Q&A: Shaun McKenzie discusses how Blueprint Two might affect recruitment trends over the next year


2020 is undeniably the year of constant change. The insurance industry has been focused on adapting to overcome risks and find opportunities that the pandemic brought.

One of the many shifts in the insurance industry was the release of Blueprint Two on November 5th by Lloyd’s, which is part of the marketplace’s transformation programme that needed to sharpen due to COVID-19. Blueprint Two will run for two years and is targeting savings of £800m (approximately 3% reduction of operating costs) for market participants.

Shaun McKenzie, RED10’s Director of Client Services, shares his thoughts on how recruitment trends will be affected in the insurance industry by Blueprint Two and beyond in the next year.

 

To understand more about the upcoming trends, what are the initiatives that Blueprint Two is proposing in a nutshell?

Blueprint Two is the 3rd instalment in the Future At Lloyd’s and comes almost exactly a year after Blueprint One, which initially proposed six solutions to transform the Lloyd’s marketplace. Blueprint Two, targeted to be delivered throughout 2021 and 2022, prioritises three initiatives building a next-generation PPL, delivering a digital coverholder solution, and fast-tracking claims process improvements.

Blueprint Two is designed to help the market participants and other stakeholders understand what needs to be done over the next two years and to ensure the realisation of the full benefits of the next phase of Future at Lloyd’s.

Blueprint Two will be focused on two core placement types – open market and delegated authority business, which account for approximately 80% of the value and 90% of insurance contracts placed at Lloyd’s.

In short, this is another positive step forward for the insurance industry allowing business to be done quicker, cheaper and more importantly, better level of service for their customers.

 

In your opinion, how is the sharpened focus on Blueprint Two described above going to affect the recruitment trends in the industry?

I can only see Blueprint Two being a positive thing for the recruitment industry. As clients look to deliver on what is needed to comply with the changes necessary, there will be a need to increase headcount, permanent and contract SME resources.

RED10 have been busy working alongside our clients to understand where their resource gaps are likely to be and start putting together pools of candidates ready for when required.

 

What will be the in-demand skills in the next year?

We have already seen a significant uplift in client enquiries for candidates with skills/expertise within Delegated Authority, both with strong IT and business focussed backgrounds. I can see candidates who have backgrounds on working in Agile environments will be key. Also, candidates withexperience of digital product management and portals, API integration, ePlacement, automation, and cloud-based technologies will be in high demand and at a distinct advantage when hiring needs start to ramp up throughout Q1 2021 on clients kick off work attributed to Blueprint Two.

 

Beyond Blueprint Two, what we should be expecting in the industry?

My hope like the majority within the insurance industry would be Blueprint Two will be part of the on-going journey towards modernising the industry in how it operates. This pandemic will inadvertently be seen in years to come as a key moment in the industry finally embracing new ways of working and using technology as a key driver in how business is completed within the London Market which can only be positive for everyone.


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