Ask an Expert: How can brokers solve data and integration issues to unlock the potential of AI?

I'm passionate about building world-class technology businesses in a range of industries but I'm fairly new to the insurance sector. So, these past few months, I’ve been meeting with my team and industry professionals to learn as much as I can.

I've noticed that many brokers are still working on desktop systems, spending hours each day entering data into different, disconnected systems that don’t work well together. Meanwhile, cloud technology is advancing rapidly, getting smarter and way more helpful.

What I’ve learned from my conversations is that brokers know they need to to future-proof their business by moving away from desktop systems, to adopt cloud tech and automation.

They also know that legacy systems are unlikely to develop AI-powered features. But, in reality, it’s a tough job — especially for brokers who are already stretched for time.

Humans talk to other humans using language, while software systems talk to other systems using data. Software user interfaces are designed for humans, while cloud APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are built for software applications.

In essence, there’s a big difference between how humans interact with technology (via user-friendly interfaces on laptops and mobile devices) and how back-end systems communicate with each other (through structured data exchange).

While many software products offer point-to-point integrations that work well for customers, the insurance industry still has gaps in its back end workflows.

As an industry, we need to keep working towards defining common standards for securely connecting systems to support future AI automated workflows, and more systems need to support public APIs (such as Google Maps, Open Weather, NASA) to achieve this.

Integrating third-party tools can be challenging and brokers can often find that the systems they use feel disconnected. A manual stop gap is CTRL-C and CTRL-V for copy and paste!

The healthcare industry and insurance share similarities when it comes to the need for data integration. Both deal with complex, data-heavy environments, require exchange of sensitive information and aim to improve efficiency and customer experience with technology.

Unlike healthcare, insurtech still lacks the well-defined integration standards which have been adopted globally, helping the healthcare sector innovate at scale.

A collaborative approach to standardising secure APIs and cloud integrations is the way to go. While I know it can be tough to know where to start, I believe the insurance industry has a chance to work together on API standardisation.

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Attributable to David Leach, CEO JAVLN

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