So Much Disruption…So Little Time

The writing is on the wall.  The world is changing fast, and business owners, CFOs and risk managers will have to bring their “A Game” to keep up with rapidly evolving risks.

This was the thesis of “Defying Disruption,” an educational session at the 2017 Risk Management Society (RIMS) Conference.  CIC Services, LLC attends the RIMS conference every year to stay abreast of industry trends, best practices in risk management, insurance, and risk financing.   The “Defying Disruption” session focused on the tremendous changes being thrust upon businesses, government, society and culture as a result of the transition from the Information Age to the Digital Age.  This transition is creating new threats and risks at a break neck pace.  Risk managers are struggling to keep pace, and the proliferation of new risks (with little or no experience data) outnumber and overwhelm  the commercial insurance market’s ability to address them.

“Defying Disruption” included the chart below from Denise Garth, and industry thought leader.  This chart aptly illustrates the title of my article, “So Much Disruption…So Little time.”  There have been more disruptive technologies (blue boxes) introduced in the last twelve years than in the prior fifty years.  You can visit Denise’s web site by CLICKING HERE.

This pace of change requires thoughtful, focused and evolving risk mitigation strategies and programs.  It is also going to require more advanced approaches to insurance.  The chart above makes it clear that –  more than ever – businesses need a solid “rainy day fund.”  They also need insurance that is broadly – not narrowly – written with few exclusions to be able to address the unexpected.  They also need the ability to insure risks the commercial insurance market is not addressing or not fully addressing (EG cyber).  The only solution that delivers on all four needs above – 1) build a rainy day fund, 2) broad coverage, 3) few policy exclusions and 4) address unmet insurance needs – is a well-structured captive insurance program.  For most successful businesses, including small and mid-market companies, owning a captive insurance company is the one of the most powerful moves they can make to Defy Disruption.