Regional Chief Digital & Data Solution Officer at BNP Paribas Cardif

Change is Inevitable and Unpredictable

- Future is getting harder and harder to predict as we are facing changes in an un-precedented rate.

- One technology is being replaced by another very quickly.  In just 4 decades, we experience Yellow Pages replaced by AOL, AOL by Yahoo, Yahoo by Google, and Google by ChatGPT. And the next technology to replace ChatGPT will come very soon.

- There is a word “Singularity” to describe technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, leading us to incapable to understand. We can even understand the future.

 - In addition to technological advancement, we are also bound to political, social, and economical instabilities.

Insurance Innovation

- Insurance industry, inevitably, are facing challenges, especially for well-established ones, I know it well because I am in the game 24x7.

- If changes are unpredictable, how could we innovate?

- But one thing for sure is “Not the biggest or the strongest, only the most adaptive will thrive”, according to Charles Darwin.

- To become adaptive, something needs to change, amount ourselves.

Problem First

- Like horse pull cart and not cart push horse. Horse is the driving force; it is the most efficient way to move forward. This is the importance of proper planning, strategy, and execution in any endeavor.

- I have seen many innovative projects that were triggered by innovative technology or a new trend.

- The approach is to try to find problems to fit the innovative technology or the new trend.

● Is the problem that high priority and worth spending the resources to solve?

● Are there other alternative solutions to the same problem that are more economical?

● Is this a real problem after all, or is it just someone thinking it will be a cool project to show in our resume?

- There is nothing wrong with finding problems for a new solution. We just need to make sure we are not doing it for the sake of doing.

- Let’s return to the basics and identify the business problems.  Walk the talk, when did your last time have a meeting with a young salesperson and understanding how to approach the young generation? Have you ever pretended you are a customer and tried to source an insurance product? Ask yourself, how well do you know the problems.

The Cheese is in the Uncomforted Zone

- Work - Your comfort zone is your office, having meetings with your team, reading, and writing the same reports.

- Talk - Uncomforted zone allows you to be meeting new people, talk to entrepreneurs, and read with unfamiliar topics.

- Think - Try to explore your uncomforted zone in your brain. Try not to regurgitate what other experts are saying. Lean, digest, and apply what is meaningful to the company.

- The definition of the word “Innovation” is not equal to following what other people are thinking or doing.

Make Assumptions Last

- “Experience” allows us to better understand what works and what doesn’t and in turn, it could better allow us to navigate better to the future. 

- I know you have 30 years of insurance experience; you earned your experience from 1994 to 2024. Unfortunately, the deviation between the now and future is too wide. Very soon, most of your experience is not applicable, except your wisdom.

- In order words, you need to put your assumptions, common sense, and above all your ego aside and open your mind.

Empower

- Empower your team, dedicate resources to learn from outside and educate inside.

- Let them have the knowledge about the latest tech, trends, case studies.

- Let them have the environment to speak up, discuss, and suggest changes.

- Let them have the resources and courage, and the sense of responsibility to innovate. After all, Micro-innovation is the best type of innovation in terms of ROI.

Entrepreneurial

- Lastly, we need to have an entrepreneurial mindset such as the "Yes, we can" attitude, not fearing failure, seeing threat as opportunity etc. I am not going to expand on this topic; you can always ask ChatGPT.

I hope I have changed a little bit of your mind today. Enjoy innovating.