It’s the only way to close the generation gap, says Hamilton Insurance Group boss

Brian Duperreault, MMC

Succession planning has always been a challenge for the insurance industry, which has traditionally failed to attract young graduates.

Initiatives are underway by the CII and others in a bid to shed the industry’s ‘dull’ image and entice young talent, but this process has become more urgent as insurers and brokers get to grips with technology.

Speaking to a new generation of insurance professionals at the Marsh & McLennan Young Professionals’ Global Forum in June, Hamilton Insurance Group chief executive Brian Duperreault  (pictured) urged the industry to get up to digital speed.

He outlined the key differences between digital natives – those who have grown up in a digital world – and digital immigrants – those who are having to adjust to it – and said the industry must tackle the generation gap created.

He called upon insurers and brokers to focus on how they could attract more ‘Millennials’ – those born between the mid 1980s and the early 2000s – into their ranks.

“The phenomenon of the demand economy is to have a powerful impact on innovation,” said Duperreault.

“Nowadays, when technology is created, its creators sit back and let whatever purpose that emerges from its use become the purpose of that technology.

“How might we do that in insurance? Can we create a technology and then give it to the next generation to teach us how to use it?”

Zurich Knowledge

Zurich Knowledge