For the 20th day of advent, Rafał Durasiewicz, co-founder at Acini, talks insurance heritage, the Mr. Bean approach to innovation and fighting Terminators
Open your advent calendar below!
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1. What was your insurance industry highlight of 2025?
Insurance is one of the world’s oldest industries – 4,000 years of tradition, from Babylonian merchants to Lloyd’s coffeehouses.
With that heritage, it’s no surprise we don’t pivot like a tech startup. Risk aversion is in our DNA. But here’s the paradox – the world expects us to move at Formula 1 speed while we’re still cruising behind the safety car.
2025 showed both sides – hesitation to change and to adopt new technologies, yet bold moves like UK mergers. Signing deals is easy – creating synergy and real innovation is the hard part. The question for 2026 is, will we hit the accelerator or watch others take the podium?
2. What is your Christmas message for your insurance colleagues?
Every evolution and every revolution starts with people who are inspired, motivated and brave enough to act.
Sometimes they’re even a little crazy, because when everyone says “you’re wrong,” you keep going.
Think Mr. Bean. He doesn’t wait for approval or a perfect plan – he straps an armchair to his car and drives through London with a teddy as co-pilot. That’s bold, that’s inventive and, yes, a bit mad. But it gets results.
We need that spirit – bias to action, fearless experiments and relentless optimism. Own it, try it, learn – then scale. The future belongs to the doers.
3. What do you hope to find under the industry’s Christmas tree for 2026?
Picture this: John Connor walks into an insurance office in 2026 – not to fight Terminators, but robotic customer‑service scripts.
“Machines are great,” he says, “but where are the humans?”
Instead of Skynet, he meets Claimnet – brilliant at numbers, terrible at asking how your day was.
John rallies the team, tech does the heavy lifting. We keep the smiles, empathy and real conversations. Together they build a future where customers feel cared for, not processed – humans lead, AI supports and service stays warm even when it’s digital.
Let’s make 2026 the year where empathy and innovation go hand in hand.
[ADVENT-REVEAL-END]
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.
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