Giving life to the machines

On 25 and 26 April 2019, the 2019 Insurance Technologies Conference hosted its annual conference at Emperors Palace. The conference focuses on the emergence of technologies, looking at their impact, challenges, opportunities and impact they have on the insurance industry and its operations.

Claire Wood (MD of our partner Innosys) was amongst the speakers at the conference and addressed the delegates with a talk on giving life to the machines. The focus of her talk was about unpacking responsible automation and finding the balance between adapting to technology and human job losses.

Her introduction focused on the terms automation, robotics and Artificial Intelligence where she states that,

“It doesn’t matter if you’re thinking of these things as an evolution, a revolution or a disruption. Industry 4.0 is a seismic shift in technology towards systems that no longer have clear boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological.”

The overlap of these technologies (with a bit of the IOT (internet of things) involved, is where exists the future of the insurance industry that will look different to the one we know today.

Using examples and studies, Claire discusseswhat is required to automate responsibly through;

• Watching out for the biases One of the biggest challenges we face in automation now is that the technology is built by humans who are unintentionally but inherently biased
• Automating judiciously Understanding how well suited your business is to the technology and what resources and capabilities are needed. Claire talks about bots and the role the can play
• Automation is a process not an event It can’t be seen as a once off project and the complexity of it must be considered for on-going monitoring and refinement. Claire looks at what is required to manage a digital worker (measurements and objectives), cycle reviews and lengths and the need to be ruthless
• Not ignoring the social impact by keeping an eye on the future and understanding (the responsibility) of the business landscape so as to ensure we have the right skills allocated to people and technology to ensure operations, success and a harmonious relationship between man and machine

Click here to view and read her talk

If you have any questions, you can get in touch with Claire on:clairew@innosys.co.za | @oscarwhiskylima | @innosysza