Electronic Chat with Manisha Bhargava
Staff Writer | April 21, 2020
Manisha Bhargava is Global Head of Sales, at Innoveo AG, which designs and develops insurance technology cloud software. It offers Innoveo Skye, a cloud-based technology suite which enables digitalization of insurance processes and accelerates insurance product launch cycles. Its product allows the sale of insurance products across multiple distribution channels, and the support for an omni-channel UX experience combined with business efficiency centralized in a front-end interoperable with the customers' existing IT landscape. The company also provides application configuration, customization, and training services.
Innoveo AG was formerly known as Innoveo Solutions AG. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Please briefly describe your background and how you got involved with your current company.
An engineer by education, I was fascinated by technology and the impact it can have on the traditional business model. At that time, few women chose technology and business as their calling. In the last 25 years, I have been directly responsible for building and scaling technology businesses, as well as leading technology-driven transformations for financial services clients across Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Europe and the U.S.
When I was introduced to the opportunity of building Innoveo’s footprint globally, I found the platform exciting. Every organization aspires to simplify their technology architectures and reduce technical debt. And here was a platform that could do that, at a fraction of the time and cost in comparison to most options. Innoveo Skye, our “no-code” platform, was leveraged by Insurers globally to drive their digital transformation agenda and deliver acceleration to market, even before the trend of ‘no-code’ caught on. For me, it was the potential of the impact I could bring to the Insurance world, that made the decision simple, to lead this journey.
Your Skye product is a no-code platform that makes it easier for non-technical users to design apps. Please share some examples of how insurers are using it today.
Innoveo's no-code solution can address business challenges in a matter of days versus months, cost effectively and efficiently. Our platform also integrates seamlessly with existing technology and third-party solutions. Here are some specific examples of how Innoveo’s no code platform was deployed to address specific challenges:
- Business analysts work with our no-code platform to rapidly deploy multiple insurance products: onboarding of customers, quote and bind, policy administration and claims across external channels including B2B (direct), B2B broker/agent, affinities, partners, aggregators, and, B2B2C (Bancassurance and benefit platforms). These deployments incorporated multi-users, including sales agents, call center channels, internal operations, claim agents and underwriters for core P&C products in personal and commercial lines, surety bonds and SME, specialty line/marine engineering, and, across the full spectrum of life (term, short-term/long-term liability) and health products.
- The second business challenge we frequently address is facilitating digitization for insurers entrenched in legacy applications, monolithic architectures and/or disparate systems with different functionalities. The Innoveo Skye platform deploys as a rich front end to accelerate digitalization initiatives. This creates a rich digital wrapper with the necessary functionality to combine coverages and products, increase cross and up sell capabilities, and drive application rationalization and migration strategies.
- Finally, we have customers who are leveraging the open API architecture to launch new products including initiatives which are new digital offerings or gig economy products. The platform lends itself as a fantastic value proposition for prototyping new products and markets and exploring the build of complete ecosystems.
What we are seeing in today’s market, is that large insurers with newer technology platforms are still faced with multi-year transformation projects costing multi-million dollars. The technology is obsolete before they even begin. And, more importantly, customers are demanding digital capabilities – now. Insurers need to ramp up their digital transformation projects to be competitive and meet those customer demands. We find that we are a unique position at being able to break that barrier and ramp up these projects at far more compelling price points and accelerated time to market.
I understand you’re developing a COVID-19 app for insurers. Please provide details—describe how it will work and the benefit for insurers.
Yes, we have built the COVID-19 Crisis Response portal to help insurers facilitate timely responses to customers and improve customer communications. With the rapid shift to virtual operations, most companies were not prepared to manage their workforce and customers in a 100% virtual environment.
Insurers are being challenged on many fronts due to COVID-19. They are being inundated with calls from customers, they want to demonstrate empathy and concern for those customers, they want to be responsive. Innoveo’s Crisis Resource Portal gives insurers the ability to deliver critical resources to their customers, on demand; and be responsive to customer needs. The insurer’s customer will be able to directly access critical safety updates and COVID 19 information, request policy reviews, claims assistance and business continuity plan updates. We will able to build this portal within one week using our Skye platform. Insurers can request the COVID-19 portal through our website, innoveo.com. This is our way of helping insurers help their customers during this pandemic.
COVID-19 work-from-home orders have highlighted the importance of digital engagement. How would you advise businesses that have been slow to adopt newer technology to reach customers?
The rapid shift to remote work and the critical need to interact with customers 100% virtually has highlighted the importance of digital engagement. Digitization was already a focus of most insurers. However, it has now shifted from a “nice-to-have” to a necessity, which is going to rapidly accelerate digital transformation in the workplace. The digitization of the customer experience, processes and distribution channels, expediting claims processing and reducing bottlenecks, and automation of workflow processes are business areas that insurers will be looking to rapidly digitize in order to remain competitive. The value to the insurer is an increase in revenue and a reduction in cost. Previously, insurers may have held off on digitization due to their concern about legacy systems and long development times. What they may not realize is that solutions like Innoveo’s no code platform can digitize businesses processes in a matter of days vs. months, cost effectively and efficiently, without dismantling legacy systems.
How do you think the insurance workplace will look once the dust settles from COVID lockdown?
The COVID lockdown has caused dramatic shifts in the insurance workplace that will continue to impact the industry after the lockdown is lifted. Number one, it appears that we may be going back to work in waves, which will continue to drive the demand to support a remote workforce for the foreseeable future. In addition, I believe that on an ongoing basis, insurance companies will continue to operate with a larger remote workforce than pre-COVID19. Customers will continue to demand and expect to interact with their insurance company 24/7, how they want and when they want. Combined, this new reality will continue to accelerate each insurer’s digital transformation as they reconfigure their business to be competitive and stay relevant for their customer.
You’re in the process of developing an exclusive no-code platform for agents. Please share some details on when it will launch and how it will work.
Innoveo is launching our no-code, turnkey digital broker platform by the end of April 2020 for the small to medium broker market. Agencies will be able to be fully digitized in less than one week. Integrating comprehensive digital capabilities will result in countless benefits including an improved customer experience, increased productivity, lower costs, increased revenue growth and profitability – for the agency overall and per client. Agencies can expect to see EBITDA increase at least +2x with this implementation. This is a dynamic web-based platform that connects B2B/B2C customers with Broker and Insurer, enabling ready-quotes, coverage proposals, bind and buy processes, and ongoing customer service. With COVID19, agencies are facing the same demands as insurers and are having to accelerate digital transformation to better serve their customers in today’s environment.
Featured articles
- COVID Drives More Reliance on Risk Management Systems, New Study Finds
- Electronic Chat with Robert Clark, CEO, Cloverleaf Analytics
- Solving Customer Communications Challenges with Hybrid Mail
- Six Trends Shaping Digital Insurance Tech Strategies in 2021
- Billing a Key Component of Customer Service, Celent Finds
- Why Data Science Fails
- Electronic Chat with Andrew Jernigan, CEO, and Allen Koski, President and Chief Innovation Officer, Insured Nomads
- Electronic Chat with Allison Martin, CEO and Founder, UDoTest
- Are Carriers Ready for the Coming Crash?
- Electronic Chat with Christopher Moore, Director for North American Sales Engineering and Solutions, Trifacta
- Next Insurance Partners with Amazon Business Prime to Provide Small Businesses with Affordable Digital Insurance Options
- An AI Walks Into an Electronics Store...
- InsurTech NY Announces Global Early-Stage Competition Winners
- World’s Worst County/Western Insurtech Song
- Electronic Chat with Anne-Laure Klein, COO, Akur8
- COVID-19 One Year Later: The Digital Transformation of Insurance
- Electronic Chat with Michael Kassing, CEO/CVO, insured.io
- BrokerTech Ventures Announces 2021 Cohort Class for Accelerator
- An Entirely Preventable Disaster
- Flipping the Fraud Triangle
- The January/February ITA Pro Magazine is here!
- Credit Risk, ESG, Cybersecurity Top Risk Concerns for Financial Institutions, Deloitte Finds
- Electronic Chat with Ellen Moser, Senior Client Executive, Origami Risk LLC
- The Answer to “So What?”
- Leaders Rise from a Year Like No Other!
- Electronic Chat with Jonathan Roomer, Co-Founder, YuLife
- Getting Creative to Hit COVID Curveballs Out of the Park
- Electronic Chat with Eugenio Gonzalez, Plug and Play
- New Report Projects Global Insurtech to Grow by $21 Billion During 2020-2024
- The 2020 Virtual Event Wasteland
- Insurtechs, Investors Optimistic About Post-COVID Future, New DIA/McKinsey Study Finds
- Finding Grandmas
- No Code / Low Code: The New “Shortest Route” In Insurance Delivery
- Are You Addicted to Copy-and-Paste?
- Electronic Chat with Nino Tarantino, CEO- Americas, Insurance and Mobility Solutions (IMS)
- Driving Life Insurance:Tech Alone Won’t Solve Business Problems
- Electronic Chat with Robin Roberson, Managing Director, North America, Claim Central Consolidated
- How Do You Make It Happen?
- Electronic Chat with Jason Liu, CEO, Zywave
- New Partnership Models Take Program Business to the Next Level
- New Study Finds Less than Half of Consumers Trust Insurers to Respond to Their Needs
- Electronic Chat with Andrew Mauritzen, CFO and Head of Insurance Industry, Exactuals
- You Want Us To Do WHAT For Free?
- Electronic Chat with Evgeny Aleksandrov, Co-founder and CEO, Pilotbird
- Electronic Chat with Chris Cheatham, CEO, RiskGenius
- New MIT Sloan Study Finds Few Companies Gain Big Benefits from AI
- The September/October ITA Pro magazine is here!
- “Being Right” is Just the Start of the Battle
- Electronic Chat with Amit Ranjan, Executive VP and CAO, Xceedance
- Planning for Your Business and Tech Future: Strategies, Plans and Budgets for Rapid Transformation
- Electronic Chat with Jimmy Padia, Founder and CEO, Floatbot
- Gelato with Dots and Sprinkles
- COVID-19 and the Insurtech “Junk Drawer”
- Even “Change” is Different Now. Your Strategic Planning Needs to Be Too.
- The Road Ahead for P&C Insurers: How to Understand Customers Better and Navigate the Post-COVID Insurance Market
- Electronic Chat with Jake Tamarkin, Co-founder and CEO, Everyday Life
- Strategic Planning in the “New Normal” Digital Era of Insurance – Your Next Move
- Insurer Tech Investment Priorities See Major Shift in a Post-COVID World
- Plug and Play Selects 25 Insurtech Startups for Winter Batches
- Digital Transformation – A Top Strategic Priority and New Reality
- Four Steps to Successful Migration of Insurance CCM Applications
- COVID-19 Accelerates Insurance Digitalization to Meet Customer Demand: World InsurTech Report 2020
- Electronic Chat with Greg Williams, Co-Founder, President & CEO, Acrisure
- Electronic Chat with Matt Perlman, Partner, IA Capital Group
- Insurer Digitalization: Are you a Competitor or a Laggard?
- Leaders are Leading and Creating the Future of Insurance Distribution
- 3 Things You Need to Know About No-Code
- Electronic Chat with Adam Kiefer, CEO, Talage
- Underwriting in 3D: Using Data to Adapt and Improve Life Insurance Sales
- Getting Past the "Gelato Syndrome"
- Insurers Know CX/UX is Important, but Don't Agree on Execution, Study Finds
- Electronic Chat with Steve Lekas, Branch Insurance
- How AI Can Attract Millennial Talent to the Insurance Industry
- Preventing Data Breaches
- A New Boom for Life Insurance: Shifting Away from the 250-Year-Old Policy Transaction
- Electronic Chat with Ty Harris, Founder and CEO, Openly
- A Digital Wildfire Creates a Burning Platform for Digital Insurance Business Transformation
- Digitalization, COVID-19 Spurring More IT Investment in Cybersecurity
- Electronic Chat with Michael DeGusta, CEO, ClarionDoor
- U.S. Consumers Significantly Underestimate Flood Risk, New Survey Finds
- The Future of Insurance: Opportunities in Ecosystems
- Electronic Chat with Todd Greenbaum, CEO, Input 1
- Majesco to be Acquired by Thoma Bravo
- The Evolving Role of Managing General Agencies
- Electronic Chat with Char Hu
- Electronic Chat with Allan L. Egbert, Jr.
- Electronic Chat with Christopher Tramontano and Zbigniew Gawienczuk
- Data Science is Gelato
- Insurance Innovation: Alive and Kicking
- Independent Agents Divided on Digital Experience, New Survey Finds
- Electronic Chat with Michael Jones
- Electronic Chat with Paul VanderMarck
- As Auto Insurance Premiums Shrink, Insurers Need Mobility Ecosystem, New Study Finds
- Property & Casualty Insurers Raise Digital Games as COVID-19 Elevates Customer Expectations, J.D. Power Finds
- Electronic Chat with Bobbie Shrivastav
- Meet the Board: Marissa Buckley
- Big Data and Insurtech: A Carrier Perspective
- Traditional Insurers Need Open Ecosystems, Partnerships to Remain Competitive, CapGemini Report Finds
- Electronic Chat with John C. Siegman
- 4 Ways AI is Empowering Insurers During COVID-19
- 6 Big Changes to Insurance from the COVID-19 Crisis
- Electronic Chat with Christopher Ewing
- Independent Agency Staff Morale High During COVID-19, New Survey Finds
- Electronic Chat with Brad Epker
- Tapping AI to Improve Policyholder Experience
- Electronic Chat with Manisha Bhargava
- ITA Pro Magazine, March/April 2020
- COVID-19 a Game Changer for Workers’ Comp
- Electronic Chat with Steve Comer
- COVID-19 Pandemic Forces Cancellation of ITA LIVE 2020
- Leveraging Digital Resources in the Time of COVID-19
- Electronic Chat with Robert Hartwig on COVID-19 and Insurance
- Celent Study: Most Small Businesses Still Unclear on Importance of Cyber Insurance
- The January/February 2020 ITA Pro is here!
- Deloitte: New C-Suite Roles Mean More Opportunities for Women
- Electronic Chat with Pankaj Parashar
- Electronic Chat with Tara Kelly
- Electronic Chat with Chuck Wilson
- ITA, InsNerds Collaborate to Enhance ITA LIVE 2020 Content and Coverage
- How SMBs Can Compete in Digital Ecosystems in the 2020s
- 4 Ways Insurance Can Prepare for New Data Privacy Laws
- Brewer Lane Ventures Launches and Hires Insurtech Vet Martha Notaras as Managing Partner
- 2020 GIA Cohort Launches on January 14
- The November/December 2019 ITA Pro is here!
- Electronic Chat with Joshua Snead
- Electronic Chat with Wendy Aarons-Corman
- Simplifying the Move to a Third-party Print Provider
- Take a Business-Driven Approach to Continuous Improvement for Core Systems and Processes
- Electronic Chat with Ron Glozman
- Guidewire’s Data Guru Mike Byam on How Insurers are Using Internal and Third-Party Data
- Electronic Chat with Russ Bostick
- Electronic Chat with Rock Schindler
- Electronic Chat with John Siegman
- Electronic Chat with Martin Burlingame
- Insurtech Landscape 2019: Top 5 Takeaways
- Grinnell Mutual Tackles Massive Transformation -- in Stride
- A Candid Conversation with Paul Mang
- SageSure Insurance Managers Improved Competitiveness by Consolidating Payments to a Single Digital Platform
- Digital Does Matter in Insurance-- And Insurers are Missing the Mark
- The 22nd-Century Insurer: Taking a Cloud-First IT Approach
- The September/October 2019 issue of ITA PRO magazine is now available in digital format here:
- ITA Pro Magazine May/June 2019
- Spotlight on the 2019 IASA Conference
- ValueMomentum Selects Erie as Site of Regional Development Center
- Capgemini and Majesco Become Alliance Partners
- Electronic Chat with Dr. Dan Shoham
- Electronic Chat with Todd Greenbaum
- Martha Notaras: The “Outsider” with an Amazing Inside View
- Electronic Chat with Larissa Tosch
- Martha Notaras Will Join ITA LIVE 2019 as a Keynote Speaker
- Five Things to Consider When Evaluating Your Cyber Risk
- ITA Pro Magazine, January/February 2019
- Synergy Between Insurers' IT and Analytics Teams Key to Operationalizing Insights, Says Novarica
- Major Ransomware Attack Could Hit U.S. with $89B In Economic Damages
- ITA Announces 1st of Three Keynote Speakers at ITA LIVE 2019
- Electronic Chat with Jeroen Morrenhof
- Legacy Systems Are Dead. Really? Don't Count On It.
- Now Accepting Nominations for the 2019 ITA Bridge Awards
- It's time to register for ITA LIVE!
- Registration is Now Open for ITA LIVE 2019!
- What to Expect from a Digital Experience Platform Implementation
- ITA Pro Magazine September Edition is Now Available
- It's National IT Professionals Day
- Save the Date for ITA-LIVE 2019
- OneShield Software and UrbanStat Work Together to Improve Real-Time Analytics and Risk Decision-Making
- ITA LIVE 2019 - SAVE THE DATE!
- Insurance Technology Association Announces New Editor-in-Chief
- August 2018 Edition ITA Pro Magazine is Now Available
- Enterprise Architecture in an Agile World
- Top 10 Tips for Securing Your Mobile Devices and Sensitive Client Data
- Industry Insight: 4 Global Insurance Trends in Digital, Data, Content Services and Security
- Diving Deeper into Prioritizing Your Strategic Digital investments
- Why Content Rules
- How Mass Personalization Will Open the Small Business Benefits Market
- At Year End 2017, Will Your Organization Be Protected from Cyber Risks?
- Do Insurance Bots Dream of Mitigating Risk?
- Conditioned to Respond
- Managing & Mobilizing Insurance Data in a Connected World
- Race to the Finish Line
- New Tools, New Opportunities in Claims
- ITA LIVE: Reaching Insurance Industry Crossroads
- Advice to Insurance IT Leaders: Keep Your Eye on the Ball
- New Date, Venue for ITA LIVE 2017
- Guidewire Makes Major Push to Small and Midtier Market by Acquiring ISCS
- Insurance Disruption is Happening Right Now
- Insurity Adds Strategic Investment Partner, General Atlantic
- Beyond Transformation: The Convergence of Finance, Risk, and Actuarial Functions
- The Rapid Evolution of Consumer Protection Regulation
- Talent Hunt: Finding, Attracting, Retaining Top People
- Insurers Flexing Their Distribution Models
- Technology Driving Disruption in Insurance
- Fear of ‘Next Bubble’ Challenges Life, Annuity Carriers
- Technology Allows Commercial Lines Insurers to Stand Out
- Single Sign-on Viewed as Biggest Tech Challenge for Agencies
- ISCS Observes 20th Anniversary; Scurto Predicts Major Changes Ahead
- Policyholders and Their First Impressions
- Progressive Making Progress on the UBI Front
- High and Dry: Insurers Search for Disaster Recovery Plans
- Insurers Sign The (Un)Dotted Line
- Reflections of a Retired Insurance CIO
- Mobile Device Management Just One Answer to BYOD Issue
- Lessons from GEICO and Progressive on Winning the Critical Buying Stage
- You Are a Target for a Cyber Attack
- Web-based Systems are the Next Evolution in Claims Technology
- Gaining a “Wow” Experience from Web Users
- Time to Shift from Business/IT Alignment to Business/IT Alliance
- Healthcare Insurers Changing to Consumer Model
- Organization is the Key for Selecting Software Vendors
- Analysts Expound on the Needs of the Mid-tier Insurance Market
- Finding the Cure for Obamacare’s Website
- New Software Solutions Benefit Insurers on the Inside and Outside
- Products, Market Impede Investment in Systems for Life Insurers
- Combatting Cyber Threats: Predict, Prevent, Persist
- The Future of Telematics Heads Beyond Insurance
- The Shame in Cyber Security Lapses
- Building Policy Administration Systems for the Future
- Insurers Look Into The Eyes of Their Policyholders
- It’s a New Dawn for the ITA
INSURANCE IT NEWS
- Crawford Technologies Announces Second Annual Customer Communications Virtual Summit
- Zywave Acquires Risk Management Solutions Provider Enquiron
- eMaxx Launches Customer Centric Platform for Variable Cost Captive Programs
- Brewer Lane Ventures Hires David Castellani, Former New York Life Executive and Head of Technology
- RW Exchange, Sterling Seacrest Pritchard Announce Partnership
- Protecht Hires Todd Hancock as Chief Insurance Officer
- IMS Signs Partnership with Car Sharing Marketplace Turo
- Erie Insurance to Upgrade Majesco Billing for P&C on Majesco CloudInsurer® and Implement Majesco Insurance Data and Analytics Platform
ELECTRONIC CHAT
The Email Chat is a regular feature of the ITA Pro magazine and website. We send a series of questions to an insurance IT leader in search of thought-provoking responses on important issues facing the insurance industry.
-
Electronic Chat with Robert Clark, CEO, Cloverleaf Analytics
Laura Mazzuca Toops
Leveraging his knowledge and skills of past successes in creating business intelligence solutions, Clark founded and launched Cloverleaf Analytics in... READ MORE
ITA LIVE 2020
ITA LIVE 2020 –SAVE THE DATE!
April 5th – 7th, 2020
The Diplomat Resort
Hollywood, FL
Become a member today to receive updates – www.itapro.org/MR
BLOGS AND COLUMNS
-
Solving Customer Communications Challenges with Hybrid Mail
Ernie Crawford
Even the most digitally transformed insurance organizations struggle with ad hoc customer communications. Luckily, technology can help... READ MORE
-
Why Data Science Fails
Bob Frady
Data science projects that “fail” all have one element in common... READ MORE
only online
-
Down Market Opportunities Beckon Benefits Insurers
You have surely heard it said that small businesses are the growth engine for America. Today, the phrase has a special ring to it for benefits... READ MORE
-
Technology at the Heart of Change in Insurance
With stagnant growth and lingering low interest rates, the life insurance industry faces a challenging future... READ MORE
-
Got Policies? IVANS Service Helps Feed Commercial Lines Producers
Finding insurance carriers willing to write commercial lines risks has always been a challenge for producers... READ MORE
-
Technology Changes Coming Faster than Ever for Insurers
As Guidewire Software prepares for the start of Connections, its 11th annual user conference that begins on Nov. 2, Brian Desmond, chief marketing... READ MORE
Vendor Views
-
COVID-19 One Year Later: The Digital Transformation of Insurance
COVID-19 has accelerated digital adoption, especially in the areas of claims adjustment and fraud prevention... READ MORE
- Vendor Views
Partner News
-
Big Data and Insurtech: A Carrier Perspective
Insurance has always relied on large volumes of data to gauge customer behavior and more. But as big data has gotten bigger, insurtech has empowered... READ MORE
- Partner News