Series 3 - 003: What's next for Innovation with David Jones

Innovation across any industry inevitably has consequences for the way in which it must be insured. We live in times of great change and uncertainty, with many of our major industries currently being revolutionised either due to changing working habits, climate regulatory pressures or new emergent technologies such as AI. In this episode, Sarah speaks with QBE Insurance’s David Jones about how innovation across an array of industries is creating emerging risks, and how as brokers we can equip our clients against them. For example, the motor and construction industries are both undergoing seismic shifts as they respond to the demands of sustainability and government climate pledges. However, the emergence of lithium-ion batteries and new materials such as cross laminated timber pose significant risks which must be accounted for by brokers and insurers. David asserts that it is crucial for brokers to maintain both a macro and micro perspective on how innovation across different industries may be inadvertently creating new risks for their clients.

 

Quotes of the Episode

“We've got to cast our eye much further into the future. With AI, the challenge there is really difficult to understand and capture. I think we're just trying to work out what it means to us now, as an industry. It has benefits in terms of how we operate, how we process information, how we research and how we transact insurance policies. Those are very near-term benefits. But the future it holds is all around data usage, trends-spotting, and hopefully being a really early warning system to some of the changing risks that we see. So, I think it can probably help us in terms of looking forwards.”

“The advice we'd have for brokers and it’s something QBE aspire to as well, is just getting really close to the frontline, understanding what's impacting our customers, where they're seeing innovation, how they're managing their risk… Just being really close and proximate to the changing risks that are in the short-term, looking after how they approach their business, I think it's really, really important. Also, there's that point that innovation is not just for big companies, it sounds like Gen AI and all of this is really big multinational, global concerns. It's not; all companies are innovating; all companies are impacted by this change. So, recognise, it's on the macro, but also on the more local scale.”

 

Key Takeaways

The insurance industry typically responds to innovation through the rear-view mirror, but we now find ourselves in a very rapidly shifting landscape of change and must account for newly emergent risks

Most non-climate related claims are related to human error in one form or another, which may be affected by blurring of our work and home lives through flexible working

65% of the jobs our children will do don’t yet exist today

When we identify a change in any industry, we must ask ourselves ‘What does it mean for our clients?’

 

About the Guest

David Jones is the Director of Underwriting for Property and Packaged Business at QBE Insurance. In this role, he looks after QBE’s first party lines and commercial package insurance across the UK. He has over 20 years of underwriting experience across various specialisms and risks.

David’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-jones-5b126863/

 

About the Host

Sarah Myerscough is the Chief Ideas Officer at Macaii, formerly Boston Tullis. She hosts/co-hosts several podcasts and is known for her knack in connecting with people. Sarah excels in bringing out the best for video, podcast, and live events, helping clients showcase the human side of their business.

Sarah is passionate about the evolving dynamics of the insurance industry and enjoys conversing with innovators, trailblazers, and long-term advocates of change.

 

Resources

BIBA Conference 2024: https://thebibaconference.org.uk

QBE: https://www.qbe.com/

QBE – The Unpredictability Index: https://qbeeurope.com/news-and-events/reports/the-unpredictability-index/