Insurtech Magazine September 2023 | Page 49

HSB CANADA

“ Working at HSB Canada , you certainly feel you ’ re part of a bigger group that has some amazing talent across the globe ”

LASITH LANSAKARA VICE PRESIDENT , CLIENT SOLUTIONS AND INNOVATION , HSB CANADA
“ The current situation creates the opportunity for insurers to provide offerings that predict , prevent and mitigate risk before it even happens ,” he says , referring to the prevention-led models that have become ubiquitous across the insurance sector as it evolves .
“ That means insurance is no longer a paper product or a financial recovery when an incident happens ; it is about avoiding an incident in the first place , and then if it does happen you know you are covered . That ’ s what we believe at HSB and that ’ s why we are making all the investments we are making in IoT capabilities , data and our technology offerings .”
That ’ s why HSB Canada is investing majorly in automation , a “ game changer ” that allows insurers to reduce time spent on manual processes within the claims journey , providing a “ leapfrog ” effect that propels businesses forward in time . Emerging technologies within the field of automation , like generative AI , will assist underwriters with decision making , expediting the process and increasing the quality of risk assessment .
So what will the future hold in store for the Toronto-based insurer ? “ We are going to continue monitoring the shift in risk landscape and look to strengthen our offering in the space . We intend to be a dominant player in the cyber insurance space ,” Lansakara says .
“ We are also going to continue evaluating traditional risk products and see how we could better take advantage of some of this IoT technology , if there are opportunities to embed some of it in insurance offerings so data received becomes part of the underwriting process or part of the coverage solution .”
Scarbeau concludes : “ From an IT perspective , we ’ re continuing to scale our cloud infrastructure , and our real-time digital capabilities support that . For me , it ’ s all about working closely with and his team , prioritising the best opportunities , and really trying to find ways that we can accelerate the innovation trend internally .
As things evolve , we ’ re continuously looking at the skills we have , what frameworks we ’ re using in IT , and consistently shifting on the back end in the parts of the business that most people don ’ t get to see .” insurtechdigital . com 49