Zurich showcases holistic approach to innovation with customers and brokers at RIMS Boston

The annual Risk & Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Conference & Exhibition took place this April in Boston drawing more than 10,000 attendees representing risk managers, c-suites, treasurers, finance directors, claims, security, IT, internal audit, legal/compliance, operations executives, brokers and insurers. The conference is always an ideal opportunity to connect with Zurich customers and brokers face-to-face, listen to their needs and share with them the latest efforts Zurich is making to bring the best products and services to its customers.

This year Zurich used the opportunity to highlight its focus on innovation as a way to deliver solutions that result in better business outcomes for not only its customers, but also for its distributors.

Sumeet Bhatia, head of Innovation and Marie Wiersema, innovation consultant, were on hand at RIMS. Using an innovation kiosk, they shared Zurich’s approach to innovation and demonstrated some of the innovative solutions underway.

At the kiosk, customers and distributors engaged with Marie and Sumeet in discussions, and took part in two live technology demonstrations, watched videos and participated in self-guided tours of Zurich’s innovation efforts.

The demonstrations showcased two of the several innovation solutions Zurich has in the pipeline: water leakage detection, which helps mitigate non-CAT water damage claims; and wearable devices designed to help keep workers safe; and cut productivity losses and workers’ compensation claims.

The take away? Zurich is committed to a holistic approach to innovation. This approach focuses on three key priorities:

1. Fostering an innovation mindset
2. Analyzing relevant trends
3. Developing new capabilities through pilots

Fostering an innovation mindset includes providing a platform for employees to collaborate on ideas, skills and solutions. Zurich developed an Idea Center, which is a crowd-sourcing platform to encourage employees to think creatively and share ideas. To date, the Idea Center has generated more than 600 ideas. Also, Zurich’s Innovation Lab – a physical, tech-infused collaboration space – serves to foster innovation by hosting design sprints / workshops, hackathons and brainstorming sessions for employees; and broker and customer workshops and summits working directly and proactively to come up with new ideas and solve challenges.

Analyzing relevant trends in innovation: Zurich is focused on understanding and leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, mobility ecosystems, blockchain, smart business, connected devices, gig economy cyber, autonomous vehicles and drones.

By developing new capabilities for its customers and maintaining strong relationships with business incubators and startup accelerators, Zurich is exploring new solutions and new technologies with its collaborators.

“We have been collaborating with numerous insurtechs to augment our innovation capabilities and have brought them together with our business to launch a series of proof-of-concept pilots across the insurance value chain,” said Bhatia. “It was great to be at RIMS to share our approach to innovation with our customers and distributors.”

Media interested in learning more, contact Robyn Ziegler of the Media & Public Relations team.