InsurTech LIVE: Andrew Harrington & The Future of Insurtech
Andrew Harrington is a Chief Information Officer (CIO) that is focused on growing Ripe Thinking Limited’s reputation as a leader in the insurtech industry.
Currently, he is working to grow and advance the company’s technical and digital capabilities by delivering transformational change across customer management, software development and back-office operations. With more than 25 years in the IT field, Andrew has held senior roles at a range of leading companies, driving change and innovation.
Speaking at InsurTech LIVE Virtual 2023, Harrington spoke about how the future of the insurtech industry could look and what businesses need to consider moving forward.
The future of insurtech - but not as you know it today
Throughout his presentation, Harrington explains how technology and data can be used to allow buying insurance to be simpler, faster and more tailored to the individual.
“Working smarter is all about harnessing tech,” he says.
At Ripe, Harrington has also led the introduction of ‘Juice’ - the company’s innovative cloud-based underwriting and insurance distribution platform, and continues to deliver new developments for its proprietary technology.
In his presentation, he suggests that a good tech strategy has three pillars: careful planning, agile technology, and ensuring the customer is at the centre of the approach.
He notes how, without a clear outlook or roadmap, technology can become a distraction for businesses or even what he describes as a “vanity project”. Harrington highlights how companies must know how they want to implement new technologies.
In addition, he stresses the importance of leveraging the right technology stack suitable to the individual enterprise. He says that businesses can do this by staying agile and flexible, as well as being able to adapt to quick changes.
Working faster and supercharging businesses
New technology is the key to ensuring faster business development, says Harrington.
“Insurance companies must prioritise modernisation, robust security and data-driven decision making if we are to thrive ” he says. “Having legacy technology at the heart of your stack just holds you back in terms of your ability to grow your business.”
Ripe is constantly researching ways for insurtechs to innovate faster and more effectively with a customer-centric approach. Harrington highlights how a hyper-tailored customer experience could offer a more unique and flexible experience for the customer. In this vein, businesses can also focus on bettering solutions for their products.
“Technology is meant to be an enabler - both for the people that need to use it in the organisation and for those customers that consume it,” he says. “Better for me means stability, consistency and quality.”
For the full keynote from Harrington, you can click on the video link above.
And, if you’re looking for more InsurTech LIVE content, you can find it on our website as more continues to roll out over the coming days.
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