Graham Newman, Product Marketing Manager, FINEOS
As the year turns and the autumnal colours of the northern hemisphere deepen, thoughts turn naturally to new academic years, political party conferences, government budgets, and of course the annual FINEOS Claims Global Summit. Well, they do at FINEOS anyway, and also at the dozens of FINEOS clients around the world who find our yearly summit a time to hear about trends and advances in the industry, learn about developments in the FINEOS products, hear success stories and strategies from around the world and renew old and well established acquaintances. Of course, our southern hemisphere clients may feel that my seasonal allusions are a little out of kilter with their world, and that perhaps I have confused my equinoxes, and my apologies, but here in Canada it’s hard not to feel the maturing of the season as the autumnal colours appear on the leaves.
We are here in Toronto for the seventh annual FINEOS Claims Global Summit, the first time the Summit has been held in Canada, which is a suitable venue given the strength and depth of our Canadian clients.
Toronto is the largest city in Canada and one of the world’s most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, with about 49% of the population born outside Canada. We’ve added to that diversity this week with another superb attendance. Over 100 delegates representing over 50 organisations and drawn from the senior ranks of insurance and claims executives have come from four continents and 10 countries. From America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada itself, making the long trip to attend and hear from industry specialists, their peers and from FINEOS about the latest thinking in claims and developments in claims technology.
This is a truly global conference and the sheer spread of attendance is testimony to its universal relevance and appeal. The sessions for this year’s conference will all relate to the theme of “Putting the Customer First: Driving Innovation in Claims” reflecting the growing recognition of the contribution a first-class claims operation makes to an insurer’s brand value, its retention rates and to its ultimate success.
Each session will fall into one of the three main categories:
- industry thought leadership
- customer case studies
- FINEOS-led educational and update sessions.
In addition to the thought leadership the conference will be showcasing updates on the FINEOS product and will have some very focused breakout sessions to help customers better realise the value of the FINEOS Claims product and the associated professional services.
As with last year the main stage sessions are being filmed and a continuous video stream is being supplied to FINEOS employees globally to keep them all fully involved. This will go to FINEOS offices around the world and also to the 200 FINEOS employees at the new headquarters in Dublin. Yesterday’s opening programme included a hands-on workshop led by Mary-Christine Nolan on how clients can make the best use of the facilities and education available through the FINEOS Corporate University. The day concluded with a welcome reception in the evening which was an excellent opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues from the four corners of the world.
Tune in for more tomorrow…