4 minute read 4 Sep 2020
Businessman talking to partners

How crisis is leading to greater appreciation for Information Technology

By Chris Maiato

Principal, EY Bermuda Ltd.; and Regional Consulting Leader, EY Region of the Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands

Experienced innovator and transformational leader with a passion for business and technology.

4 minute read 4 Sep 2020

EY hosted an Insurance CIO/CTO Virtual Roundtable to discuss challenges, success stories and priorities for their organizations.

In brief

  • The roundtable reported that the crisis has led to a much greater appreciation for what the Information Technology (IT) department does.
  • The transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) sparked a long discussion with a range of perspectives.

With the Bermuda international (re)insurance industry emerging from the initial stages of remote working, EY gathered a group of Chief Technology Officers (CTO) and Chief Information Officers (CIO) and hosted an Insurance CIO/CTO Virtual Roundtable to discuss challenges, success stories and priorities for their organizations.

Without exception, the roundtable reported that the crisis has led to a much greater appreciation for what the Information Technology (IT) department does. “After years of constantly explaining the IT budget,” as one panelist said, “historic investments are bearing fruit.” As another put it, “we now have three-months-worth of wins” that demonstrate the value of IT to leadership.

This value was reflected most immediately in the virtually overnight transition to remote working—especially for companies that did not previously have a work-from-home culture. These transitions went off without a hitch, at least on the technology side and capacity issues were not a problem.

Getting staff comfortable with remote working was a bigger challenge but most users adapted to video and collaboration tools quickly. To combat the loss of in-person collaboration, companies scheduled virtual happy hours or coffee breaks.

Getting staff comfortable with remote working was a bigger challenge but most users adapted to video and collaboration tools quickly.

Crisis to transformation

The newly heightened respect for IT is laying the groundwork for further technology transformation beyond COVID-19. But participants agreed that any new technology must be a proper fit for a company.

Companies constrained by governance and/or regulatory issues, for instance, may not be able to fully leverage cloud-based technology. For others, the move to a fully cloud-based model is accelerating. Several participants said that they expect the deployment of analytics tools and mobile apps, especially for collaboration, will also grow.

The transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) sparked a long discussion with a range of perspectives. One participant expressed that it is “an exciting time for AI” and that AI is “no longer just a marketing term.” Another felt that “AI is still a slow burner” that doesn’t deliver benefits in line with its costs.

Several participants reported that use cases for AI can be difficult to identify. For those that have realized value from AI, efforts have generally centered on efficiency improvements. For instance, companies feel comfortable using AI to identify and quantify risks across the vast pools of insurance data but are hesitant to automate the underwriting process. For now, the general consensus is that AI is best used to give underwriters more data and broaden their notion of what constitutes risk. 

The newly heightened respect for IT is laying the groundwork for further technology transformation beyond COVID-19.

New challenges

The group also discussed how the pandemic has introduced new hazards and exacerbated existing ones. Third-party risk is now much higher, given the transformation of operating models, balance sheets and the supply chain itself. Assessing third-party resiliency is critical.

Traditional cybercrime, including phishing emails and ransomware, continues unabated—and now has a COVID-19 twist. Remote working has increased the number of vulnerable end points exponentially, creating an ever-larger perimeter for IT to patrol (patches, version updates, etc.)

Participants reported several tactics they are deploying to thwart cybercrime. Some are using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for their most sensitive data and many are trying to limit risk at the end-user level by banning unapproved software and/or mandating the use of company computers.

The next phase

Overall, the feeling was that the newly heightened respect for IT is laying the groundwork for further technology transformation beyond COVID-19. But participants agreed that any new technology must be a proper fit for a company.  IT strategies remain the same, although the prioritization of those supporting activities have changed. Participants agreed that the roundtable was useful and informative, particularly as a shared venue for both large and small companies. “Learning can go both ways,” as one put it. While larger companies might have broader and deeper experience in many areas, smaller companies can be flexible —an especially useful trait in the era of COVID-19 disruption.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the participants of the EY virtual roundtable and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.

 

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Summary

The newly heightened respect for IT is laying the groundwork for further technology transformation beyond COVID-19.

About this article

By Chris Maiato

Principal, EY Bermuda Ltd.; and Regional Consulting Leader, EY Region of the Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands

Experienced innovator and transformational leader with a passion for business and technology.