Watch Indico Data CEO Tom Wilde step in as co-host alongside Michelle Gouveia, VP at Sandbox Insurtech Ventures, in season 2 episode 15 with Ian Thompson, Global Insurance and Claims Expert
Michelle Gouveia: Hello everyone. Welcome to a new episode of Unstructured Unlocked. I’m Michelle Gouveia.
Tom Wilde: And I’m co-host Tom Wilde.
Michelle Gouveia: We are excited to be joined today by Ian Thompson, a freelance strategic advisor to the insurance industry. Ian, welcome to the podcast!
Ian Thompson: Thank you, Michelle. Thank you, Tom. Delighted to be with you today.
Michelle Gouveia: Really excited to talk to you and hear your thoughts. Before we jump into our first question, would you mind sharing a little bit about your background?
Ian Thompson: Sure. I’ve been in the insurance industry for about 30 years, working in a variety of roles. Over the last 20 years, I’ve focused more on claims, both from a strategic perspective and in operational leadership.
For the last 12 years, I was with Zurich Insurance, holding global and executive-level roles, always with a focus on change, development, and the customer experience.
Tom Wilde: Great. Welcome, Ian. I happen to be broadcasting today from the Guidewire Connections Conference, which makes this conversation very timelyāthereās a lot of innovation happening in claims and underwriting.
With your experience in the industry, how would you describe where we are today in terms of claims transformation? Has it been a linear process of improvement over the last 20 years? Or are we at an inflection point?
Iāve seen innovations like virtual car accident reconstruction and the rise of spatial and satellite imagery in both personal and commercial claims, but Iād love your broader perspectiveāespecially now that youāre looking at the industry as an advisor.
Ian Thompson: I donāt think itās been a linear process at all. There have been certain moments where innovation has pushed the industry forward, but overall, change has been slow.
I often compare claims transformation to an athlete training with a parachute behind themāthereās a real desire from claims leaders to innovate, but there are factors holding them back from making the changes they want to see.
Tom Wilde: Thatās an interesting analogy! If you had to break it down, what are the biggest “parachutes” slowing down claims transformation? That might give us a good roadmap for todayās discussion.
Ian Thompson: Sure. There are several key constraints, but Iād highlight a few major ones:
Michelle Gouveia: Ian, let me ask a variation of that question. Looking ahead 5 to 10 years, do you think claims innovation will come more from technology transformationāthings like platform upgradesāor from workflow reengineering and process changes? Whatās the bigger driver?
Ian Thompson: I think the biggest forces driving change will be external rather than internal.
These external forces will compel insurers to adopt change, whether thatās through replatforming, better workflows, or leveraging AI for efficiency.
Tom Wilde: Thatās a great point. Iāve also noticed that a lot of carriers hesitate to add more technology because they already have a massive stack of applications.
Some companies have 100+ different systems in play, and while they donāt want another platform, they also need to modernize. Thereās a tension between creating an end-to-end solution versus trying to orchestrate existing tools more effectively.
Where do you think we go nextādo insurers move toward fully integrated platforms, or will they continue to layer new solutions on top of legacy systems?
Ian Thompson: End-to-end process transformation is the ideal scenario, but the reality is more complex.
To truly modernize, insurers need someone who can own the entire claims journeyāfrom process to technology to user experience.
Michelle Gouveia: That makes a lot of sense. Letās talk about dataāwhich is critical to both underwriting and claims, but it often feels like more focus is placed on underwriting data.
How can claims data be structured and leveraged better? And how can it feed into underwriting improvements rather than being treated as an isolated function?
Ian Thompson: Thatās a fantastic question. Underwriters have historically cherry-picked the data points they think are valuable, but claims departments are sitting on a goldmine of data that hasnāt been fully leveraged.
However, most claims platforms werenāt designed for data collectionāthey were designed as front-end systems for policy administration. That means insurers donāt always have structured claims data readily available for analysis.
The challenge is unlocking value from unstructured dataāthings like loss runs, adjuster notes, and third-party reports. AI and automation can help extract insights, but insurers also need better data integration strategies to connect claims and underwriting.
Tom Wilde: Thatās something I hear constantlyāinsurers know the data exists, but itās trapped in PDFs, Excel files, and legacy systems.
The ability to extract, normalize, and analyze claims data could dramatically improve pricing, fraud detection, and risk modeling, but right now, itās a Tower of Babel problemātoo many formats, too much fragmentation.
Michelle Gouveia: Shifting gearsāletās talk about customer interaction. Many insurers are investing in chatbots and AI-driven call center automation for claims intake.
Where do you stand on this? Should insurers prioritize self-service automation, or is there a risk of losing the human touch thatās crucial in claims?
Ian Thompson: Automation is great, but insurers need to be careful.
Done right, automation can enhance the claims experienceābut it should never become a barrier to service.
Tom Wilde: Ian, this was a fantastic conversation. Thank you for sharing your insights!
Ian Thompson: My pleasure. Thanks for having me!
Michelle Gouveia: Really appreciate the discussion, Ian. Thanks again!
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