AI returns depend on redesigning job roles – Ericson Chan

While artificial intelligence (AI) does not take jobs away, firms need to redesign roles as the technology continues to grow.

That was according to Zurich’s group chief information and digital officer Ericson Chan, who warned that failing to adapt jobs may result in firms not seeing the return on AI they want.

Chan made the comments during his keynote speech as Insurtech Insights Europe 2026 on Thursday (19 March 2026).

He explained that the workforce and leadership need to adapt as AI continues to grow, saying that the workforce will become a group of “coordinators” and the managers will become the “architect” to design operations going forward.

Chan added: “AI does not take jobs away.

“AI changes tasks and takes tasks away. After that jobs need to be redesigned. Each job may be making a certain judgement now because of certain tasks [taken] away, [but] they need to be consolidated.

“They need to be rebundled. Without rebundling, you will not be able to see the return on AI and you will not get adoption as fast as it can be.”

AI integration

He also stressed that firms cannot use traditional project management allocation approaches to speed up the process for AI integration.

In turn, he urged firms to take a “structured approach”. For Zurich, this approach takes the form of its AI360 strategy to embed AI across its value chains.

Reflecting on the insurer’s own success drivers for AI transformation, Chan told delegates that it hinges on building strong technology foundations, “from IT infrastructure to data to open connectivity”.

With these foundations, he said that businesses can scale beyond “sets of pilots or isolated solutions” across the organisation.

The starting point is always identifying the business values, which he explained will allow firms to “understand the capability and possibility of AI” and “map it with the core value chain of [the] industry”.

Following this, he added that organisations should look at each opportunity before prioritising them based on available resources, such as budget and talent.

“Return on investment has to come from a set of structured approaches,” he continued.

“It is not a single linear business case. It needs to be a portfolio of value creation mechanism.”