Reinsurance is becoming more than a back-office function. As risks grow more interconnected, technology and data are playing an increasingly important role in strategic decision-making.
For Céline Thierry, Senior Director of Product Management at Duck Creek Technologies, the challenge is helping reinsurers connect complex data, workflows and decisions while maintaining the trust on which the industry depends.
“Reinsurance is often thought of as a back-office or renewal activity, but it is increasingly a strategic lever for capital efficiency and profitable growth,” she explains.
Leading Duck Creek’s global Reinsurance, Compliance and Loss Control product portfolio, Thierry focuses on how technology can improve portfolio insight, accelerate decisions and help insurers operate more effectively.
From technology to business outcomes
For Thierry, communicating value means starting with clients’ commercial challenges rather than product features.
“We start with the business outcome, not the technology,” she says.
“Re/insurers want to see their portfolio more clearly, make decisions faster, operate reliably and grow profitably without losing control.”
Understanding the complexity of reinsurance operations is essential, but so is being transparent about what technology can realistically achieve.
“In this market, trust is earned through consistent delivery and honest conversations over time.”
Why reputation must be backed by expertise
Brand reputation and market visibility can help technology providers establish credibility, particularly when buyers are considering long-term partnerships. However, Thierry believes visibility alone is not enough.
“Reputation and visibility help a buyer feel confident that a partner will be there for the long term,” she explains.
“But technical and domain expertise remain decisive when the conversation moves from aspiration to implementation.”
The strongest brands, she argues, combine market confidence with proven expertise and a clear ability to innovate. For marketers, this means communicating what makes an organisation distinctive while ensuring its reputation is backed by practical experience and consistent delivery.
Making innovation credible
Artificial intelligence is creating opportunities to improve efficiency and process complex information, but Thierry believes innovation must deliver meaningful outcomes rather than simply generate attention.
“I see innovation as a means to improve an operating outcome, not as a promise in itself,” she says.
In reinsurance, where decisions can have significant financial consequences, transparency and accountability remain essential.
“The most valuable innovation augments expert judgement and is introduced where it can be measured and trusted.”
As AI becomes more prominent in financial services marketing, firms must explain not only what their technology does, but why it matters and how it can be trusted.
Thought leadership that starts a conversation
For technology providers in specialist markets, thought leadership offers an opportunity to demonstrate expertise beyond product marketing.
“The best thought leadership is useful, not promotional,” Thierry explains.
That could mean exploring how underwriting and reinsurance can work together more effectively, examining responsible AI adoption or helping clients understand increasingly interconnected risks.
By addressing genuine business challenges, firms can create more meaningful conversations with clients and prospects.
Rather than simply promoting their capabilities, Thierry believes organisations should share perspectives that help decision-makers understand problems and consider new approaches.
Building lasting client relationships
In a relationship-driven industry, marketing can help maintain engagement between formal meetings by sharing relevant insight, making expertise accessible and bringing the right people together.
“Most importantly, it should stay close to the real experience of clients,” she says.
Industry events also provide opportunities to exchange perspectives and identify shared challenges. However, Thierry believes their commercial value depends on what happens afterwards.
“Commercial opportunities emerge when that conversation turns into a practical next step: understanding a workflow, exploring a strategic priority or bringing the right experts together.”
For marketers, this reinforces the importance of meaningful follow-up. An event may start a conversation, but relevance and a genuine understanding of client needs help develop the relationship.
What will differentiate reinsurance brands?
Looking ahead, Thierry expects the ability to turn complex information into actionable insight to become increasingly important.
The most successful organisations will connect underwriting, exposure, portfolio and risk-transfer decisions more effectively, while giving clients greater transparency and control. They will also use AI to improve insight and remove friction rather than simply automate existing inefficiencies.
“The winners will combine trusted expertise with the ability to make complex information actionable,” she says.
For Duck Creek, this means helping reinsurers connect their operations through cloud-based technology, operational expertise and a practical approach to AI. Its acquisition of Send also creates opportunities to bring AI-native underwriting orchestration closer to core insurance and reinsurance operations.
Ultimately, Thierry believes confidence will distinguish the strongest brands in an increasingly complex market.
“In a more volatile world, the differentiator will be confidence – confidence in the data, the decisions and the partner.”
For marketers, the message is clear: building a credible brand requires more than communicating innovation. It means demonstrating expertise, understanding clients and ensuring promises are backed by delivery.