Insurance Capital Summit 2023

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Welcome the Pulse of the Region,brought to you by the Metro Hartford Alliance.
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(00:24):
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(00:44):
more at okill ct dot org.Now here's your host for Pulse of the
Region, Kate Bowman, and welcometo Pulse of the Region. I'm your
host, Kate Bauman, and I'mexcited to have you here with us today.
We have another great show lined upfor you today. You're getting the
Pulse about the Insurance Capital Summit andhow this event is spotlighting Hartford globally as

(01:06):
the insurance capital of the world.So that just gives me kind of the
excitement, gives me some goosebumps wheneverwe say that statement about Hartford, about
our state of Connecticut, and todayhave two people who are really going to
be able to expand on that andreally expand on what the insurance industry means
here in Connecticut, but also whatthat means how it is impacting globally.
So first would like to welcome ourguests from Cognizant. He is the head

(01:30):
of strategy for insurance. Is CraigWebber. So, Craig, so glad
to have you on the show heretoday. Well, thank you, Kate.
I am delighted to be here.Fantastic. And then our next guest
is again I think Susan, wemay need to have you come in as
a co host, but it ismy colleague who's with the Metro Hertford Alliance
and with CTIFS. Is our executivedirector for the CTIFS and vice president is

(01:53):
Susan Winkler. As always, I'mhappy to be here, Kate. Than
in studio today, we don't alwaysget in studios. It's a good excitement.
Fantastic, well, Susan, Really, what kind of brings us all
here today? Is the Insurance CapitalSummit. So first things first, hopefully
listeners have heard about it is it'san annual event for CTIFS. But if

(02:14):
you don't mind, give isn't usan overview about the event? You know?
I think this might be our fourteenthyear. I think so it's there.
This is the opportunity for the wholeworld to take a look at Hartford
in the insurance capital we are asas the insurance capital. We have the
leading companies that are directing where theinsurance industry is going for the nation and

(02:37):
for the world. And this particularevent, the CTIFS is their signature event.
Is an opportunity, as they said, to have the entire focus right
here on Hartford. Where is theindustry going, what should they be ready
for and who is directing that,which, of course is the great companies
that are here in Hartford. Definitely, And just a reminder Susan for listeners
on who is the CTIFS and whatis you know, just what's comprised of

(02:59):
that. I assume everybody knew it. Most people do. So CTIFS is
an additition above the Metro Hartford Allianceand inside that is about twenty four insurance
of financial services companies. The executiveswe've been convening now for twenty years.
I will say that to a shoutout for the ctifs to strengthened advanced the

(03:20):
industry and this is one way wedo that. Fantastic, fantastic, And
what's the date of the summit beforewe go anywhere? We put that September
twenty seven. It'll be held atthe Bushnell in Hartford. It'll be from
one to five with a reception following. Fantastic and Craig. This year,
we're so excited to have Cognizant isreally going to be heavily involved with the
summit as you have been involved inthe past, and you know before we

(03:44):
talk about your involvement in the event, though, would love to remind listeners
a bit about Cognizant. If youdon't mind giving a bit of an overview
about the company, I sure cando that. Cognizant is one of the
largest I T services companies in theworld, probably the largest in terms of
insurance focus. In North America.We have a very proud offshore heritage anchored

(04:04):
in India but also centers in Europeand Asia, and a lot of people
are familiar with Cognizant for traditional ITservices like managing and running it and building
great tech solutions. That we're alsostrong in BPO and advisory work related to
transformation and digital experience, So weexpect those teams will will be there in

(04:28):
force at the summit this year.Definitely, yes, and certainly it seems
you know, would love to getyour perspective on why is it so important
for Cognizant to be involved with thesummit, especially this year and then also
in years past. Yeah. Oneof the unique things about Cognizant is how
our company culture is oriented toward partnershipand service with clients, and that leads

(04:51):
to really deep relationships with our insureclients. We kind of think of ourselves
as part of what they tried todo, and so the Cognisant team,
from from top to bottom, isreally invested in making clients successful and that
puts us into this wider insurance community. So as a result of that,

(05:15):
we're always looking for ways to helpdrive the community success and the idea sharing
like like we typically see at theSummit is such an important part of creating
the future of insurance, and sowe're pleased to be plugged into that conversation.
Driving anyway we can lending some ofour technical expertise to the conversation where
that makes sense, but in anycase, just kind of sitting right in

(05:38):
the middle of a conversation that wethink is really important to the future of
the industry. Definitely know and Iwould love to talk more about that conversation
and the many conversations that will occurthis year at the Insurance Capitol Summit on
September twenty seven, So I haveto throw it in as many times as
possible, right, Susan. That'sright. So Susan, can you talk
about the theme this year of thesum because I know I'm very excited and

(06:00):
I'm not even in this space asmuch as others. Yeah, no,
this is we always take the audienceout there somewhere, so the this is
not your traditional insurance conference because it'swhere it is Insurance Capital. Because we
are the forward thought, leading directinginsurance industry that we are, we always
take the audience somewhere where they're notthat familiar. And this year's theme is

(06:23):
Jendavei. So opportunities and risk managementspecifically, and as you know Jenervei,
it's a topic to jo. Youknow, everything touches that is, the
Pandora's box is open, every businessis touching it. So there's a lot
of opportunities there, and the insuranceindustry is grasping that more efficiencies in product

(06:45):
development, it's faster, it's betterusing machine learning, using AI. But
then inherently there's also a risk involvedas this every every business is insured and
that's why I will say that thisconference is not just for the insurance industry.
As a matter of fact, Iwould encourage businesses to attend that are
touching this and that are insured becausein most places are most point. But

(07:09):
they want to know what is theinsurance industry thinking about Jarifia AI, So
I can build my own business modelsaccordingly. And so the insurance industry is
there. They're looking at, Okay, how do we protect our customers,
but how do we also build efficienciesfor them new products for them. But
again protections are now in place andthere's a lot of momentum in that space

(07:31):
as far as working with our withour our partners such as cognisin in deciding,
hey, where are those inherent risksand may and again how are we
going to adopt them? What arethose risks? And of course then there's
the human component too, so that'llbe also a theme inside the the event
as well. What is that Whatis the impact to human capital? Definitely,

(07:56):
and can you touch on the keynotespeaker that will be there for the
course, Well, Google, sayno more. We we are very fortunate
to have Dan or Danu Moblonga asand I'm hoping I'm not misspelling his name,
but he is a director of Solutionsfor Generative AI at Google. So

(08:16):
we are going to hear from Googleon what they're doing, where they're going,
and how that intersection with insurance ishere today and forever. So we're
excited to have Google as our keynote. Fantastic And in addition to the keynoe
is another kind of key pillar ofthe agenda that day is going to be
a fireside chat with Dan from Google. In addition is Craig. It's going

(08:37):
to be Cognizance Global head of AIand Analytics and he's going to be part
of this discussion. So Craig,if you could first give a little bit
introduction to him and then we candive in a little bit more on that
topic. I'm happy you're giving thatsession of plug as well. My colleague
is Navian Sharma, ahead of AIand Analytics Cognizant. If I had to

(09:00):
bet, I would say, becauseI've spent some time with Navigne, I
expect some really interesting conversation to comeout of that. So I'm delighted to
hear that Navigne has been around theAI topic for a good chunk of his
career, and so you know,I don't want to steal his thunder,
and I couldn't probably in any case, because he's great. But the whole

(09:22):
Cognitant team is really diving into AI. Everything Susan said is completely exactly spot
on. It's top of mind,not not just for our insurer clients,
but for clients of all stripes,and frankly for us even as individuals,
as as consumers, as users ofour own products like banking and insurance.

(09:45):
We're all feeling the same thing.So this is really just an exciting time
to be around our industry. Itdefinitely is. And I'm going to ask
what's probably too big of a question, but Craig, I'm going to put
you on the spot if you don'tmind, it's glad you start. Craig
first, Yeah, Susan's like sittinghere wiping her brow off. Yeah,
but Craig really would love if youdon't mind. At a high level kind

(10:07):
of just let us know what isthe approach that Cognizant's been taking, you
know, historically and then now lookingahead, you know, with AI and
certainly in the insurance industry, butthen also too, you know, many
other industries that the company focuses ontoo. Yeah, it's a great question,
and let me let me see ifI can distill it into a kind
of a little bit of a previewof what Navine might might talk about the

(10:30):
taste. I will say, likeeveryone, we're all trying to kind of
wrap our brains around AI and whatthe impact will be. And so that
for a lot of people means we'reramping up on idea generation and thinking about
use cases for AI. But theCognizant take is also to try to move
that conversation pretty quickly to a practicalapplication of AI. And so I think

(10:56):
we have a little bit of ahead start in the Cognizan traditionally has been
all about automation and decisioning and leveragingdata to drive better outcomes. Those have
been barrows in our quiver for along time, and so now on top
of that, we're layering some ofthe expertise it's emerging with new technology like
the various large language models, andof course strong ties to industry players like

(11:22):
Microsoft and Google and AWS and others. The other thing I would say that
the cognizant take is that there aresofter skills that typically characterize sensible transformation in
the digital realm, and AI isreally a good example of that. Where
you know how you do change management, how you think about the human side

(11:46):
of the experience of a digital experience, you put a human lens on that,
and that's an area another we've beeninvesting very heavily in this digital experience
layer, and AI some some newelements to our design canvas so we can
deliver interesting digital experiences that still feelvery human and very powerful and very natural.

(12:09):
So if we're successful in that,I think we will as an industry,
we will really improve our standing withclients. And I just maybe just
to sum summarize this inside, it'sa little bit a little bit more lengthy
than I know. This is good. You know, we're really excited about
both the near term and far term. I know that's not even a word,

(12:33):
but you know, Ai've got thisreally interesting trajectory and we're we're we're
seeing really exciting stuff up front.But I think what's really where it really
is just going to be mind blowing, is where we get out a year
or two or three and see whatwe can do with the technology. Yeah.
I love Craig how you talked aboutthe human element. It's almost like

(12:54):
an intersection of both. Right,You've got the human side of of your
work, the insurance industry, andthen you have an AI side or the
or the digitalization AI being part ofthat. And it's an intersection. And
it's running really fast right now,and and the industry is grasping it.
They're not running away. And Iwill say that so this is again where

(13:15):
I'm going to say, where theindustry is not running, they're coming in.
They're going in full full throttle tosay, Okay, we're grasping this,
we want to know about it,we want we want to get ahead
of it. You'll never get reallyahead of it, but you will be
able to throw some cautions in therewhen you need to, but also build
as I think Craig talked about thecustomer experience. You know, how do
you make that better? Well,now we can use AI to get there

(13:37):
in a faster, better way,to know each one of us in a
better way. And I stress thisagain with the businesses this event again,
come and learn. Learn what Cognizantis saying about what they're global leader in
solution providing. Listen to them,Listen to the other leaders that are on
the stage of the of this event. You'll have health, property, casualty,

(14:00):
life insurers speaking as well as Google. You're a business, you're a
manufacturer, you're a health system,you're something. Come and listen because you'll
have a really good understanding of wherethe insurance industry is going. We all
need insurance in the operations of ourbusiness, and you'll be able to understand
how the AI is affecting your businessand how the insurers are responding. Fantastic
And one thing both a kind ofa key word that both of you are

(14:24):
saying, is that we're human.And you know, I think sometimes we
hear AI and you think, ohmy goodness, that's going to eliminate jobs
or you know, it's going tochange what the workforce looks like. But
you know, Susan, what areyou seeing within the insurance industry specifically?
And then Craig would love for youto chime on this as well, as
you know, where are the newjobs being created, and you know which
may be replacing and or adding tosome of the other jobs. And there

(14:46):
are some jobs that will be replaced. I mean, there's it's just a
matter of technology and its efficiencies andwhat's built for actually, right, So
when you look at the statistics ofan industry, and I'm just referring to
insurance, financial services, there willbe jobs that will go away, but
if there will equally be replaced withjobs that are highly skilled, really innovative,

(15:09):
technology based, and those are growingexponentially. We look at the data
all the time, and we recentlydid a labor study and we've got all
of this data saying these jobs aregrowing. It's it computer systems or computer
services, some actuaries, you know, the data scientists, et cetera.
Any of you that has a technicalmind, but yet the creative mind as

(15:33):
well. So I love this question, Kate, because I see, Yes,
there will be impacts, but Ifeel that they will be outweighed by
the jobs created for AI and digitaldigitalization. That's great, And Craig anything
additionally you'd like to add into that, Yeah, it's I think insurers and

(15:54):
I've been around insurance technology my entirecareer and I'm not going to tell you
how long that is. But Ithink we've always sort of thought of ourselves
as unique. Right. We think, oh, you know, I've got
challenges that other businesses don't have.And that's true, It's most true and
false. Right, There's some similaritiesin how we think about solving problems in

(16:18):
other industries, and Cognizant has hasa footprint in some of these, like
life sciences and healthcare and retail andbanking and government, but as well as
insurance. But there is one thingthat is really unique about insurance, and
that is the regulatory environment. Andso, you know, I think as
we solve problems with AI, regulatorsare justifiably concerned about what that means for

(16:44):
how policies are underwritten or how claimsare adjudicated, and so there will always
be I predict a rule a centralrole for humans to apply human decision making,
and that kind of puts the technologyin a support role that says,
yes, we can make your jobeasier, but someone of the humans going
to have eyes on this problem.And so I think that's part part of

(17:07):
the way to assuage the concerns ofstaff is say, look, this is
going to make your job better,more enjoyable. You're going to focus on
interesting things, but you're always goingto be kind of plugged into that decision
making. And there's really good reasonsfor that. Yeah, that I would
agree with exactly what Quig said.The fact of the the regulatory environment will

(17:32):
will be there. They are workingon ways to come into this space and
haven't really outlined anything yet. Wellthere's outlines, but there's nothing that's been
official. But it gets back downto, no matter what you do,
you still need somebody who's ultimately goingto make the decision. It will be
a human person and uh that's uh, that's where the uh, that's where

(17:52):
the bottom line is. So thegood news as all three of us will
still have jobs. We don't knowwhat they'll look like, but it'll be
better. At least it'll be employee. Well that's kind of fantastic. Well,
would like just kind of craigs askone more question you in relating to
other industries, and you know,understanding that Cognizant focuses within healthcare, manufacturing,

(18:14):
many others, is if you couldkind of talk a little bit about
the trends you're seeing in some ofthese industries versus insurance. You know,
certainly it was great where you broughtout kind of the different differential differentiator there
we go, sorry about that ininsurance, But is there anything else kind
of top level that you could pullout from some of the other industries that
Cognizant focuses in. Well, itis interesting in the internal deliberations with Incognizant,

(18:38):
and there's quite a few folks divinginto this topic across all of our
different business segments. There are somemajor buckets that keep coming up. So
you can think about in across everyindustry, essentially customer service interactions or sales
support, any any kind of aprocess that requires a synthesis of data into

(19:03):
some kind of a coherent storyline.There's there's a really strong gen AI use
case there. So again, asa consumer, you kind of know that
buying a car, or getting medicaladvice or applying for loan, doing retirement
planning. These are all really fundamentalservice transactions, and command of data is

(19:26):
a theme that crosses over all ofthose, like really understanding your customer,
what their needs are, what otherbusinesses they have, not just with you,
but with other firms as well,things like social media footprint. You
know, there's there's all kinds ofangles to mine in the in the data
space, and that's that's where Isee across every industry, the ability of

(19:48):
AI to deliver those highly personalized experiences. It's just it really requires command of
data, and that's set something thatwe're all working on. Okay, fantastic,
Well, this is great, andcertainly the meetings of the Minds will
be in Hartford, Connecticut for thesummit on September twenty seven, But then
there's also other events kind of happeningthroughout the country and I'm sure globally as

(20:10):
well, where you know, alot of these topics are going to be
discussed as well. And one whereboth Cognizant and ctifs will be at upcoming
in October is in Suretech connect Andyou know, Craig would love for to
get if you don't mind kind ofjust giving us a little bit of an
overview about this event, and thenwhat will cognizance be involvement be at it
this year. Sure, I'm nottied to the event in any way other

(20:34):
than as a participant typically this year, though Cognizant is joining as a sponsor.
My enthusiasm for this event has beenfrom the very beginning. This is
just a massive insurance innovation event MandallyBay in Las Vegas. Three days of
what I lovingly call creative chaosity exhausting. Yeah, and it's you know,

(21:00):
it's carrier staff, it's startups,it's it's pe firms, it's vendors like
us. We're all in a ina big mashup exploring what technology can do
for the industry. So I'm reallyexcited about that. And we are sponsoring
a have to kickoff session at iTC this year. It reflects our our

(21:21):
enthusiasm for the conversations that go onthere. Fantastic and it's great too to
have members from Cognisant who have anoffice here in Connecticut. And it's you
know, really kind of going andall of us waving the Connecticut flag a
little bit out there, and SusanCTIFS certainly kind of the leader in that
the flag waving. I guess wouldyou have the baton? We love a
big flag. So if you talka little bit on you know the role

(21:42):
of CTIFS and all of our partnercompanies here in Connecticut going to spotlight at
this big stage kind of what doesthat look like. Well, we will
be a sponsor as well, andmassive, I think Craig massive. I
think it's the two to nine thousandor ten thousand attendees. It's big.
It's big, But we will havethe big banner there, the Connecticut insurance

(22:03):
capital of the world, to insuretech capital of the world as we like
to call ourselves too. We willbe there in big form on the floor
in the exhibit hall, a placefor all of our startups that are here
that we're supporting, for our companies, great companies that we are partners with,
like Cognizant to stop over, Saylo. We'll have a large enough booth
to have tables and chairs and havethose meaningful conversations about where the industry is

(22:26):
going and how can we support themto here in Connecticut. And beyond.
What also we'll be focusing on isour insure Tech Corridor. Most recently,
Hartford and Connecticut signed in international partnershipwith the UK. It is a to
facilitate the insure tech business back andforth between the two countries. And we

(22:47):
have a nervous amount of success storiesand there will be startups there as well,
Fantastic and Susan. Since you mentionedthe insure Tech Corridor, do you
mind just touching on what does thatreally mean and what does that meant so
far for business is coming here toConnecticut. Yeah, well, we've praised
the flag and then the UK noticedand we worked with the UK Department of
Business and Trade to formalize an agreementbetween as I said, the two countries,

(23:11):
between London and Hartford, specifically inthe UK and Connecticut to encourage and
well, actually it's really to streamlinethe process to get startups who are in
These startups are ready to expand intothe US. We're looking to support their
their journey as well, working withthe Department of Business and Trade from the
UK, and of course our goalis to make sure they land here establish

(23:33):
those headquarters right here in Hartford,Connecticut, the insurance capital, and we
have success stories that companies are doingthat already we're super excited about it,
very excitable and excited to hear moreon that. And the last, but
certainly not least, is Craig,just want to touch on cognizant within the
community, and again, as Imentioned, a very strong presence here in
Connecticut and doing a lot here forour community and I'm sure communities across the

(23:57):
country and also across the globe.You know, I always want to make
sure that I mentioned Mirra Christianamurthy whoserves on our board of directors for the
Metro Hartford Alliance and is doing somuch is day in and day out to
help support the community. Is Craig, could you talk just a little bit
about this community culture for the organizationand really why is that kind of truly
a part of your DNA as anorganization. Yeah, Mirror and much of

(24:21):
our leadership team is is in theHartford metro area. So Mirror does a
great job carrying the flag. AndI will say, for those of us
who want to be face to facewith her, we're a very virtual business.
We typically have to head to thenortheast, so she's doing a great
job for you there. But youknow, we do feel plugged into to

(24:42):
the Hartford community and the insurers thatare there, and many of them have
a global footprint as well, sowhich is a nice, you know way
for us to stay in touch acrossg IS. So we're really happy to
be involved with the summit this yearand you all do a great job.
Yes, definitely, and certainly wehave Mira and then also Mahash Natara John

(25:04):
which I always someonet mess it up, so I hope I didn't mess it
up too bad today. Sorry Mahash, but is he Susan has been a
great voice around the table for CTIfactive member. We're very pleased to have
him there. We're on the fantasticall right. Well, to wrap up
the show today, Susan, ifwe give a few more details just about
the Insurance Capital Summit is so reminderjust the date and where can people go

(25:26):
to purchase tickets. It's wonderful.It's Insurance Capitol Event dot com at the
Bushnell September twenty seventh from one tofive pm with a reception after. We
will be honoring the twentieth anniversary ofthe CTIFS and it's board of directors at
that time, so you'll have akind of a twofold event, the Insurance
Capital Summit and the reception, butit will sell out. So I am

(25:48):
going to encourage all companies. We'rewe're almost there, but not yet,
but please get your tickets soon.It's close. Get your tickets soon.
Fantastic. And the twentieth anniversary,I mean years, that's a good it's
a good amount of time. Iswhat does that really mean? And what's
the transition you've seen from year oneto year twenty and not saying that you've
been there all twenty years? Susanclose to close to it and well that's

(26:12):
not the story, but you know, it's interesting And the only thing I'll
say is it is a unique organizationto the extent that you have businesses that
compete in the open market. There'stwenty four twenty five of them. They're
all insurance or financial services. Theycompete in the open market. But in
the ctifs, they sit around thetable and they decide what are we going

(26:33):
to do to strengthen the industry.Where's the talent coming from? How do
we get ahead of that? Isinsure tech doesn't matter. How do we
get ahead of that? Do weinvest it here in our own backyard.
What are we doing to raise theprofile of who we are and what we
do for the for the world,and which is the quarter one of the
things we did. So it's veryI'm very honored to lead the organization.
And as I said, you've gottwenty five executives for twenty years who have

(26:57):
say, sat around the table,We've given their time, energy, insight
with the Unified Boys to say,how are we going to grow this industry
for Connecticut? And of course that'seconomic development, it's pures form. So
we're thrilled about that. Definitely.Perfect Well, Susan, where again can
people go to learn more information aboutthe summit? What more Time Insurance,
Capital Event, dot com? Perfectand Craig, Where can listeners go to

(27:19):
learn more about Cognizant and many ofyour initiatives. You can at the Cognizant
dot com or corral any of uson LinkedIn. We have a pretty good
footprint, yes, I would sayvery good footprints. Fantastic. Well,
sometimes if we have a little timeleft in the show, which we have
about a minute left, is Iput people on the spot to ask what
I know what they love most aboutthe Hartford region, about Connecticut. Now,

(27:44):
Craig, I know you don't livehere, but have visited and visited
the Northeast as well, so we'dlove to get your perspective on you know,
what do you love most about thisregion. I grew up in the
Northeast, and Vermont actually really wellpainted with the Hartford area, and I
just love driving north in the fallseeing trees on both sides of the road.

(28:06):
That's something I don't don't get whereI live. Yes, well,
we take for granted when they're green, when they're brown, and also when
they're a beautiful fall colors. Allright, Susan, what did I I
answer? I don't know what I'veanswered in the past, so I'm trying
to whateverative it's what I'm feeling today. Oh, let's see. Well,
I think Harvard's the best small cityin the country just based on what it's

(28:30):
done and if you have not beenthere. Here recently, we have sixty
new brand new businesses opening. SoI'm going to give a plug to the
Heartlift program and Metro Reliance and theHarvard Chamber of Commerce because they are doing
really good work to bring sixty newcompanies right into the city. All new
businesses so I want to say that'sit. The energy behind that is really
cool and I hope you will enjoyand somebody will visit. Great answers all

(28:53):
around. Well, Craig, thankyou so much for joining us today,
Susan, great to have you,fantastic and look forward to seeing everyone at
the Insurance Capital Summit on September twentyseven. All right, thank you,
Kate, you, yes, thankyou, Craig. For all the information
about today's show, you can visitmetro Hartford dot com. We would like

(29:14):
to say thank you to our showpartner, ok Hill, and of course
thanks to you for listening. I'mKate Bowman. Go out and make today
a good day here in Connecticut