People think there’s a battle being fought over technology, but the London market needs to be more responsive, and better at sales skills, according to Gracechurch Consulting’s founder.
The battle taking place for the future of the London market can seem focused on technology, as firms focus on finding value from data and squeezing efficiency gains from technology.
But the decisive edge will come from using the gains provided by technology to refocus on core people skills, “the big differentiator” for competing re/insurance firms.
That’s the message from Ben Bolton, founder and managing director of Gracechurch Consulting, which has made a name for itself in collecting re/insurance market data, providing research and rankings to determine what success looks like.
“People skills are key to performance, whether that’s about service or building trust,” says Bolton (pictured).
“In all our data, we’re seeing soft skills coming through strongly as the big differentiator for organisations. It’s the corollary of technology, which is enabling people to focus on service,” he adds.
Last year, Gracechurch conducted research in partnership with the International Association of Claims Professionals (IACP), the results of which informs Bolton’s comments.
He describes a move towards thinking more about adding value for the customer – usually a step removed for underwriters at Lloyd’s and the London market – typically working with brokers.
Competitive driver
Competition is driving this shift, he emphasises.
“To meet the customer’s need, even if you’re going through a distribution channel, we need to change the way we operate and re-skill,” Bolton says.
How long does the industry have to do this? “The claims research talked in terms of two years, but let’s be generous and say three to five years,” he says.
The new skills include or relate to technology.
“Inevitably, artificial intelligence (AI) was mentioned by everybody. I think AI represents a catch all for automation, machine learning and everything associated with it,” Bolton says.
“There is a strong sense that to take the opportunity, to use what’s there, and keep up with the competition, there is a need for technology, and some of that comes from the need for more efficiency and better processes,” he adds.
The digital transformation work taking place in the London market is an enabler to allow people to focus on service, he suggests.
“The other side of this is what you could describe as soft skills or sales skills. They need to develop these skills because they’re moving inexorably towards this customer proposition,” says Bolton.
“If you’re working at an insurer, whether in underwriting or claims, and dealing with brokers, you need to have it in your mind that there’s a customer at the end of this and you’ve got to deliver value-add in the right place along the chain,” he says.
He sees this trend everywhere in the market, leading to a recruitment focus throughout the industry – not just among frontline brokers or underwriters.
“The competition will be around people skills,” he says. “We will see this in talking to big call centres for large SME commercial claims teams or administrative teams.”
There will be some who say the London market has always been about relationships, but Bolton suggests the record has been a bit more inconsistent than the industry’s exponents would like.
He says: “I think people intuitively know we’re not great at this. In certain places, we’re great at it, and we’re very convivial as an industry, but we don’t bottle our skills in the same way that perhaps other industries do.”
This ‘bottling’ means “more science” and “thought about behaviours applied to softer skills”, he stresses.
The battleground
The same shift is taking place on both sides of the sector, he suggests, among the brokers and underwriters. Knowledge has always been the focus for underwriters, but communicating this with soft skill is coming into focus.
“There’s always been a requirement for knowledge from underwriters. You need to display or demonstrate that you as an underwriter have that technical knowledge,” Bolton says.
“Technical knowledge is one of those phrases thrown about, but I think it’s wider than just technical capability, which can be done by computers or banks of actuaries. It’s the synthesis of data into knowledge that’s key. The best people can explain in plain English what they can and can’t do, and why they should do something. They’re the best people.
The London market also needs to step up its responsiveness.
“The new buzzword is going to be speed, and it’s not just me saying it, London has had a reputation for being a bit slow, a bit complacent, and a bit passive, which has to change,” he says, citing a conversation with a newly installed chief underwriting officer at a major London market carrier.
“This is the battleground. We are not just sitting here as passive transferrers of risk via capital. We’ve got to do more than that, and so we’re back to thinking about people, and technology’s role will be to help with that.”
It all culminates in communication skills, he emphasises.
He emphasises the value of “an intuitive knowledge of what you’re selling”, noting that the best salespeople have this ability to understand precisely where the value lies for their counterparty.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are, or how technically brilliant your organisation is, if you don’t pick that phone up, if you don’t have the conversation, you will not be seen as good as the next people, who will go on to take that business,” he add
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