Great partnerships, accessible technology and the importance of a shared vision

“It’s always an exciting time to be in the insurance industry.”

During a discussion with Insurance Business, Robert Rimmele highlighted how his role within the cloud-first software and data business Ascent has showcased how the right technology partnerships can offset even the direst challenges and leverage the most promising opportunities in the insurance sector.

As co-founder of Tekaris, a German software development house which was acquired by Ascent, Rimmele has spent many years operating in the insurance and reinsurance sectors and has seen for himself the energy, passion and drive that it takes to thrive in the marketplace. For “computer guys”, he said, it’s exciting to see the interplay of information, data and insight that makes up the ecosystem – and to realise that this is all underlined by the relationships at the heart of insurance.

As a UK-headquartered business with centres in Germany, Malta, Bulgaria and Portugal, Ascent was not as impacted by COVID in the way a lot of other businesses were, Rimmele said, given that the team was used to working remotely and not allowing distance to get in the way of implementing its vision. Empathy, energy and audacity are the principles at the core of the data-first company, and it takes a combination of those elements to make partnerships work for all the stakeholders involved.

“The first and most important part of building any great partnership is trust,” he said. “What you’re looking to do is build a partnership which works but it’s also about having a shared vision of where you want your business to go within the industry. Based on that, the sky is the limit, you can do anything.”

Avoiding tech for tech’s sake

There’s no doubt that the industry is facing a brave new world when it comes to the technology and data-driven innovations that are becoming increasingly accessible. Alongside this, however, Rimmele noted that the insurance sector is also facing challenges with regards to data and AI and all the implications these bring.

“But, what the industry needs to understand is that it’s not sufficient just to have the right tools, you need to ask the right questions,” he said. “If you don’t, you’re just throwing technology around and you will spend a lot of money but it will get you nowhere. You see this, where there’s so much investment and it results in half-finished projects that are cancelled because it’s not clear why they were started in the first place.

“When it comes to data and technology, you need to already know where you want to go. At the very least, you need to have clear targets and you need to know what questions to ask and what problems you want to solve.”

The challenges facing the insurance market

For Ascent which works with a range of market players, it’s clear that each business faces its own risks and opportunities when it comes to leveraging technology. But Rimmele noted that looking at the industry more broadly, some key themes do emerge. Among them, he said, is the question of how to get the foundational piece right when building new solutions.

When trying to integrate new technologies and build the expertise required around those, he said, market players need to really understand the methodological foundations of these solutions and what they are looking to deliver. Creating that expertise around how to successfully implement a project and create positive results is a challenge for a lot of people – as is understanding how these solutions need to fit in with their pre-existing business and not operate as a silo.

“Because you discuss these projects on a technical level with tech people, you discuss them on an application level with underwriters, and you talk strategy with respective executives,” he said. “But what you need, is to be able to transcend those layers, to understand that they’re not disconnected and they need to all be brought together eventually.”

For Ascent, helping people to integrate those layers effectively is high on the agenda for 2023, and Rimmele said he is relishing the opportunity at hand to have high-level conversations with entrepreneurs and innovators across the market who want to do things differently.

“The market is ready,” he said. “Everyone is investing, everyone is aware that something has to be done. And they have a good understanding, they don’t need to wait for us to tell them what their strategy should be, they’re all clever people. So, we’re very excited to be having those conversations.”

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