The Glorious Return of the Conference: Highlights from My First Tech Conference in 2 Years

We’ve all attended all kinds of conferences, team kick-offs, and company gatherings in the past. And they all pretty much go the same way: CEOs tell us how exciting it is to be here and we all fake a reciprocal excitement level that weakens as the week progresses.

However, for the first time in years, I was actually excited about attending a conference. It was InsureTech 2021 held in Las Vegas’s Mandalay Bay from October 4 through 6. It’s not an exaggeration that the energy and excitement at the event were palpable.

I was excited because it was my first day in my new role as a CRO with the Hong Kong-based insuretech company, Ignatica. But, it was also the thrill of being in the company of nearly 6,000 people, under one roof, who - like me - sensed that after almost 2 years of COVID lockdowns and restrictions, it was great to actually attend a conference.

Excitement meant engagement and attendees couldn’t wait to share their success stories, failures, and plans for the future.

On stage, companies used the forum as the opportunity to launch new brands — Haven Technologies being the primary promoter, using the stage to launch its new business, and CEOs to outline their vision for both their enterprises and the industry.

Offstage the vibe was obvious; InsureTech will achieve the success of FinTech because we can learn from them and we have more time on our side. Consistently being told about the money available and how willing VCs were to have it put to good use was certainly good to hear in light of where Ignatica is in their journey.

The speakers were exemplary.

Two Highlights

Two stand-out commentators came from very different ends of the spectrum but both left a strong impression. The first was Chubb CEO and Chairman Evan Greenburg who decided that despite his audience would poke a hornet’s nest in suggesting that Insuretech will not affect his business against the backdrop of his 2020 Annual Report letter to shareholders — if you’ve not read it, it’s worth a look.

Insuretechs don’t see what they are doing as disruption but as evolution

The second was Tyrre Burks, CEO of Players Health, a start-up insurer in the niche market of sports coverage. Burks stood out because of his strong position: Tackling a niche market successfully and growing market share through class-leading service was more rewarding than winning a tiny piece of the pie in one of the more traditional lines despite the possible comparative value.

In hindsight…

I left the sessions with a strong desire to look at how we at Ignatica can learn from both Greenburg’s and Burks’ views and understand how a niche market player can succeed whilst looking to challenge the traditional.

From what I witnessed, industry focus seemed to align to three sectors, Embedded Insurance (click to pay at product purchase), Parametric Insurance (fixed payout against an insured event occurring), and Cyber (related to all things internet and its impact on businesses in the future connected world and our dependencies on it remaining secure and constant).

To the latter, the timing of the Facebook outage couldn't have been more impactful (almost as if someone planned it) and it quickly became the primary topic of conversation, principally on how the industry will innovate to manage and meet the needs of customers the next time such an event happened.

To my surprise, I was expecting a more aggressive line of engagement around disruption of the traditional providers but frankly, what was clear, is that the InsureTechees in the room don’t see what they are doing as disruption but as evolution, if a few legacy players get shaken up or in some cases acquired in the process, so what? Primarily there’s a belief that there’s enough pie to go around for everyone.

I left with a sense of great optimism and anticipation.

Ignatica is positioned to get its piece of that pie. Our technology has the ability to support both change in the traditional and a springboard to addressing the niche. I can see this through our current lines of engagement but also in partnership with go-to-market strategies that will differentiate all involved.

Over the next few weeks, that will be a real focus for me as I follow up on the great conversations that were started at the ITC2021 demo hall and I look forward to seeing where the opportunity can take us.

For the first time in many years, my conference excitement has lasted beyond the event itself. Bring on ITC2022!

Rob Edwards is the Chief Revenue Officer for Ignatica. Originally hailing from the United Kingdom, Rob has held senior leadership roles in global, Fortune 500 insurance, telecom, and food processing companies on three continents.

Lead Photo: Creative Commons/Håkan Dahlström