The CrowdStrike Outage Underscores the Need for Modern Insurance Management Systems

On July 19, 2024, leading cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike released a software update, just like many enterprise software vendors do every day. However, things went haywire when the updated version of its software turned out to be faulty. Within hours, widespread problems started with the Microsoft operating system, one of business’s most ubiquitous software platforms. The faulty upgrade quickly impacted IT systems globally, causing outages and downed systems across every industry. International news outlets and social media were full of stories of grounded planes, shuttered businesses, and stopped markets. This software glitch has cost Fortune 500 companies approximately $5.4 billion in damages to date, according to insurance company Parametrix.

The days-long disruption sparked an influx of cyber and business interruption insurance claims and litigation by businesses impacted by the debacle. Last week, Delta Airlines announced that it is seeking legal action against CrowdStrike and Microsoft after the outage, which resulted in the cancellation of more than 7,000 Delta flights. The airline claims that the outage caused a direct revenue hit of $380 million due to refunds to customers for canceled flights and compensation in cash and frequent flyer miles.

There is an ongoing debate about whether this is a matter of Cyber, Business Interruption, or another line of coverage. Some experts say it’s a bit of both. Since the outage began with a botched software update and not a cyberattack, the non-malicious nature of the incident may limit the scope of coverage.

One thing is for sure. In this increasingly interconnected world of global business systems, where software ecosystems are dependent on various vendors playing well together, it’s more important than ever for insurance organizations to be better prepared for the next incident. Because there will be more to come in the future.

Taking Stock of Your Current Technology Systems

Insurance organizations fortunate enough to escape this incident unscathed should use the Crowdstrike outage as a teachable moment. This is the perfect opportunity to assess your front, middle, and back office systems and ensure they’re up for the task if a global incident like this happens again.

For example, are you ready to scale up your front office interface and effectively support a wave of customer calls after a large-scale incident? As an agent or broker, are you prepared to communicate quickly and efficiently with your customers about the impact of such an outage? Can you provide a dedicated, secure customer portal or send text messages with claim status updates? Can your entire team access policies in force and actual coverage when serving the business? You need an updated back-end system to respond effectively. And you don’t want to discover this in the middle of a large-scale event when your customers need you the most.

A connected front, middle, and back office utilizing modern technology will enable your organization to respond swiftly and accurately to a surge in claims following a national or international incident. Remember that your customers will likely have coverage questions and need to file and track claims easily. Secure customer portals can handle much of this process. A self-directed customer service portal is crucial for policyholders to check on the progress of their claims.

This is a genuine opportunity to support your clients, but your technology systems must be capable of supporting both your staff and your customers.

The time is now to make the necessary changes and upgrades to your insurance management system. Our research shows that 75% of insurance organizations worldwide are planning to significantly change their current technology systems by 2025. The smart, strategic insurance players will spend the rest of 2024 and the first half of 2025 investing in their technology systems and streamlining their operations. The players who procrastinate when it comes to upgrading their systems risk being left behind by their competitors.

Ready to talk to an expert about preparing your insurance management systems for whatever comes next? Get in touch with a Novidea expert today.

What’s the benefit of an insurance-specific cloud platform?

An industry cloud platform is a collection of cloud-based or cloud-native solutions designed for a specific industry. Industry clouds differ from the broader, general-purpose cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure because they offer solutions, features, and capabilities that are customized to match the specific needs of industries such as healthcare, finance, logistics, retail, energy, agriculture and others.

The most significant benefit of an industry cloud is the ability to meet an array of specific needs with features like workflow automation, data storage and analysis, processing and auditing tools, self-service customer portals, and more. As Deloitte explains, “Industry clouds can help accelerate the development of industry-specific digital solutions to build a continuously evolving digital core, on top of which you can layer capabilities to help you modernize and innovate—one tech capability or business use case at a time.”

While the insurance industry has been slower than some to adopt these technologies, cloud platforms designed for insurance are starting to emerge. The digitalization of the industry is already underway. Which platforms will take the lead, and which businesses will take advantage of them first?

First and foremost—what are the potential benefits of an effective insurance industry cloud platform? 

Enhanced operational efficiency 

The right industry cloud solutions stand to revolutionize the way insurance companies operate, providing a scalable and flexible digital infrastructure for their systems. By migrating operations to the cloud, insurers can reduce the burden of managing on-premises infrastructure and focus more on core competencies. 

Through integrations, a cloud platform can enable seamless collaboration, eliminating geographical barriers and allowing teams to access and share critical data and applications from anywhere, anytime, on any smart device. This allows for real-time communication and decision-making, enhanced by easy access to data and analytical tools. 

Where human insight and decision-making aren’t needed, a cloud platform can also increase efficiency through automation. By automating repetitive tasks, insurers can free team members to focus on what they do best, increase service and processing speeds, and eliminate potentially costly human error. 

Cost savings

It stands to reason that enhancing operational efficiency can save insurers by reducing labor costs and improving resource utilization. The scalability of cloud platforms enables insurers to quickly scale their resources up or down based on demand, further reducing costs. Additionally, cloud platforms can greatly reduce the need for physical storage, cutting costs associated with maintaining and securing on-premises data centers.

By leveraging cloud infrastructure, insurers can reduce capital expenditures on hardware and software, as cloud providers handle infrastructure maintenance and upgrades. 

Moreover, a pay-as-you-go pricing model can allow insurers to purchase only the resources they use, eliminating overprovisioning. 

Improved customer experience

An effective insurance cloud platform will equip insurers to create seamless experiences for customers, allowing them to interact through multiple channels, such as mobile apps, websites and chatbots. 

Cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) systems can give insurers a comprehensive view of customer lifecycles. Automated analysis of customer data can provide insights into customer preferences and behaviors, enabling targeted marketing, personalized offers, and more accurate risk assessments. 

Additionally, cloud-based analytics and machine learning capabilities can allow insurers to quickly process vast amounts of data, improving the speed and accuracy of underwriting and processing and reducing the time and effort required for customers to file and settle claims. 

All this stands to boost customer satisfaction and retention, as well as creating new opportunities for acquiring new customers. 

Increased flexibility and innovation

Key to success in our industry is an insurer’s ability to quickly innovate and adapt to changing market conditions. The cloud platform can facilitate the rapid deployment of new products and services, helping insurers to stay ahead of the competition. 

With the ability to scale resources in real-time, insurers can handle surges in demand during peak periods, such as open enrollment periods or after natural disasters. The cloud also facilitates integration with external data sources, such as weather data or telematics, enabling insurers to offer usage-based insurance and personalized risk assessments. 

What’s more, cloud-based ecosystems and marketplaces allow insurers to collaborate with insurtech startups and other industry partners, fostering innovation and driving the development of new products and services. An effective cloud platform also enables insurers to experiment with new technologies—such as blockchain or artificial intelligence—to enhance their operations and create unique value propositions for their customers.

Data security and compliance

As promising as the digitalization of the insurance industry is, it is also creating new challenges regarding data security and regulation compliance. To address those challenges, an effective insurance cloud platform will provide advanced security measures, including data encryption, access controls, and regular backups, all to ensure the protection of sensitive customer information. 

The right cloud providers will also invest heavily in maintaining robust security frameworks that comply with region-specific regulations. 

Early adoption of an industry cloud platform can give insurers an advantage in the marketplace. It can drive innovation, boost efficiency, help meet evolving customer expectations and generate new growth opportunities. Insurers looking to get a head start should work with their CMOs,  CIOs, CTOs and chief digital officers to assemble a clear picture of what exactly they will need from an industry cloud platform. They should question potential providers about the flexibility of their solutions and the level of support they can expect during and after implementation. And, crucially, they should ensure the platform is sufficiently modular to accommodate new solutions as our industry continues to evolve. 

For example, an open API infrastructure is essential for insurance organizations that want to leverage an industry cloud. APIs are the facilitators of insurance technology ecosystems, enabling your technology and systems partners to connect and collaborate.

[first published in Digital Insurance – https://www.dig-in.com/opinion/whats-the-benefit-of-an-insurance-cloud-platform].

From Delivery Manager to VP Strategy: A Career Development Success Story at Novidea

The technology industry has one of the lowest employee tenure rates among all industries, mainly due to its rapid growth. However, recent studies suggest that providing talents with the opportunity to pivot, grow, and stretch within their current companies can have a massive impact on engagement and retention.

This presents a great opportunity for companies that are wise enough to invest in career development. Nowadays, employees want to work at an organization that invests in their growth and offers development opportunities, while maintaining a personal approach.

To meet this demand, companies need to adjust their recruiting strategies, focusing not only on sourcing potential candidates and creating more awareness but also on exploring internal mobility opportunities and providing a clear process to empower employees to develop their career paths.

Meet Maayan Cyzs, Novidea’s VP Strategy

‘A friend recommended Novidea to me. At the time, I held a management position in another company, and was considering an offer that would “reduce” my seniority level, but presented an opportunity to create something new in a growing start-up and revolutionize the insurance industry.

I started my career at Novidea as a Delivery Manager, overseeing implementation projects for clients in Israel and later globally. This role exposed me to a new and dynamic business environment, emerging technologies, and a promising product. The pace was fast, and within a year, I recruited additional delivery managers and was promoted to manage the Delivery team with the close support and mentoring of my direct manager.

Together, we built a global delivery team that expanded rapidly along with our business portfolio and the scope of projects managed for our customers around the world.

After five years as Head of Delivery, and following the birth of my three boys (yes, all while working at Novidea!), an organizational change was made and  my role was split between the different regions we operate in, which led me to think about the next step in my career.

At that point, I had been working in delivery and project management for over ten years and felt it was time to explore new areas. I had two options: either search for a new position elsewhere, or create a new role within the company that I love and believe in.

Through mentoring and reflection, I identified my strengths, values, and abilities. Combined with the invaluable knowledge, experience and deep understanding of the company, its work processes, and product – I felt ready to take on new challenges and make a meaningful contribution to the company.

When I expressed my desire to transition to a new role, I received enormous support from Novidea’s CEO which far exceeded my expectations. We created a new senior management position that aligned with my vision and allowed me to contribute my expertise. The management team welcomed me with open arms, providing support, attentive ears, and guidance.

As VP Strategy at Novidea, I lead a team dedicated to supporting the company’s rapid growth, while implementing infrastructure and tools to advance our corporate strategy. This includes areas such as knowledge management, partners management, defining work processes and interfaces between departments, and supporting strategic implementation projects.

Novidea is an integral part of my life. I represent the company as I would represent myself, and I believe employees like me who identify with the organization, brand, and product make the best ambassadors and marketers. The opportunity I was given to learn, make mistakes (and grow from them) in a supportive and trusted environment allowed me to gain confidence which further catalyzes faster learning and greater experiences. As we continue to grow at an outstanding rate, it is necessary to be able to react quickly and evolve.

I strongly believe that companies should encourage internal mobility, allowing employees to apply for new jobs and positions that open up throughout the organisation, and discuss existing career development paths. Familiarity with roles and jobs can allow individuals to think creatively and expand their professional growth within the company.

The Smart Behind Novidea: Meet Idan Basino

Attention all bugs (and fish, for that matter): steer clear of Idan Basino. He not only feeds them to his Gecko, he also exterminates them in Novidea software as a QA engineer. Testing, analyzing and working with our engineering team to perfect our products is all in a typical day’s work for Idan. So next time you log into the Novidea platform, think of him. Better yet, invite him to go fishing!

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Highlights: Broking in the Cloud. Core Elements to Cloud Migration

Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of cloud-based services; it is predicted that in five years’ time all insurance distribution will use this technology.

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