After seeing a sizable number of articles and posts about the application of no-code/low-code (NC/LC) development in insurance, we recently conducted a Google search on that precise topic — no code/low code in insurance. The search yielded 4,920,000,000 hits, leading us to the conclusion that the topic might not be that new or novel. One of the hits we got was an article from the research and evaluation firm, AIMultiple, entitled, “Impact of the Low/No-Code Platforms on the Insurance Sector”. It said this, in part:

Low/no-code practices democratize and accelerate the software development process thanks to their graphical interface that reduces or eliminates the need to write code. It is an opportunity for insurers, pushing them to develop solutions that solve their business problems quickly … By using low/no-code development, insurance companies can:

• Decrease sunk costs of their IT investments significantly,
• Quickly adapt to the changing environment,
• Increase their operational efficiency by eliminating the negative effects of skills differentials among their employees.

We don’t mean to be arrogant. But it was by precisely that logic, for exactly those reasons, that we introduced our Design Studio in 2018. It comprises the exact same toolset our developers and designers use. And it’s built on a no-code platform

SOS

The subhead above isn’t the familiar distress signal. Rather it’s the abbreviation for Shiny Object Syndrome. We understand technology companies have marketing jobs to do to attract interest in their products. We understand consultants have technologies to tout to attract interest in their services. We understand the trade media have sales jobs to do to attract readers and advertisers to their publications. And we understand some chasms are wider and take longer to cross than others. So, we appreciate the fact that some things are hyped beyond their sell-by dates.

But sometimes we can’t help but wish that the trade media would publicize what’s real and in use, just as we wish the news media would publicize the good news that takes place and the good deeds that are being done every day.

We’re familiar with the journalistic phrase, if it bleeds, it leads. And we know sensationalism sells.

But sliced bread, bottled beer, and NC/LC have been done. We can be more creative than this.

In an article we published in the Fall 2020 edition of the The Demotech Difference — “The Importance of Sound Implementations” — we wrote this:

Turnover is the equivalent of corporate amnesia.

We recalled that recently because there seems to be a spate of updates of late telling us about leadership turnover in the vendor community of which we’re a proud member. And it seems as if many of the folks coming into those leadership positions are from outside the insurance industry. Please don’t misunderstand us: We completely understand the desire for new blood, fresh ideas, varied perspectives, and deliberately defying complacency. But we don’t understand how companies can sacrifice that much intellectual capital and still remain viable and competitive.

Let’s Sharpen the Point

Turnover of any kind diminishes continuity. Replacing people with folks from outside the industry would also diminish domain experience, industry knowledge, process familiarity, troubleshooting and problem-solving experience, organizational cohesiveness, and reliable interdependencies — to name just a few. And would that leave organizations that diminish themselves with constant turnover and repeated hiring from outside the industry in a perpetual state of x-steps-ahead-x-steps back?

It may boil down to an overall lack of insurance operational expertise. If I’ve led and auto-racing team and I’m appointed to lead an insurance software company, I likely won’t understand the deliberate way the industry moves forward and embraces change. The fact is not many executives from outside the industry understand that until it’s too late, until after they’ve made commitments to the their customers. That creates panic, wasted time, financial losses, and diminishing returns when they realize they were overly optimistic. With no knowledge of the history of the company, its successes and failure, and the decisions that led to both, leaders with no industry experience are being set up to fail. So are their customers.

Realistically speaking, how do you sell that? How can you make an argument for organizational stability and credibility if you’re announcing the fact that the organization lacks stability and credibility? We recognize those are tough questions. But we aren’t aware that anyone else is asking them.

Let’s Do the Math

Even if those kinds of losses of experience, continuity, and intellectual capital don’t have direct costs (we think they must), they have opportunity costs, at the very least. What’s the cost of strategic directives that aren’t realistic — or simply may not work — because they suffer from a lack of understanding of the problems carriers face.

We’re absolutely sure this must make some kind of sense to someone. But it doesn’t make sense to us. On the other hand, what do we know?

Is there anything like a continuity cost? We’d have to say we’re not sure.

But we’re positive a lack of continuity has a very large price tag.

There are two things we’re not really big on: One is giving advice. The other is New Year’s resolutions. Nevertheless as 2021 winds down — another year of challenges, COVID-related and otherwise — we wanted to share something that seems meaningful, at least to us.

We recalled having seen, at some time or other, a list of things called The 10 Commandments of Leadership. We looked them up. As we read them again from our present-day perspective, they didn’t seem to be so much about leadership. Rather, they seemed more like sound constructive contemplations for a life well-lived. So, given the fact that we’re taking a victory lap on the old year and getting into the blocks to await the starting gun for a new one, we decided we may as well share them.

The Pre-Race Stretch

Since 2022 is likely to be more akin to a marathon than a sprint, these 10 suggestions may help keep us limber and energized:

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
3. If you’re successful, you’ll win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
9. People need help but may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have, and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Best Wishes

Since none of us is likely to master any of those suggestions — let alone one of them — in just a year, maybe we can adopt them for the longer run. We certainly could have less noble aspirations.

Whatever your aspirations might be, we wish you a very Happy Holiday Season and a bright, prosperous New Year.

Go!

We’re often asked what it takes to be a successful software vendor. What it takes to be a successful software vendor is, in fact, what it takes to be a successful human being. While we’re not in a hurry to give away our Secret Sauce (patent pending), we do think it’s only fair to share our answers. So, here we go:

First, speak the language. Based on the people you’re talking with, and presuming you have some idea of what they think about and the ways in which they think about it, talk with them in the terms they know and prefer.

Second, if you make a commitment, make sure both parties to the commitment share an understanding of the terms of that commitment. If you expect a top-fuel dragster and we show up with a VW bug, even if it’s fully restored seeing eye-to-eye is likely to be a challenge.

Third, follow through on your commitments. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Do it well. Do it thoroughly. Do it as if you were doing it for yourself. And bear this in mind: If you under-promise and over-deliver, you’ll never go wrong.

Fourth, stand by your work. We understand the need for flexibility. By the same token, we don’t have sliding scale of second best, third best, and so on. We’re determined to do our best and give our best in every engagement. We’ve done pretty well by that determination so far.

Fifth, be accessible. Especially if you’ve sold something to someone, buy and bye-bye is a formula disastrously unhappy outcomes. If the folks to whom you’ve made commitments can’t find you, they’re not likely to think of it as much of a commitment. Desertion may be more like it.

Finally, be accountable. Anyone can talk about responsibility, and everyone does. But there’s difference between taking responsibility for doing something and being accountable for having done it — and for having done it right.

All of that boils down to this equation: Commitment + accessibility + responsibility + accountability = success.

In case you’re still wondering, that’s how you get from here to there.

In part one of this series, we wondered why the seeming infatuation with insurtech continues apace as if software that’s already on the market were inadequate to overcome reliance on legacy technology. And we asked this question: “Since many of those new [insurtech] wheels are unproven (hence, the risk), why wouldn’t we work with the ones that already roll?”

We have no desire to appear defensive. But we’re compelled to say we’ve worked — and continue to work — hard to provide the best of both worlds. Here’s why we say that:

First, we’re not peddling legacy technology. (Why in the world would we do that?) On the contrary, we developed our software and our business model to take the pain out of replacing legacy technology. Second, we developed our software to enable the integration of whatever aspects of insurtech demonstrate productive, business-improving value to our customers.

20/20 Foresight

“Hindsight is 20/20” is a very common expression. We can’t help but wonder why people wouldn’t want their foresight to be a little more acute. Case in point: In part one of this series, we also excerpted some text from an article we’d read. Some of that text said this:

Successful companies often struggle to anticipate and adapt to competition from new entrants … until it’s too late.

We’re not sure what constitutes successful in that sentence. It seems to us companies that struggle to anticipate and adapt to competition from new entrants until it’s too late might be a lot of things — like unsuccessful or gone — but not successful. But setting that aside, it seems to us that if companies choose to work with vendors that keep their eyes open, that take advantage of the investments being made in insurtech, that recognize the winners, and that make their software flexible and configurable enough to integrate and employ those winners, they’d be much more likely to be successful. And they’d significantly mitigate their risks of being too late.

It’s a good thing developers and investors aren’t willing to settle for the status quo. But neither are we. That’s why we work hard to ensure our customers don’t have to settle for anything, especially legacy technology.

Remember: The software you choose may define your legacy.