Three Strategies for Seamless Collaboration Between Business and Tech in Reinsurance Operations
Sven Scandella
Independent Consultant, helping reinsurers with their technology solutions - outcome focussed
If you've carried out any form or digitisation project in your reinsurance company, you may know the strain it can have on both your business people and the tech team when one doesn't understand or respect the other and vice versa.?
Hence, I'd like to share with you three strategies to consider in order to diffuse any tensions and get your teams working well together in no time.?
1. Establish a common language
In the context of reinsurance operations, fostering a shared vocabulary between business and tech teams is crucial for eliminating misunderstandings and enhancing communication.?
Reinsurance involves intricate processes, risk assessments and financial calculations, and business professionals often possess in-depth knowledge of industry terms related to policies, underwriting and risk management. Tech teams, on the other hand, deal with complex systems, algorithms and data structures. Thus, a shared vocabulary ensures that business and tech professionals can communicate effectively about intricate concepts specific to reinsurance.
Atlassian gives 4 ways in which companies can encourage a shared vocabulary and understanding, which are standardisation, creation of a single source of truth i.e. a knowledge base, check listing before beginning a new project and using technology to better share between departments. These actions minimise the risk of crucial information being overlooked, ensuring that both teams remain synchronised and operate with increased efficiency.?
2. Embrace the agile model
Embracing agile methodologies helps to create a dynamic and iterative workflow that accommodates the evolving needs of both business AND tech. Although we mustn't forget, of course, that when it comes down to it, business is in charge. Business can't operate without IT however it is essential that IT understand that it is the business side of the company that keeps it going. Nevertheless, it is key that the two departments find a way of working together, and adopting agile methodology is a good way to go.?
In reinsurance, this involves a shift from traditional, linear project management approaches to a more flexible and iterative framework. As an example of what it could look like for a reinsurance company to adopt the agile methodology, let's look at cross functional teams.?
This includes the formation of teams involving members from both business and tech backgrounds, ensuring diverse skill sets within each team which can foster collaboration and shared ownership. You may also require dedicated product owners, which again should come from the business side as it is these people who can ensure a clear understanding of business goals and priorities.?
Essentially, your cross functional team should acknowledge the varying skill sets between departments and put them to good use in the appropriate context. We should not expect business people to know the ins and outs of the tech or tech people to know how to run the business. We are not trying to make everyone know everything, we just need everyone to work effectively together, towards the same goal.?
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3. Encourage technology literacy among business professionals
While it is true that we do not want or need our business professionals to know how to do the work of the highly trained tech team, a degree of technological understanding and enthusiasm is required in order to better the relations between business and tech, and also to enhance the confidence of business professionals working with new technologies implemented as part of digitisation.?
Thus, it's important to encourage technological literacy among business professionals, which involves creating a supportive and engaging environment. How do we achieve this? I have two key methods.
Firstly, supportive leadership is a must. According to research by AIMultiple , digitisation is 6 times more likely to be a success leaders are engaged throughout implementation. Whatsmore, it's company CEOs who are driving digitisation in at least 45% of organisations . Hence, you must ensure that leadership actively supports and endorses the importance of technological literacy. Leaders can set an example by demonstrating a commitment to ongoing learning, which takes me to key method number two; cultivating a learning culture.?
The key is to foster a culture that values continuous development. This does not happen when technology is forced on employees without proper explanation or training, so we must start there. Connecting business goals, something your team knows well and is already working towards, to the tech initiatives can also be a winner when it comes to getting employees to work with the tech team and not against them.?
Overall, there's no reason why business and tech teams cannot collaborate effectively once misunderstandings and uncertainties have been ironed out. By implementing the above strategies, a reinsurance company can create a dynamic and supportive environment that motivates business professionals to embrace technology, fostering enthusiasm for innovation and collaboration.
Posted on https://www.buondrius.com/insights
Product and Strategy | Leading Cross-Functional Teams for Financial Markets, Customer Success and Product Management
8 个月Sven, thanks for the insightful post. Your insights highlight a crucial gap in many institutions: the absence of dedicated product teams. I strongly believe in the necessity of establishing such teams to bridge the gap between business and technology. In my experience, relying on individuals to juggle both product management and business responsibilities leads to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for innovation.