Building a comprehensive foundation for important topics in the insurance industry

There was a time when gathering information on subject-matter in the insurance field was time-consuming and required in-depth research. Now, information is at our fingertips in the form of online magazines, papers, blogs, videos, and sometimes delivered in 140 characters or less. Now we find ourselves having the opposite problem – with too much information available, how can we streamline the process and find the information and research that really matters and relates specifically to the work we do?

The CIP Society is pleased to offer a robust library of online papers on topics that are not only responding to industry trends, but anticipating the trends before they have a profound effect on the way we do business. I hope by now you have visited our ADVANTAGE Monthly Trends Paper library, which offers monthly online papers on topics like Peer-to-Peer Insurance, Telematics, Flood Insurance, and Uber. Written by writers, researchers, and subject-matter experts within the industry, and translated into French, the papers give a more in-depth perspective than you might find in a magazine article. I’ve made this my first stop for information on the latest industry trends and have shared them with colleagues - I recommend you check it out!

As we build a comprehensive foundation for important topics within the industry, we are leveraging some of these papers with live national webinars in our ADVANTAGE Live webinar series, offered monthly in the fall and spring. These one-hour webinars are live and presented by respected experts within the industry. Some topics this past spring included The Internet of Things (supported by our Internet of Things and Telematics Trends Papers) and Overland Flood Mapping (supported by our Flood Insurance Trends Paper). Make sure to join us this fall for an exciting schedule of webinars, including two presentations that will discuss different angles of the Fort McMurray wildfires: the social media lessons learned and the emergency and industry response to the evacuations and damage assessment  - you won't want to miss these!

One of the most exciting releases this past spring was the launch of the second in the series of the Emerging Issues Research Reports, Automated Vehicles: The Implications for the Insurance Industry in Canada. This important report assesses the developments of automated vehicles on Canadian roads within the next 5-10 years, and raises many questions for the insurance industry. It is important for the insurance industry to begin now to prepare for the extensive changes automated vehicles are expected to ultimately bring for the industry.

The report has since been covered in numerous trade and public media publications including Canadian Underwriter, driving.ca and BMW Blog. It was great to see one of the reporters, writing for driving.ca, describe our report as: “one of the finest synopses of automotive autonomy currently available.”

To support the industry’s understanding of automated vehicles and the implications for insurance, the CIP Society offered two panel presentations; first in the form of a Research Forum in Toronto, and then a sold-out, live National Webinar. If you missed these opportunities, stay tuned, we may further the conversation in the Fall. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to download a copy of the report.

You may be interested to know that topics for our Trends Papers and research reports come from a variety of sources, including: our annual CIP Society membership survey (each November), the CIP Society National Council, a Leadership Circle forum on hot topics, our contributing writers and researchers, and subject matter experts in the industry.

But we always welcome input from members across the country: If you are looking for information and research on a particular topic and don’t see it yet in our Trends Papers library or research reports, please send us your topic suggestions for consideration to cips@insuranceinstitute.ca.

Our goal is to meet your needs, and the needs of our nearly 18,000 graduates, for information and research, programs and services. This is the second ADVANTAGE Quarterly newsletter that CIP Society members have received via email and web, since going paperless this past winter. And as always, you can keep connected with our ADVANTAGE Daily newsletter, for CIP Society members only, which offers you daily industry news and updates on exclusive learning opportunities and on new programs at the Institute.  

Julie Pingree, BA, CIP
Chair, National CIP Society