Transforming Insurance: An Exclusive Interview with distriBind's CEO

The insurance industry is experiencing a rapid evo­lution as accelerating technology trends are poised to transform the very nature of insurance. Adapting to the dynamic landscape demands the integration of artificial intelligence to improve middle and back-end processes, fraud prevention and risk man­agement.

distriBind, an lnsurTech leveraging the power of Machine Learning and Automation to provide a dig­ital data exchange platform that delivers seamless data flow across the sector particularly within Dele­gated Authority in London, US and International markets.

Over 95% of agent-distributed risk and financial in­ formation is submitted via spreadsheet. These doc­uments require costly manual processing. dis­triBind frees insurers, agents and brokers from the bordereaux problems through real-time API, OCR and data ingestion tools to deliver automation and complete data transparency, reducing the burden of heavy manual processes.

The CEO Views team interacted with Dave Connors, CEO of distriBind to gain insights into the industry's changing dynamics and how they are adding effi­ciency in back-office operations through automa­tion.

CEO Views: What led to the inception of the compa­ny? What was your mission at the outset?

Dave Connors: I have worked in the insurance in­dustry for over 20 years. My roles allowed me to ex­perience first-hand the reporting bordereaux prob­lems within the industry. Realising the pressing need to create a solution, I founded distriBind to cure the insurance industry of its spreadsheet ad­ diction.

CEO Views: Can you take us through the journey of distriBind right from its beginning to the point where it unwaveringly stands today? What mile­ stones have you achieved along the journey?

Dave Connors: We have achieved a series of signifi­cant milestones that have solidified our position as a leading global solution in the insurance industry in just 5 years. In the following year of its incep­tion, distriBind received Innovate UK 2019 Grant. We have also received recognitions from industry peers for the company's exceptional growth and influence including, 'Top 1O lnsurTech Solution Providers of 2023' and 'Excellence in Technology - Service Provider' Finalists in the Insurance Times Awards.

CEO Views: What type of services does the com­pany offer? Can you please explicate them in brief?

Dave Connors: distriBind is an automated data exchange and digital workbench automating back- office tasks for participants across the insur­ance value chain. Our browser-based platform provides processing, validation and reconciliation of risk, premium, claims and cash data. Whether distributing using traditional "relationship-based" sales methods or use digital distribution via App, Portal or Digital Quote & Bind, distriBind can help carriers, brokers and MGAs improve their process­es.

CEO Views: distriBind has been constantly tread­ing innovation. How has your company approach evolved over the last few years?

Dave Connors: Our partnerships with industry leaders like Otonomi and Coral Insurance are a testament to our client-centric development approach. We've transitioned to a robust data-driven approach, allowing businesses to leverage re­ al-time insights. Our platform's evolution caters to multiple data formats, reducing errors and aiding reconciliation. Recognizing the growth opportu­nities of our clients and the industry at large, we've ensured that our solutions are not just rele­vant for today but are also scalable for tomorrow. This forward-thinking approach has been crucial in ensuring that our clients always stay a step ahead in their operations.

CEO Views: What strategies do you employ to stay competitive and relevant in such a rapidly evolv­ing sector?

Dave Connors:

distriBind isn't trying to make everyone do everything the same way. Reducing friction between business partners is one of our key goals, and measures for success.

distriBind enables the exchange of data between parties across formats and standards. The ability for send­ers to send what is easiest for them, and for our ingestion and transformation engine to deliver what the receiver needs is a step-change for an in­dustry addicted to uncontrolled and uncontrolla­ble spreadsheets, even where there's a nominal common data standard. This allows distriBind to be a leader, rather than a follower in driving inno­vation - it is a point of pride that we are already processing multiple data formats, across multiple countries/markets and classes of business with just one common thread: nobody has to manually alter their data to load it into distriBind.

CEO Views: To what do you attribute your suc­cess?

Dave Connors: The design of the product, based on years of personal experience and insight. dis­triBind is built with the insight of real use-cases and empathy for the user. Our goal is to free our users from the monotony of low-value tasks such as pre-processing data for loading, and deliver them real insight into the data where their skills and experience can be brought to bear. As a product that was originally conceived and de­ signed from the perspective of a user, distriBind is genuinely solving real problems.

CEO Views: What major technological trends or developments are you observing in the sector? How does your company make use of these tech­nological trends to deliver the best outcome?

Dave Connors: The industry is looking to go away from the high-touch point business models to low­ touch and we are enabling them to go do this and go through this transition as effortlessly as possi­ble. The insurance industry is building up momen­tum in a culture of increasing innovation and cus­tomer centric operating models. Basic operational transformations should have already been complet­ed and the focus of risk and cost reductions should be shifting toward the ability to experiment and take more risk to drive further innovation, competi­tive advantage, and growth. distriBind is enabling insurers, brokers, and MGAs to underpin their busi­ness with core data. The dashboards and reporting capabilities mean that the visibility of data has been taken to a whole new level.

CEO Views: Kindly take us through the working culture at your company. How does your company foster a culture of innovation?

Dave Connors: As a company we are committed to openness and innovation. We have a flat hierarchy, where everyone is encouraged to share ideas and take ownership of them, and reward them for suc­cess: we regularly promote internally. The leader­ ship is committed to the idea that experience is not the be-all and end-all: when recruiting we prioritize intelligence and openness to ideas and creative problem-solving. In an industry hidebound by a re­liance on "how it's done", this is a radical approach that helps us differentiate.

CEO Views: What are the pain points in the indus­try? How is your team specially equipped to solve those problems?

Dave Connors:

Many of our typical customers, in­cluding MGAs, Carriers, and Brokers, struggle with inefficient and error-prone manual processes that consume valuable time and often result in inaccu­racies. Our solution addresses reporting challeng­es, with user-friendly dashboards and clear risk and data insights, our platform enhances reporting ca­pabilities, providing clients with a comprehensive view of their operations. 

Additionally, we eliminate approximately 45 min­utes of manual pre-processing per spreadsheet, freeing up valuable time for our clients to focus on higher-value tasks. Insurance companies face the issue of dealing with multiple formats of bor­dereaux, which often leads to inefficiencies and errors during the reconciliation of premiums with risks. Our platform tackles this problem by provid­ing a standardized and centralized system that can seamlessly handle various bordereaux formats.

CEO Views: What do you see as the future of the in­dustry? How do you plan to position your company to thrive in that future?

Dave Connors: We have a new Head of Innovation in place and our roadmap is always growing. We need to keep up with demand and market changes which means we must continually review the prod­uct roadmap, along with infrastructure. Our current priorities are around automating configuration via Machine Learning to simplify and speed up imple­mentation, expand the use of Machine Learning and Al into further predictions and anomaly detec­tion, and add pricing and quote/bind to offer a complete MGA solution. We work with all our customers to ensure that their business needs are met, and to ensure we are fully compliant with ever changing regulatory requirements. distriBind has a global presence, with users in 8 countries and 2 continents, we're continuing to expand with plans to open offices in 2 additional countries in the next 6-9 months.

If you're interested in learning more about distriBind please feel free to reach out to one of our experts at contact@distribind.io or book a demo here.