Get to know our experts. This series of blogs discusses how Vertafore leaders work for our customers.
As VP of Solution Consulting, Ashley Kelley talks to many potential and current customers. Whether they are small agency owners or large carriers, her goal is always the same: learn about their challenges, strengths, and goals. On the other side of these discussions, Ashley and her team work closely with professional services, product, and sales teams to find and deliver the best possible technology solutions for each individual customer.
While these intra-team conversations are designed to match customers with solutions, they also reach product teams and developers, who are eager to hear what people need from their insurance technology.
These conversations absolutely inform product development, especially when we're hearing the same wish item repeatedly. We all pay close attention to what our prospective and current customers say they want and need.”
Navigating market changes with insurance technology
Insurance professionals continue to face industry challenges: evolving client expectations, inflation, rising costs, cybersecurity risks, climate change, and increased regulatory rules, to name a few. To address these challenges, Ashley is committed to delivering technology that can pivot quickly to address market changes and complexities.
She notes Vertafore’s commitment to MGAs as an example of providing tech solutions capable of transitioning quickly, keeping customers ahead in the marketplace.
“MGAs are constantly putting products on the shelf, taking them off for retooling, then putting them back. The challenges that come with rapid changes require technology solutions to pivot and be nimble. Vertafore’s acquisition of Surefyre and MGA Systems has allowed us to make these rapid product changes possible,” she said.
Data analytics delivers a competitive advantage
Insurance data analytics allow customers to understand the market, identify profitable opportunities, and proactively manage risks, and are one of Ashley’s keys to future-proofing a business. She sees a future where customers build better assessment tools and data lakes with shared industry data, including Vertafore’s massive data sets. These processes also allow professionals to build better predictive modeling and get and stay ahead of large-scale risks.
Ultimately, Ashley believes the real-world impact of better predictive capability is data’s true power. She is enthusiastic about customers' embrace of data’s power and readiness to think outside the box to turn predictive insights into a true competitive advantage.
Addressing industry opportunities and concerns around AI
In Ashley’s conversations with customers, AI is a hot topic, and their feelings about it are disparate. Many see AI as an opportunity and are excited to integrate it into their workdays and workflows. Others are still in a major discovery phase and span the spectrum from “wary” to “unaware.”
Her approach to addressing AI is careful, especially when customers are not early adopters of AI.
When we talk to customers who are hesitant about embracing new technology, we have to be thoughtful about how we approach AI. We always try to meet our customers where they are and help them glimpse what’s positive about merging technology. I’m all about focusing on the positive elements of what AI and other tech innovations can do for this industry.”
Predicting future collaboration between insurance and government
Looking to the future, Ashley predicts a more collaborative relationship between the insurance industry and government agencies, particularly in addressing climate change. She believes that shared climate data and analysis can help both parties improve risk assessment tools and predictive models.
She shared a story from the devastating LA fires as an example of how shared data saved lives.
“During the fire, one carrier combined high-tech, detailed aerial imagery with data elements like the wind speed and topography to run a prediction analysis of what homes and people were in the fire’s path. Then the carrier, along with the agencies they worked with called every policyholder who was in danger. Their proactive efforts saved lives.”
From listening to customers to envisioning a data-filled future, Ashley’s approach is rooted in partnership and looking to the future. Ultimately, her leadership shows that the true power of innovation is not just in solving business challenges but in building a safer, more resilient industry for everyone.