Artificial intelligence and machine-learning a focus for the industry
Consumer expectations of life and health insurers mean a strong digital presence is now a necessity among major providers. It’s not an entirely new development, but it is ongoing, and it won’t be long before today’s technology becomes outdated. As vice-president, Innovation at Great-West Life, it is Ben Harrison’s job to ensure that his firm remains at the cutting edge of the industry, which is always a challenge.
“It is changing across the board and the underlying drivers of that change are customers expecting different types of experiences – the types of experience they have with Amazon, Google and Netflix are increasingly what they expect from all of the companies they work with,” he says.
In February, Great-West announced it would contribute $300,000 over three years to the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL). The program, founded in 2012 at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, assists technology entrepreneurs in finding funding to bring their ideas to market. Since its launch, the initiative has expanded to the UBC Sauder School of Business, the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, HEC Montreal, Dalhousie University, as well as the Stern School of Business at New York University later in 2018.
Great-West is a noted supporter of the program and recently collaborated with Awake Labs, a digital health venture for the treatment of brain and mental health disorders. It’s that kind of access to early stage companies that is now attracting some of corporate Canada’s biggest names, explains Harrison.
“The CDL program is not just about bringing in companies, but concepts and ideas that require additional insight and support to build,” he says. “We get to see the things that are happening at that really early stage.”
He adds: “There is a heavy focus on artificial intelligence and machine-learning, which will only become more important to companies like ours going forward. While the focus of those companies today might not be financial services, there’s lots of opportunities to leverage those capabilities in the financial services space.”
Great-West’s $300,000 sponsorship could make a major difference for a number of start-ups, but that funding is really only the beginning. It’s the ultimate goal of the firm that partnerships developed through CDL can lead to Portag3 Ventures. That fund, ran in conjunction with Power Financial and IGM Financial, provides investment to burgeoning companies in the financial tech space.
In the past, life and health insurers have been regarded as somewhat averse to change, but that reputation is changing, believes Harrison. Support of initiatives like Portag3 and the Creative Destruction Lab seem to confirm that, but there is still a lot of work to be done to fully embrace the digital age, he explains.
“The way we engage customers today is not conducive to more interaction,” he says. “We have to find the right ways to engage people. As more interactions move digitally, you have many more opportunities to either engage customers or advisors, and that will continue to be a big focus of our organisation.”
