The 2023 edition of InsureTech Connect Vegas was a wild one. Big booths, two puppy playpens, a beer garden (that we definitely didn’t explore), and some of the biggest players and innovators in the insurance space all gathered in Mandalay Bay for an incredible week.

Our presence at this year’s ITC was a big step up from last year. Our Chief Insurance Officer, David Derigiotis, spoke on-stage for a panel on Catastrophic Risks, where he spoke to the advent of AI within the insurance space and beyond, and touched on other actual and perceived global threats to businesses. We’ll give a deeper recap on that later.

We also had great conversations with media, industry insiders, leaders, and other technology-driven insurtechs. We’ll also recap some of those conversations, and give you an idea of the common themes and trends we’re seeing in the space.

Catastrophic Risk Panel with David Derigiotis

David was joined on the Catastrophic Risks panel by various industry experts. Host Emilio Figueroa, CEO and Founder of Indemnity Lab, LLC, Ruth Foxe Blader, Partner at Anthemis Group Venture Capital, Stuart Blake, Managing Director of The Bridge International, and Trevor Shanklin, Head of Insurance at Flexport.

A big panel and big discussions. Topics ranged from the effects of climate change on property insurance and international shipping delays to the evolving nature of cyber risk. 

David’s expertise in the digital risk and cyber insurance was evident in this panel discussion. He touched on AI’s growing presence, in particular: 

“There is nothing that artificial intelligence can’t touch…It represents the greatest opportunity regarding business efficiencies, improvements, process implementation, and using big data to come up with answers and information instantaneously…But, it also creates massive threats from a cybersecurity perspective and for authenticating legitimate content.”

Our recent Cyber Risk Index Report found that cyber risk was the number one concern business owners have in 2023, ahead of climate change and disruptive technologies such as AI. However, concerning cyber risks, malicious AI is tied with supplier disruption as their top concern going into 2024.

David fielded some audience questions about data privacy and how artificial intelligence may affect the insurance industry:

“A lot of legacy insurers, they’re doing it the old school way…The organizations at ITC are looking to marry Security Plus management with insurance and looking to do it in a more frictionless way… I think our industry is really leading the way in doing that. But I don’t think we can continue to operate in silos without having more advanced data analytics and risk management tools.”

Embroker ONE and Ben Jennings’ First 90 Days as CEO

Ahead of ITC Vegas 2023, we released an update on our progress on the Embroker ONE platform, as well as a recap of the work done so far, and Embroker CEO Ben Jennings’ vision for the future of insurtech and Embroker’s contributions to it. 

Here’s what he had to say: 

“Embroker will continue to drive technology disruption in the commercial insurance space, embracing cutting-edge technologies, AI, ML, and Big Data to improve the customer’s overall buying experience dramatically. Embroker ONE does exactly that. ONE provides an easily understood, low-friction purchasing process that educates business owners while stripping away the needless complexity of traditional insurance. The customer is presented with a policy or policies tailored specifically to their unique business needs.” 

We had the opportunity to speak with many organizations and media members about Embroker’s path forward. The sentiment is that a technology-driven, customer-centric approach to insurance is sorely needed in the industry. But, we knew that already. What is truly innovative is Ben’s final line above: policies tailored specifically to unique business needs and risk profiles. 

Embroker ONE is about meeting businesses where they are, not making insurance as easy for us as possible. That’s the difference we’re bringing to the insurance industry. This message, to everyone we spoke to, resonated. 

Takeaways and Sentiments

InsureTech Connect Vegas was full of positivity and optimism. As illustrated by the $250M investment in NEXT Insurance by Allstate and Allianz, announced just before the event began, capital is flowing. While there is an incredible amount of work to be done, amazing people and organizations in this space are working to revolutionize it. As catastrophic risks look to change how our world, let alone insurance, looks, now is the time for everyone in our industry to take a hard look at how things are going and change them.

Insurance is an old and stubborn space. But, by focusing on helping the customer through digital-first solutions, we will bring insurance into the 21st century and shift the narrative of risk transfer for people and businesses alike.

This event, unlike any other, gets to the heart of the problems and opportunities of our industry. With all the resources at our disposal, we are incredibly excited about the future.

For Embroker, we are continuing our journey. We are serving the underserved and delivering a product that will continue to help businesses grow, not slow them down.

Read our announcement about Embroker ONE here.