It’s frustrating trying to get products to market right now due to the many parties involved, high costs and longs delays. It’s the same story with product updates and getting access to timely data. This is due to very old platforms handling communications in an old-fashioned way, with systems needing fixed product definitions to be in place in the core and in each different distribution channel. This take time and money, the work of many parties and a lot of coordination to achieve and has led to a state of stasis across the marketplace. However, technology has moved on a long way since the current dominant platforms were conceived and its now possible to do things differently!
Learning Objectives
At the end of this session, delegates will be able to:
- Describe the challenges that MGAs/Insurers face in bringing products to the marketplace, and subsequently the challenges Brokers face in accessing products from the marketplace
- Explain why the existing marketplace challenges create barriers to entry for new entrants and products
- Outline & describe potential solutions to the challenges that market participants currently face
About the Presenters
Jim Parsons (CEO)
Jim was a co-founder of ParaCode in 2019 having spent the previous 10 years running generalist software development company KLOC Digital Solutions. Having started out at Digital Equipment Corporation in 1984, Jim has spent nearly 40 years in the IT industry, primarily in roles around software solution development. During that time he worked for clients in many sectors, including finance, telecoms, publishing, eCommerce, and since 2017, Insurance, delivering highly-successful solutions in all of these, some of which are still running after 25 years! When not in the office, Jim literally spends his time with his head in the clouds as an active skydiver! Now with over 800 jumps, Jim enjoys competing at national level as part of a 4-way formation skydiving team.
Will Prest (Product Manager)
Will’s first career was in the merchant navy as a deck officer, where he was responsible for navigating oil and gas tankers all over the world. After coming ashore, Will joined the family business, KBIS, a specialist equine insurance broker. KBIS was struggling with its existing software and Will was tasked with finding a solution. After a thorough search of the marketplace and being unable to come up with a suitable offering from an existing provider, the KBIS management team took the bold decision to build their own platform. Will became ParaCode’s first full-time employee and worked with the developers to build the system. In 2022, ParaCode purchased the software development company that had built the platform and Will formally took on the Product Manager role. In his spare time, you will find Will on his boat racing or cruising around the south coast.
