Today’s insurance industry is currently engaged in a balancing act between strict regulations and the requirements of a modern workplace, not least with regard to the possibilities offered by generative artificial intelligence. How can they reconcile these differing requirements, and what benefits might this bring?
Open-plan offices with aging desktop PCs at each workstation: not an image that fills insurance employees’ hearts with joy. After all, what they require from a computer workstation has changed significantly: laptops that enable flexible and location-independent work are in demand. The data is in the cloud and is therefore available anywhere, just like communication via Teams chats and online meetings.
These demands are all the more intense because this modern working scenario, too, is undergoing an upgrade: generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI for short, will fundamentally change the way we use computers and data. In the future, we won’t search, we’ll prompt. To use services such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, you need modern workstations with Microsoft 365. And the time has come to move away from Windows 10 – support will expire in October 2025, after which the system will only be able to continue operating with the help of expensive additional services.
Between regulation and modernity
Under these circumstances, IT managers in insurance companies might feel justified in heaving a sigh. As it works with health data, which is particularly sensitive, the insurance industry has higher data protection and security requirements than other sectors of the economy. Additional safety measures are therefore required in order to transition to modern workplaces that fulfil the relevant FINMA requirements. These requirements are the reason why many insurance companies have not yet made the leap to the modern world of work. Will the coming end of Windows 10 speed up this process?
How insurance companies benefit from a modern workplace
It’s an unavoidable step, with various internal and external drivers. From an external perspective, insurtech start-ups want to carve out a share of the insurance market with fully digital services. Insurance companies that have modernised from a technical point of view will survive better in the market because they will be able to keep up. But the biggest driver – and benefit – comes from within. A modern workplace provides the basis for modern ways of working, such as working from home. This makes an insurance company more attractive as an employer and ensures greater employee satisfaction.
But it’s not just in the labour market that insurance companies benefit from modern working methods and spaces – they also improve day-to-day quality of life for employees. Cloud environments such as Microsoft 365 make collaboration much easier. Working together on a document ensures that everyone is up to date. And a quick query via chat message is faster and more efficient than an email. In addition, modern workplaces create the basis for diving into the world of GenAI as soon as it becomes necessary.
The administration of end devices also becomes more efficient – and location-independent – thanks to the cloud. Partially automated management and self-service IT support options also reduce the effort required from IT staff, for example when setting up and updating devices.
And, of course, the insurance companies themselves also benefit from these improvements. When employees work (together) efficiently, this increases productivity. For example, when a request via Teams chat is answered quickly and allows them to continue working right away. And if the time required to manage the workstations decreases, that also means a reduction in IT costs.
The challenges of change
But the move to modern workplaces is not simply an update (from Windows 10 to Windows 11), but a paradigm shift away from on-premises to the cloud. This has an impact on various aspects of the company’s work:
From perimeter protection to cloud security
The requirements for cloud security differ from those for the protection of your own company network, and include everything from ensuring secure access to the question of geographical data storage. When switching to the cloud, it is essential to take data security and compliance requirements into account from the outset. At the same time, insurance companies can prepare their cloud data for use with GenAI, for example by means of data classification.
Employee training
Just as important as technical measures is the need to take employees with you when switching to cloud solutions such as Microsoft 365. It’s hardly controversial to suggest that such an undertaking is likely to trigger the full range of emotions in every large company, from categorical rejection to exuberant joy. It is important to take these different feelings into account and support them with the help of specialised Work Smart coaches.
Expertise in various areas
The new corporate landscape requires different expertise in IT, data protection, data security, compliance and modern working methods. While this expertise may not yet be available to the required extent, gaps can be filled through further training and external talent.
Rethinking IT
Such a fundamental shift to modern, cloud-based workplaces is an opportunity to rethink IT strategy and strike a balance between regulation and modernity. Where are external service providers needed and which tasks can be performed internally? Who is responsible for which areas of IT and support for employees? And this in itself is another advantage of the modern workplace: the mix of internal and external expertise can be modularly adapted to your own needs. Everything’s possible, from occasional support from an external service provider to full outsourcing. Which should be enough to banish the spectre of the old desktop PCs for good.
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