Last week the insurance technology community gathered for TINTech – our first significant technology get-together face-to-face in almost two years, and to my mind the debate was all the better for being in person at last.
However, inspiring though the speakers at TINTech were, there are some other smaller gatherings closer to home that have been occupying us over the last couple of weeks.
These are a series of ‘lunch and learn’ events that PPL has organised through February to give the first demonstrations of the new functionality “create placement”. This part of the PPL next gen platform effectively digitises the broker slip case and we are keen to show our market firms the new functionality as it is built. This is really big news for us, and we hope for our users too, because at the sessions, market participants will see the user interface of the platform and the first stage of the risk journey. We are delighted that feedback has been really positive from our SME groups and we look forward to showing more as the build continues.
This good news sits on top of another less visual, but equally important milestone for PPL. We have now received approval from the PPL board following the recommendation of our User & Operations sub-committee for the ‘cutover’ plan: the phased sequence of activities and dates in which the whole market switches from today’s platform to the next gen. .
Although the planned cutover schedule is fast-paced, our User and Ops Committee worked long and hard to agree it can and should be done, and that we look to get as much of the training and pre-launch activities completed as early as possible before go-live, so that all sides can get used to the system before the cutover. We think this itself is further good news for the market, in that you will be able to get your hands on the platform earlier than you might have imagined, and will now have an extended opportunity for training, testing and integration with your own operations.
After a difficult year, the next gen build is going to plan, and we will deliver the platform in 2022. Use of the platform will be driven by where in the renewal cycle the go live date falls for different classes, that is a decision for individual firms and teams. I am also confident that the platform will bring much of what the market needs to the table, creating a real step-change in usability and taking us another mile along the road to full digitisation of the insurance cycle. It’s great to be able to say this out loud and publicly, and I am delighted to share good news with you, our customers, who have been extremely patient and supportive as we have battled unforeseen delays and changes of supplier.
I look forward to meeting many of you over the coming months as we start to ramp up the number of training events and webinars. We’re excited at what we have seen have so far, and feedback from all users has been excellent. We look forward to sharing more with you over spring and early summer.
Sue Jakobek.