Jim Daggett is co-founder and executive director of the Insurance Technology Association. Periodically he checks in with
the ITA membership to discuss plans and issues for the coming
months. This month, Daggett discusses some of the changes
coming for ITA LIVE 2017 and the magazine editorial calendar
for the coming year.
What will be new at ITA LIVE 2017?
Daggett: First off, there is a new venue for the conference,
although it will once again be in Fort Lauderdale. We also have a
new date, March 12-14. What will really be new this year, though,
is the concentration on many of the different aspects of insurance
technology. It’s our intent to keep attendees abreast of changes
coming our way and there are many developments in the industry. A year ago, one of our sessions involved the discussion led
by Rusty Sproat on his new company, Figo Pet Insurance. Many
attendees were caught off guard by what Rusty was doing, not just
with the insurance portion of his company, but his connection to
the pet-owner community. That’s what we hope to achieve every
year with ITA LIVE. We want to bring you information that you
may not have seen or heard anywhere else. (For more information about the program go to www.ITApro.org/ITALIVE.)
Does that mean there will be a lot of discussion
about insurtech?
Daggett: Absolutely. We are using the theme Launchpad: Time
to Soar for ITA LIVE 2017 and it’s no coincidence that Launchpad also is the name of the new insurtech department in our
magazine. There are many things we don’t yet know about some
of the new technology and the new players in the insurance market, but it’s imperative that we pay close attention to what is going
on in this area based on some of the ideas we have heard and the
quality of the companies involved.
Can you give us a feel for some of the sessions
that are planned for ITA LIVE 2017?
Daggett: It’s hard to pin down one or two sessions, but what I
like is the variety of topics. Sessions on dealing with Millennial
customers, keeping pace with changing customer expectations,
technology for the sharing economy, and how carriers can
model their engagement with insurtech companies promise to
be lively and thought provoking. I’m also excited to hear Bryan
Fowler discuss how a smaller insurance carriers deal with the
pressure to engage new technology without benefit of the huge
research and development budgets that larger carriers have
available. We believe there will be something for everyone at
ITA LIVE, whether you
are a large carrier or a
midtier and whether you
are on the P&C side or on
the life and annuity side.
We are about to
turn the calendar to
2017. What sort of
topics will be covered in ITA Pro for
the coming year?
Daggett: We will once
again publish eight issues
of ITA Pro in 2017 with
four print issues and all
eight available electron-
ically on our website,
www.emagazine.itapro.
org or through our app,
which is available exclusively to members of the ITA. Our Feb-
ruary issue, for example, will focus on two of the major core
systems—policy administration and claims—and while these
are familiar topics, it is important that we understand what
successful carriers are doing in those areas and what the large
number of carriers that have yet to make the change to a mod-
ern platform need to examine before pulling this extremely
important trigger. We will also keep a close eye on the scary
issues that face all companies today—insurance and other fi-
nancial services—the security of our data. The hacking of data
is reaching epidemic proportions and too many countries look
at such criminal activity as a growth industry. Needless to say,
the effect the new presidential administration will have on all
U.S. businesses in 2017 will be closely watched by all of us.
The ITA has completed three years of opera-
tion. Are there any major plans for years four
and five?
Daggett: As we have seen over these last three years, the
insurance technology world is moving faster than many of us
ever imagined, so keeping ahead of the race is challenging and
extremely important. One thing we will work on is the continued
growth of our membership. We believe the content we provide
in the magazine, on the web, and with ITA LIVE is invaluable to
insurance IT leaders and it will only get better as we add more
members, who are willing to share their stories. ITA
New Date, Venue for ITA LIVE 2017
Annual conference will feature much discussion on new insurance technology.
LIVE
March 12–14, 2017
Pompano Beach, FL
