An Insurtech Story Told From Both Sides

Episode 4 Reinventing Insurance Podcast

Paul Ricard and Drew Ostro

25 min read

Double Quotes
When it comes to customer experience in insurance, the most important thing is transparency. There's no secret sauce... but it can be incredibly difficult to execute
Drew Ostro, CEO and Co-Founder, PolicyMe

In this episode, we connect with Drew Ostro, CEO and co-founder of PolicyMe. PolicyMe is a rising player in the Insurtech space, coming off a record year — with a 700 percent growth rate and introducing a completely digital way for Canadians to purchase life insurance. As an Oliver Wyman alum, Drew shares the full spectrum of his experiences, from advising senior leaders at the world’s largest insurance companies to the challenges of launching a new startup. We draw parallels from both sides of the incumbent and insurtech equation. Join us as we explore partnerships, accelerating industry trends, lessons learned, burnt pizza, and recommendations to help insurers build solid customer-centric experiences in the digital space.

Our Reinventing Insurance podcast explores best practices for taking a CustomerFirst approach to innovation within Insurance. Throughout this series, host Paul Ricard discusses lessons, challenges, and new ways of working with guests who will share their first-hand experiences.

Subscribe for more on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Amazon Music

Featured Guest

Drew Ostro is the CEO and Co-Founder of PolicyMe. Most recently, PolicyMe succesfully partnered with the incumbent, Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company, to deliver a customer-centric and fully digital insurance-buying experience. The result—customers can easily purchase term life insurance policies directly from the PolicyMe platform. The product delivers an optimized customer experience, with the application, approval, and underwriting all performed digitally.

Drew has seen the insurance industry from both the incumbent and insurtech views. He brings over 10 years of experience in the insurance industry working as a licensed actuary and was a management consultant here at Oliver Wyman.

He has advised senior executives at the world’s largest insurance companies on strategy, digital transformations, operations, regulatory adherence and finance and risk.

Our Host

Paul Ricard is a Partner and Head of Asia Pacific Insurance and Asset Management at Oliver Wyman, as well as a member of the CustomerFirst platform, which focuses on designing and building digital solutions, starting with customer needs and challenges.

Paul has worked with large financial-services institutions across the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. He is also actively connected with the Insurtech and Fintech communities, and has facilitated strong ties between Insurtechs and incumbents.

His areas of expertise include designing and building greenfield digital solutions and implementing large-scale digital transformations.

    In this episode, we connect with Drew Ostro, CEO and co-founder of PolicyMe. PolicyMe is a rising player in the Insurtech space, coming off a record year — with a 700 percent growth rate and introducing a completely digital way for Canadians to purchase life insurance. As an Oliver Wyman alum, Drew shares the full spectrum of his experiences, from advising senior leaders at the world’s largest insurance companies to the challenges of launching a new startup. We draw parallels from both sides of the incumbent and insurtech equation. Join us as we explore partnerships, accelerating industry trends, lessons learned, burnt pizza, and recommendations to help insurers build solid customer-centric experiences in the digital space.

    Our Reinventing Insurance podcast explores best practices for taking a CustomerFirst approach to innovation within Insurance. Throughout this series, host Paul Ricard discusses lessons, challenges, and new ways of working with guests who will share their first-hand experiences.

    Subscribe for more on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Amazon Music

    Featured Guest

    Drew Ostro is the CEO and Co-Founder of PolicyMe. Most recently, PolicyMe succesfully partnered with the incumbent, Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company, to deliver a customer-centric and fully digital insurance-buying experience. The result—customers can easily purchase term life insurance policies directly from the PolicyMe platform. The product delivers an optimized customer experience, with the application, approval, and underwriting all performed digitally.

    Drew has seen the insurance industry from both the incumbent and insurtech views. He brings over 10 years of experience in the insurance industry working as a licensed actuary and was a management consultant here at Oliver Wyman.

    He has advised senior executives at the world’s largest insurance companies on strategy, digital transformations, operations, regulatory adherence and finance and risk.

    Our Host

    Paul Ricard is a Partner and Head of Asia Pacific Insurance and Asset Management at Oliver Wyman, as well as a member of the CustomerFirst platform, which focuses on designing and building digital solutions, starting with customer needs and challenges.

    Paul has worked with large financial-services institutions across the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. He is also actively connected with the Insurtech and Fintech communities, and has facilitated strong ties between Insurtechs and incumbents.

    His areas of expertise include designing and building greenfield digital solutions and implementing large-scale digital transformations.

    In this episode, we connect with Drew Ostro, CEO and co-founder of PolicyMe. PolicyMe is a rising player in the Insurtech space, coming off a record year — with a 700 percent growth rate and introducing a completely digital way for Canadians to purchase life insurance. As an Oliver Wyman alum, Drew shares the full spectrum of his experiences, from advising senior leaders at the world’s largest insurance companies to the challenges of launching a new startup. We draw parallels from both sides of the incumbent and insurtech equation. Join us as we explore partnerships, accelerating industry trends, lessons learned, burnt pizza, and recommendations to help insurers build solid customer-centric experiences in the digital space.

    Our Reinventing Insurance podcast explores best practices for taking a CustomerFirst approach to innovation within Insurance. Throughout this series, host Paul Ricard discusses lessons, challenges, and new ways of working with guests who will share their first-hand experiences.

    Subscribe for more on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Amazon Music

    Featured Guest

    Drew Ostro is the CEO and Co-Founder of PolicyMe. Most recently, PolicyMe succesfully partnered with the incumbent, Canadian Premier Life Insurance Company, to deliver a customer-centric and fully digital insurance-buying experience. The result—customers can easily purchase term life insurance policies directly from the PolicyMe platform. The product delivers an optimized customer experience, with the application, approval, and underwriting all performed digitally.

    Drew has seen the insurance industry from both the incumbent and insurtech views. He brings over 10 years of experience in the insurance industry working as a licensed actuary and was a management consultant here at Oliver Wyman.

    He has advised senior executives at the world’s largest insurance companies on strategy, digital transformations, operations, regulatory adherence and finance and risk.

    Our Host

    Paul Ricard is a Partner and Head of Asia Pacific Insurance and Asset Management at Oliver Wyman, as well as a member of the CustomerFirst platform, which focuses on designing and building digital solutions, starting with customer needs and challenges.

    Paul has worked with large financial-services institutions across the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. He is also actively connected with the Insurtech and Fintech communities, and has facilitated strong ties between Insurtechs and incumbents.

    His areas of expertise include designing and building greenfield digital solutions and implementing large-scale digital transformations.

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