What do you do when you manage to bring the number of computer systems down from seven to two? Beat the box is the unlikely answer if you work at AXA Insurance.

AXA chief executive Peter Hubbard led staff in a mass beating of old, out-dated computer equipment to celebrate a rare occurrence of an IT project in the financial services sector going to plan.

It seems that AXA staff wearing Doc Marten boots and wielding baseball bats have been having the time of their lives, beating the life out of equipment that has blighted their lives through crashes, misfiles and other assorted infuriating gremlins.

Hubbard said: "I turned off the ICL machine. The machine takes up a whole building. One disk drive is six inches by four inches but has less storage than my mobile phone - how technology has changed."

The 2025 Insurance Times Awards took place on the evening of Wednesday 3rd December in the iconic Great Room of London’s Grosvenor House.

Hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen, 34 Gold, 23 Silver and 22 Bronze awards were handed out across an amazing 34 categories recognising brilliance and innovation right across the breadth of UK general insurance.
Many congratulations to all the worthy winners and as always, huge thanks to our sponsors for their support and our judges for their expertise.

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