked by a series of high-profile trade shows, each offering unique opportunities for growth and learning. Let us walk you through the lineup of the events we were a part of this year:
Spring Beginnings and a UK Debut
Our year’s trade show journey commenced with the Insurtech Insights ITI UK in March, attended by over 6000 insurtechs, insurers, investors, and more. This event was our springboard into the world of international insurtech discussions for 2023, setting the tone for a year of impactful networking. Our participation here was not just about showcasing our Intelligent Intake solution; it was about engaging with global trends, understanding emerging market needs, and forging connections that extend beyond borders.
Exploring Innovations in the USA
In April, we went to Insurance Innovator USA in Nashville, where we engaged with a melting pot of ideas and delved deep into the American insurance market’s nuances. The incredible list of speakers included Chetan Kandhari, SVP, Chief Innovation and Digital Officer at Nationwide; Dean LaPierre, Chief Underwriting Officer at Berkshire Hathaway; Francis Hyatt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Liberty Mutual, and so many more. An event organized by insurance carriers for insurance carriers, it was a gathering that brought to light the unique challenges and opportunities within the US sector.
Mid-Year Momentum
June was a particularly exciting month for us, marked by our presence at two major events: the Insurtech Insights ITI USA and ITC DIA Europe. These platforms enabled us to compare and contrast the insurance landscapes across continents, enriching our understanding and approach to global insurance tech innovations. Watch our session from ITC DIA Europe here, where our CEO, Tom Wilde, and Dorota (Dori) Zimnoch, Global Industry Strategist, WW FSI at Microsoft discuss ChatGPT and LLMs’ role in insurance data intake solutions.
Ending with a Bang in Vegas
Another one of the year’s highlights was undoubtedly our participation in ITC Vegas in November. Here, we not only connected with industry leaders but also had the opportunity to share our vision and expertise with others. Our speaking slot at ITC Vegas was a moment of pride for our company, and you can check it out here. Equally noteworthy was our engagement at the Guidewire Connections event in the same month, where we participated in more specialized conversations and heard from speakers like Andrew Rose, President of OnStar Insurance; David Gwarda, Assistant Vice President, CPCU, CLU, ChFC of State Farm; and even Reese Witherspoon, Academy Award winning actor, producer, and Founder of Hello Sunshine.
Milestones of 2023: A Deep Dive
Last year was also filled with significant milestones for Indico, each marking our continued path of growth and innovation in the industry.
Industry Recognitions and Awards
Everest Group’s Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) Peak Matrix®
We started the year on a high note, being named a leader in the IDP industry by The Everest Group’s PEAK Matrix® 2023, widely regarded as a definitive evaluation of vendors in the IDP space. We were recognized as having the “strongest year-over-year movement” of any provider in the 2023 PEAK Matrix® Assessment, which we view as a testament to our significant progress and continued innovation in market impact, vision, and capabilities within the IDP industry
Deep Analysis Innovation Award
We also received the prestigious Deep Analysis Innovation Award in 2023, a significant accolade that recognizes our outstanding contributions to the information and automation enterprise software sector. Our innovative approach to addressing real-world problems using deep learning and GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) technology was particularly highlighted.
Built In’s Best Places To Work Awards
Finally, and most importantly, Built In honored Indico in its 2024 Best Places To Work Awards. We earned a place among the Best Startups to Work For in Boston, MA. A testament to our workplace culture, we feel that this award reflects our longstanding commitment to creating an inclusive, dynamic, and innovative work environment for all company members.
Product Innovations and Strategic Moves
Launch of Indico 6
Turning our focus to product-side innovations we executed this year, a major developmental highlight was our announcement of Indico 6, a significant upgrade to our AI-powered Intelligent Intake solution. Indico 6 was designed to address the growing need for carriers to pivot from mere data-driven insights to actionable, outcome-focused decisions, directly addressing challenges in optimizing underwriting profits, minimizing claim costs, and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Integration with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service
We also announced our collaboration with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, which marked a huge step forward in enhancing our Enterprise Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities. Microsoft Azure is developing the latest in generative AI, and this collaboration’s goal is to leverage their incredible assets to increase our product’s underwriting and claims intake capacity and improve processing efficiency for insurance carriers. Thank you once again to Microsoft Azure for their help and assistance!
Podcast Appearances and Article Features
Our thought leadership and industry expertise were showcased on multiple different media platforms throughout the year, too. We were featured in awesome podcasts like The Insurtech Leadership Podcast, Cloud Realities, and RIMScast, sharing insights into the latest trends and developments in the insurance and tech sectors. Additionally, our work and innovations on bringing GPTs into intelligent document processing were highlighted in a Deep Analysis article, further solidifying our position as industry leaders.
Podcast Highlights: Unstructured Unlocked
Throughout the year, we had many incredible conversations on our podcast Unstructured Unlocked between guests and our knowledgeable co-hosts Christopher M. Wells, Ph. D., Indico VP of Research and Development, and Michelle Gouveia, VP at Sandbox Insurtech Ventures. Overall, we recorded 28 podcast episodes and received more than 1,600 downloads/listens—if you listened to Unstructured Unlocked this year, thank you! We’re grateful from the bottom of our hearts.
Episodes featured guests from varied backgrounds and specialties bringing diverse ideas and expertise, primarily in the insurance sector. Let’s walk through some of the episodes that really marked our media journey in 2023:
Pioneering Conversations
- Episode 9 with Arthur Borden, Vice President – Head of Digital Business Systems and Architecture at Everest Insurance: A deep dive into the challenges of unstructured data in underwriting, where Arthur Borden shared invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of underwriting processes.
- Episode 10 with Peter Camp, CampTek Software CTO and Founder: We explored the intricacies of enterprise data and automation with Peter Camp, providing listeners with a unique perspective on the intersection of technology and insurance.
- Episode 11 with Ozan Bilgen: An enlightening session that delved into the challenges and solutions in enterprise data automation.
Insights from Industry Leaders
- Conversations with Insurtech Experts: Episode 16 with Stacey Brown from InsurTech Hartford, Episode 19 Louis DiModugno of Data Curiosity LLC, and Episode 20 with Brandi Corbello, SVP of Global Delivery at Indico. Each of these episodes unpacked different aspects of insurance technology and business strategy from the perspectives of experts in the industry.
- Episode 22 with Jim DeMarco, Director of Insurance Strategy at Microsoft: This episode provided a glimpse into the strategic directions of insurance technology with insights from Microsoft’s very own Director of Insurance Strategy.
Exploring AI and Its Impact
- Episode 23 – Making AI Enterprise Ready: A collaboration with Cloud Realities where we discussed the AI hype-cycle and its implications for enterprise-level implementation with Rob Kernahan, Vice President, Capgemini; Sjoukje Zaal, Generative AI Lead for Cloud, Capgemini; and Dave Chapman, Chief Cloud Evangelist, Capgemini.
- Episode 26 – Genuine Generative AI Talk: CEO Tom Wilde’s discussion on the role of AI in modern business practices, highlighting the potential and pitfalls of tools like ChatGPT.
- Episode 34 – Empowering with Generative AI: A crucial conversation about how generative AI is reshaping the insurance sector between Tom Wilde, CEO of Indico Data, and James DeMarco from Microsoft.
Visionaries and Innovators
- Episode 29, Episode 30, and Episode 31: These episodes featured discussions with Thomas Mandel of Cushman & Wakefield, Daniele Groves from Guidewire Software, and former Zurich Insurance Group executive Michael Duncan, respectively, each bringing unique perspectives to the table. If you’re looking for top-level insights from executives at companies on the front lines of the insurance and real estate services industries, these three episodes are for you.
Looking Towards the Future
- Episode 35 with Alex Taylor, Global Head of Emerging Technology at QBE Ventures: An insightful episode on the potential trajectory of the insurance industry in the coming years. Alex shares how QBE Ventures evaluates potential companies for investment, the challenges of predicting AI and machine learning developments, as well as the differences between the AI hype cycle and those of other industries.
Lessons Learned: Specific Insights We Gathered from Unstructured Unlocked
We didn’t just want to leave you a summary of episodes—we also wanted to share some of the nitty-gritty, laser-focused insights that we gleaned from our wonderful guests on the podcast. Here are the invaluable pieces of wisdom we heard from guests regarding the rapidly evolving landscape of insurance and technology:
Emphasizing Efficient Submissions and Automated Processes
- Steven Weiss from Munich Re Specialty Group: Highlighted the importance of smoothing out the document intake process. Despite the advances we’ve seen in the insurtech industry, the challenge remains in handling non-standardized submissions, which still require a lot of manual work to process and intake.
- Art Borden, Vice President – Head of Digital Business Systems and Architecture at Everest Insurance: Discussed the complexities in automating underwriting processes. Factors such as product complexity and the severity of potential losses if something goes wrong play a large role in determining what should—or shouldn’t—be automated in a company’s processes.
The Role of Automation in Decision Making
- Christopher M. Wells, VP of R&D, Indico Data: Pointed out the pain points in insurance intake, particularly in handling unstructured data like emails. The key difficulty here lies in identifying and processing information in a way that’s useful for business decision-making—which can be incredibly difficult to accomplish with forms of input as inconsistent and varied as emails.
- Art Borden: Emphasized that automation enhances human effectiveness, improving decision velocity in underwriting and reducing reliance on manual processes. Remember: it isn’t that AI is going to replace human underwriters; it’s helping make them better at their jobs.
Digitization and AI in the Insurance Industry
- Daniele Groves, Guidewire Software: Spoke about the existential threat of not embracing digitization, especially in sectors like personal auto insurance where technological adoption is critical. It’s not necessary in all countries and industries, but in some more technologically advanced nations and sectors, she argues that you really are putting yourself at quite a disadvantage by not digitizing.
- Michelle Gouveia, VP at Sandbox Insurtech Ventures: Discussed the fact that AI is an incredible assistant, but cannot replace human interaction in a role as logistically complex as insurance claims intake. The technology simply isn’t there yet.
- Alex Taylor, QBE Ventures: Emphasized that while full automation isn’t necessary at the moment, AI significantly aids employees in improving their efficiency and adherence to procedures—a common theme we noticed guests honing in on throughout the year.
Future Trends and Data Utilization
- James Wright, Beazley Digital: Predicted that small commercial markets will see increasing connectivity between brokers and clients, leading to quicker product innovations and adaptations as time goes on.
- Brandi Corbello, SVP of Global Delivery, Indico Data: Highlighted the insurance industry’s need to effectively use its vast data repositories to aid decision-making and reduce exposure to risk. She sees such data resources as unmined gold, ready to be mined.
- Thomas Mandel, Cushman and Wakefield: Advised on the judicious use of automation, emphasizing the need to identify processes that truly benefit from automation. Not every step of a company’s intake process needs to be automated. If only 70%, or even 50%, of the process gets automated, but it still increases productivity, then that’s a big win.
The Underwriting Process and Outsourcing Trends
- Abhi Kothari, Practice Director, Everest Group: Shared that one of the greatest challenges in underwriting is in managing the sheer amount of data and documents that customers submit for analysis. He also touched on the growing trend of outsourcing non-core activities in the insurance industry due to the low supply of underwriter talent at the moment.
Wrapping Up
Overall, 2023 was a massive year of learning, growth, and achievements for Indico Data. We welcomed a number of new customers to the Indicrew and crossed a substantial revenue threshold in contracted ARR that only a small percent of startups ever achieve. As we begin to walk through 2024, we carry forward the lessons and successes of the past year, ready for new challenges and opportunities.
We cannot wait to see you at events this year, and we look forward to each and every conversation we get to have this year with customers, guests on our podcast, and our partners within the industry. Here’s to a year where we continue to innovate, inspire, and lead intelligent intake in the insurance industry.
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