CEO Views - Innovators of the year 2023

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 InsurTech 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 information 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 addiction. 

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 10 Insurtech 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 real–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? 

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.

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 designed 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 leadership 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. 

We encourage cross–team collaboration and sup- port, giving the team visibility and appreciation of others efforts. As a remote–first company, we encourage closeness through regular company–wide updates and team lunches/events when in the office. 

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.