From March 19th to 21st, RCT hosted the 2018 Loss Control Summit at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The event was another tremendous success, and we are thrilled with the positive feedback we have received.
At Risk Control Technologies we are privileged to work with some of the most progressive loss control focused carriers in the industry, who contribute a tremendous amount of knowledge and insight to our organization, product, and the Summit. An enormous thank you is owed to all of our presenters who help make this event exceptional, as well as our attendees who so willingly contribute their insights to discussions.
Focused on the themes of innovation, collaboration, and education, the Summit brought together loss control leaders and teams from over 40 insurance carriers across North America.
In addition to supplying a forum for individuals to meet and network with their peers, this event provides attendees with thought leadership presentations and discussions on industry trends, best practices and technological advances.
Below you will find written summaries of key sessions. If you have any questions about this year’s or future events, please feel free to reach out to Warren Woermke at wwoermke@riskcontroltech.com.
Session Summaries
- Michael Eckert of Accident Fund Insurance Company of America delivered an engaging presentation on one of the most pressing issues facing loss control leadership – the recruitment, development and retention of loss control professionals. It is no secret that the insurance industry is aging, with 2017 US Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that 702 000 members of the workforce are aged 55 or older, which is approximately 25% of the total insurance workforce. Mike spoke to us about some unique ways Accident Fund addresses these struggles, including providing well defined career paths and self development opportunities, trainee and intern programs, and recruiting through job fairs and other events. We were thrilled by the overwhelming positive response.
- Michael Rosenau of Society Insurance spoke on the importance of loss control professionals collaborating with their actuarial department, something that is unfortunately often overlooked. Actuaries are experts in evaluating the likelihood of future events, and Mike explained various ways that this expertise can be harnessed to the mutual benefit of both departments. Actuaries can play a large role in helping risk control to approach their data collection in a more effective and statistically sound way to maximize impact, as well as helping risk control to address overarching questions such as risk control’s ROI, how vendors compare to internal reps, what the threshold for services should be and more. When asked, very few attendees said that they regularly communicate with their actuarial department, and we hope that this presentation will help motivate them to change that.
- Eric Bourquin of Texas Mutual Insurance presented some unique ways for loss control to reach the small business segment, a segment that provides difficulties to insurance organizations of all shapes and sizes. Some of the methods included e-Learning courses, an extensive safety resource catalogue, discounted OSHA courses, free monthly safety webinars and blogs, as well as a variety of safety and wellness grants that have had particular success with small businesses. Texas Mutual also provides policyholders with a dedicated safety services ‘call center’, an approach that surfaced many questions from attendees. We trust that this presentation provided attendees with an opportunity to reflect on some unique methods for reaching their small business policyholders.
- This year’s Summit featured breakout sessions by line of business, where attendees were given the opportunity to submit their thoughts on what they see as the most potentially disruptive force that could impact loss control over the next few years. The most common topics were then selected for discussion. Interestingly, predictive analytics was the top submission for all lines, and for good reason. Predictive analytics have the potential to massively change the way underwriting is conducted, as well as how risk control services are requested both internally and externally. Other topics discussed included the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, technology reducing costs, remote training and remote surveying.
- This year also incorporated an engaging panel discussion with Mitchell Maddox from Westfield Insurance, Elesa Hurley from Berkley Agribusiness Risk Specialists and Matt Klunk from Eastern Alliance Insurance. The panel focused on a topic we often hear loss control professionals are struggling with, and something that we as technology providers have an ability to assist with – how to demonstrate and measure the value that loss control creates. If you’d like to access our whitepaper on this topic, click here. Among the topics discussed were claims reduction, account selection, utilizing loss control as a sales tool, accurately pricing policies, improving customer experience, and increasing retention. We hope this discussion left attendees considering some creative and concrete ways to demonstrate their value internally.
In addition to these sessions, RCT staff delivered several presentations around best practices for existing features in our system. These included the Vendor Hub, Insured Portal, Jasper, and our new survey forms interface. The team also delivered Rapid Requirement sessions covering upcoming features in the product
roadmap.
