Livegenic Executive Roundtable: Meet the Team Behind the Orange

Hello and Good Afternoon! My name is Jesse Draham and I’m the Digital Content Manager here at Livegenic. We wanted to give our partners, clients, and prospects a better idea of the people who make up the Livegenic team - to get to know the folks “behind the orange”.

I sat down with three of our executives for a roundtable discussion on Livegenic, the problems facing the insurance industry, and what they think the future may bring to the marketplace.

My guests today are:

Dave Grever, Senior Vice President, Technology Partnerships
Ed Kenny, Head of Account Management
and
Loden Cullar-Ledford, Vice President, Customer Success

Jesse Draham: Thank you for joining me today, gentlemen. Let’s start at the beginning: How long have you been in the industry? What led you here?

Dave Grever: I started in the insurance industry in 1977 as a claims adjuster and spent the next 32 years in Claims. More recently I had an opportunity to move into IT and learn that side of the business. At QBE I was involved in upgrading old legacy systems and became very involved with startups. Indirectly, that’s how I wound up at Livegenic after I retired from my insurance career.

Ed Kenny: I have been working in the Insurance Industry since graduating college in 1993, holding various roles with carriers and vendor partners. Members of my family worked in Claims for a large Insurance carrier while I was in college, so I’d work there through the summers.

JD: How has the industry changed since you first started in the business?

Loden Cullar-Ledford: Even in just the 5 years that I’ve been in the industry, I’ve personally seen a huge shift in the way that insurers look at digital / virtual solutions. When we’d go to tradeshows and conferences even 3 years ago, the majority of the questions that we’d get were things like, “Are insureds even willing to do virtual claims?” or “Is it possible to write an estimate without a physical inspection?” That perspective started changing dramatically in the last few years - even more so after COVID; and today I honestly can’t remember the last time we got a question about the value or utility of a virtual claims process. Carriers and insurance organizations have seen that virtual claims aren’t just a “nice to have”, but a service that their customers have come to expect.

EK: When you think about the core business of handling a claim, much remains the same: loss occurs, loss is reported, investigation is launched, determine coverage, prepare estimate of damages or injuries, evaluate and resolve. I believe what has changed the most is how each of these stages are handled. 20 years ago, it was a desktop computer, polaroid or film camera and perhaps a checkbook. Today, it is all about improving claims processing speed and accuracy using mobile devices and advanced virtual technologies.

JD: What future challenges do you anticipate for the insurtech industry?

DG: Staying relevant. Technology is evolving so quickly that startups risk obsolescence before they really catch on with whatever product they first came to market with. If a startup isn’t able to continuously reinvent itself, it won’t last long.

JD: What do you think is the most important force driving change in insurance? Are internal competitive forces or consumer needs more impactful?

EK: I believe customer expectations have raised the stakes for many carriers and vendors in our industry. Today’s policyholder has grown up on technology being part of their everyday life and they expect the insurance industry to adopt it as well. This may be something simple as the ability to provide instant feedback to express satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Competitively, insurance carriers and vendors are constantly trying to identify, improve and differentiate their offerings and solutions from each other. Those that are able to listen to the policyholder, respond, adapt and change quickly, will have an advantage over others.

JD: Do you think the COVID 19 pandemic has opened carriers up to virtual solutions, who otherwise may have been resistant? Have you seen any examples of that yet; of a company that was initially resistant now fully embracing the technology change?

LCL: Oh absolutely - earlier I mentioned how much insurance has changed in the last few years, but I think COVID in particular accelerated those changes by another 2 to 3 years. Quarantine felt like the last nail in the coffin for the traditional “physical inspections only” crowd, purely because there weren’t any other options. During the first few months of quarantine we had a lot of inbound requests come in from companies that had previously told us they weren’t ready to implement virtual claims at all.

JD: What is a problem area in the claims industry that is, as-of-yet, unsolved?

EK: When I think of Homeowner Property damage, one area I see most carriers trying to resolve is a low touch/no touch claim process solution, with assurance-of-estimate accuracy and repair fulfillment for the homeowner. 2020 and early parts of 2021 also showed the industry that weather events/Catastrophes will continue to have a significant impact for carriers. Proper planning and identifying resources/materials is a critical process that cannot be overlooked.

JD: What does Livegenic do differently than other companies?

LCL: I think the biggest difference is in how we engage with our clients and work directly with their teams. There’s a line that we came up with a few years ago: “We’re partners, not providers”, and that’s really resonated with me ever since - I think it does a great job summing up our approach to how we work with clients. We know that, for a lot of the companies we work with, this is the first time they’ve ever used or implemented a virtual solution like Livegenic - so our team does a really great job prioritizing and supporting them throughout that growth process.

JD: How does Livegenic take customer feedback into account?

LCL: This actually ties in to the previous question a lot - because one of the other key differentiators that Livegenic has is our focus on feedback-based development. I can’t say exactly how many of our features or solutions were designed based on feedback from clients, but it’s definitely a sizable majority. It’s an enormous benefit that we’re able to dynamically adapt and enhance our platform based on what our users are saying; and I know for a fact that that’s been a key part of how we landed some of our largest clients.

JD: Ok let’s try something fun. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

EK: I’d have to say reading people’s minds.

LCL: I grew up in Houston, so I’d definitely want the power to always have my lane move the fastest in traffic.

::All laugh::

DG: Couldn’t you use that mindreading to make your way through traffic?

JD: Guys, you’re wasting all your superpowers on traffic...

::All laugh::

JD: Tell us about a time you laughed really hard.

EK: I’ll take this, because it just happened and had me literally gasping for breath. My brother was visiting and we have 3 cats. As cats sometimes do, in the middle of the night, one got sick on the bathroom tile floor. Being that it was dark, my brother didn’t see it and, well… stepped barefoot in it.

::All laugh::

EK: The scream woke me up and when I saw him standing in the hall bathroom, the laughter ensued. I had trouble getting back to sleep after that.

JD: Alright, let’s wrap it up with this; what tool in the Livegenic suite would you call your favorite?

EK: I’d definitely say our Self Service application. Self Service offers our clients the ability to customize a data capture workflow designed to provide the end user with easy step by step directions to help capture the correct content and expedite the claims process.

DG: I think I would have to say the Customer Portal is my favorite. It provides all the necessary functionality without the need to download an app.

LCL: That’s a tough question; I feel a lot of connection with all of them just because I’ve seen most of them grow from an idea on a whiteboard to a full-fledged product - so it’s a bit like choosing your favorite child. If I had to really choose though, I’d probably have to say the Enterprise App - I just think it does a great job combining a ton of features into a very simple package.

JD: Guys, I think that’s all I have. Thanks so much for your time.

LCL: Thanks for having us.

DG: Had a blast.

EK: I thought you were gonna ask for our “Desert Island” albums! “Allman Brothers Greatest Hits!” Make sure you include that!

::All laugh::

JD: You got it, Ed!