LMF Data & Analytics Roundtable Summary 2 May 2024

Legacy, IOT, risk analysis and mitigation – A data revolution is underway

Data & Analytics professionals and those with responsibility for helping to drive their firm’s data agenda, gathered for the Spring 2024 roundtable LMF Breakfast, facilitated by our Founder, Roger Oldham.

During the two hour gathering at the beautiful Ivy City Garden, Market practitioners had an open discussion about a number of areas impacting data management and strategy:

Are the long terms problems with legacy data going to impede our ability to maximise the use of Generative Ai?

Generally speaking, the Group felt that even if a firm could sort out it’s legacy data problems, for many London Market firms, the database upon which Gen Ai would draw its output would be insufficient to produce results of any meaningful value.

When it comes to Gen Ai, with all the new regulations coming down the pipeline, firms will have to be pretty sure about the accuracy and authenticity of the data upon which output is being generated. This naturally applies whether it’s third party data or historical data of the firm itself.

With the amount of new data being created, which might have far more value than historical data, combined with many reliable third party sources, the need to rely on legacy data maybe somewhat less important. Firms will naturally have their own viewpoint on this matter and the next few years will be an interesting journey for many.

What are the data challenges in a fast moving digital landscape – especially in view of conflicting demands on time and resource?

There is no doubt that there’s a lot of pressure on data teams to perform – from cleaning up the historical data landscape to preparing for the new world. When considering which data projects to prioritise, firms have to divide their time up between internal projects to drive things like better underwriting and risk assessment to operational efficiency, and external projects, such as preparing for the CDR under the Blueprint Two initiative along with regulatory and compliance reporting.

Talent and resource is in short supply and firms are deploying different strategies in order to manage this ongoing shortage of skilled professionals. Strategies adopted include:

• Taking existing people from the business, including from frontline departments, to backfill project roles on a temporary basis. There can be issues with this approach, but it’s a well used strategy, when the option of new staff isn’t on the table.
• Use third party contractors and vendors/contracts to fill the roles
• Home grow their own talent using schemes, such as specialist apprenticeship programmes and university/college alliances

It’s a fact that nearly all firms are asking themselves an important question: “Can we be sure of the value that we’ll get from this activity?”

One of the most important activities, in order to deliver data strategies effectively is the getting the communications right amongst the respective stakeholders. The sharing of business information and the understanding of specific job functions was seen by LMF Members as a key success criteria in the successful deployment of any data programme or project.

It was clear, that firms are on quite a journey at the moment, in the London market, when it comes to data, and some are moving a speed to ensure they continue to operate as competitively and as effectively as possible. The next 3-5 years will prove an interesting time in the specialty insurance market, with advancements in data management, use and the delivery of more powerful and meaningful information for our underwriting and broking teams, as well as our customers and business partners.

A huge thank you to the Practitioners who took part in this most insightful roundtable breakfast.