Lloyd’s of London Blueprint Two claims to show the way

At the beginning of the pandemic, there were perhaps few institutions that looked less well equipped to function under social distancing than Lloyd’s of London. Synonymous with antiquated practices and the primacy of dealing face-to-face, business at Lloyd’s should have ground to a halt this year.

Of course, the reality is that this has not been the case. The London Market has, like many other businesses and organisations, proved to be more flexible and pragmatic than many would have believed. As such, it has adopted the technologies and solutions needed for effective remote working and has seemingly done so successfully.

It was, then, with great interest that people in the insurance industry awaited the publication of Blueprint Two. If the pandemic has had a positive impact on Lloyd’s, it is that detractors of the “Future at Lloyd’s” initiative have been given tangible evidence of the need for serious change. Would Lloyd’s latest update on its modernisation programme embody a more ambitious future emboldened by its recent success?

Blueprint Two does indeed aspire to usher in some significant changes. It is particularly good to see the focus on claims, delivered through a seamless customer experience with straightforward claims managed entirely automatically. In truth, the processes and systems currently in use are a world away from those that will be needed to process no touch settlements, but there is no reason it cannot be achieved.

In order to realise a seamless claims process, pragmatism and transparency will be key to ensure that the market and those within it can be held accountable. One area where Blueprint Two does seem to fall short is that there is no provision for public scrutiny of performance, and this is a mistake. 

Whilst less ambitious than Blueprint One, Blueprint Two continues to set out a role for Lloyd’s in developing its own systems. This is also a mistake. Current market systems have a reputation for not being robust enough and for struggling to scale when required. If the market wants to achieve real, meaningful change, then it should invest in leading edge modern technology provided by specialists.

In seeking a modern platform, the market should not ignore the inevitable shift to the cloud that is taking place across the entire business landscape, let alone the insurance industry. For a start, moving to a cloud-based solution provides the best security, scalability, support, and integration with the numerous specialist insurtech partners that provide expert solutions for the London Market. More crucially, as far as future development is concerned, it prevents the build-up of technical debt as systems become outdated.

Applying a pragmatic approach to the issues facing the market is more important than ever as Lloyd’s is spurred on by its success adjusting to the limitations imposed upon it by the pandemic. Moving to remote working is one thing but building a modern platform upon which one of the world’s most complex markets can operate is something else. In the world of technology, it is often better to get to work with the best system available.