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MARCH 31, 2020

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INSURANCE INDUSTRY NEWS

Top Tech Priorities For Large Commercial Brokers
Large commercial brokers are using AI, analytics, distribution API, and digitized communications technologies to differentiate themselves in a competitive marketplace. In a new report, Novarica provides an overview of large commercial brokers' business and technology issues, data about the marketplace, and several examples of recent technology investments. Read more.

Self-Learning AI To Manage Virtual Agents
boost.ai, a global leader in artificial intelligence, has released the industry’s first self-learning technology for conversational AI, which overcomes the ‘cold start’ challenges of building and managing virtual agents with an automated system that intelligently analyzes and recommends new and improved conversational dialogs. Read more.

Navacord acquires Benemax Financial Group
Navacord Corp. is pleased to announce the addition of Benemax Financial Group Inc., effective March 11. Located in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Benemax will be joining JDIMI Consulting, Navacord's largest broker partner dedicated to group benefits and retirement consulting. Read more.

PCL, Eddy Partner On Water Leak Protection
PCL Construction is pleased to announce that the company has joined forces with the leading supplier of IoT water leak mitigation services, Eddy Solutions. Together, PCL and Eddy Solutions will use game-changing technology to protect project sites from the increasing threat of water damage – one of the biggest risks to construction sites and property. Read more.


Latest Coronavirus News

INSURANCE & CORONAVIRUS NEWS

CFIB Issues Statements On COVID-19
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business welcomes the federal government's announcement of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and a significant wage subsidy package to help small businesses retain workers. New survey results show that one quarter of small businesses are unable to pay April's commercial lease or mortgage payments as a result of COVID-19 disruptions. Read more.

FSRA Updates Regulatory Requirements
As it continues to carry out its regulatory duties while activating its business continuity plan amid the global coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario has provided a summary of important updates to its sectors. Read more.

Willis Towers Watson Unveils COVID-19 Tracking
Willis Towers Watson is pleased to announce it has launched a real-time risk and analytics feature as part of its Global Peril Diagnostic modeling tool. The new feature provides up-to-date information on confirmed global COVID-19 cases alongside clients' property total insured values by location, enabling clients to easily track developments of the pandemic set against their property assets around the world. Read more.

Beyond Coronavirus: The Path To The Next Normal
The coronavirus is not only a health crisis of immense proportion, it's also an imminent restructuring of the global economic order. Here's how leaders can begin navigating to what's next. Read more.

Crawford Provides Update On Business Operations
Crawford & Company (Canada) Inc. has announced modifications to its business operations following provincial government orders in Quebec and Ontario to close non-essential businesses and workplaces. Read more.


Young Insurance Professionals of Toronto (YiPT)

We asked some of the Young Insurance Professionals of Toronto for their outlook on the industry...

Q: How do you see upcoming technology landscape changing the insurance industry or propelling it into the future?

A: The insurance industry has completely transformed over the last decade with the help of technology advancement. There is a lot more reliance on gathering and using smart data, then combining that with artificial intelligent to feed underwriting data. With data analytics becoming more and more accurate, and in a world where almost everything can be automated for a lower cost, will there even be a need for actual underwriters in the future?
Luckily, we are only at the very beginning of this full industry transformation, slowly starting from automating auto, personal lines, and then later on the commercial lines, before finally attempting to overhaul the “hard to automate” specialty lines. Companies are all scrambling to replace systems with newer ones with the capabilities to capture data in a more meaningful way in order to stay one step ahead of competitors – while underwriters are teaching the A.I. how to do their job in order to replace them.


The Intersection: Insurance-Canada.ca Blog

What's going through the Intersection
of insurance and technology?

Will COVID-19 Be The Tipping Point for Digital Transformation?
By Mark Breading, Strategy Meets Action
The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to predict. But one thing is clear and will become more firmly entrenched as the weeks go by and the reality of what is happening sinks in: digital capabilities are paramount for this day and age. More and more people are shifting their commerce online, using home delivery, and expanding their usage of social media and digital tools for communication. And the more people get used to operating remotely via digital tools, the more it will be expected – even after the virus is contained. Read more.


Insurance-Canada.ca “Technology In Action” Series
Webinar: Improving Auto Claims
With Real-Time Analytics

Within auto claims, the process of determining whether a vehicle is repairable or should be scrapped can be a very stressful period for the customer.

Join us next Tuesday, April 7, at 2pm, to hear about how Aviva Canada tackled this issue by integrating real-time predictive analytics into the process.

Learn more or sign up for free.

Featuring:
Aviva Canada


The Broker’s Workstation (TBW) is an all-in-one broker BMS solution from CSSI. TBW features real-time rating and data exchange for faster, more effective quoting.

All-in-one Broker BMS solution. Get TBW!  >>>  Book a demo

See how CSSI's Broker and MGA solutions can make your business more efficient.


InsurTech Spotlight

The InsurTech Spotlight features insurance practitioners and InsurTech(nology) providers which are – or are becoming – InsurTechs. In the spotlight this week are:

Duuo
Duuo is a digital insurance brand that provides on-demand solutions to meet the needs of Canadians participating in a fast-paced digital economy. Powered by Slice Insurance Cloud Services, Duuo’s digital platform uses AI technology to process claims and provides comprehensive cyber security protection of client and insurer information. Learn more.

Calling all InsurTechs! Click here to participate.


From Doug

Are you (feeling) isolated?

My wife and I decided to not attempt to isolate from each other in our mid-size condo, but to be responsible about excursions.

I have worked from home for many years, so the province-wide shutdown of non-essential businesses hasn't changed my daily routine that much, except that the condo gym is closed, along with other common areas and guest suites.

I still leave home to buy groceries and get exercise. But the outdoors is very different: the streets are nearly deserted, and those few still walking about tend to keep their distance, as recommended by health authorities.

My wife, who has been more faithful to a daily walk regimen, is now having second thoughts about the frequency. A work friend told me she goes out once a week for grocery shopping and a few times for walks, but always wearing gloves and a mask.

The three of us are seniors, and although the risk of catching COVID-19 is no higher than for others, the consequences of infection could well be more severe.

This is a global crisis the likes of which we haven't seen since WWI and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the Great Depression, and WWII.

Accordingly, restrictions are everywhere, from social distancing to outright quarantine; hopefully the data will soon confirm that these measures are helping to “flatten the curve.”

Canada's federal and provincial governments are increasingly aligned on the two biggest fronts: fighting the virus and keeping the economy together.

What our world will look like in a few months and in a few years will depend largely on our resolve to keep doing what we are doing now – and more if we can.

Doug Grant, CIP
Partner
Insurance-Canada.ca

Doug Grant

The Chronicle weekly newsletter features news, events, and general information relating to technology and innovation in the Canadian insurance industry and marketplace. Subscribe here or view past issues.

If you would like to recommend an item for inclusion – with a focus on technology in insurance relevant to the Canadian Property & Casualty insurance industry – please contact [email protected].

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