Connecting the Future of Insurance and Technology with NTUC Income

This week, Jay and Theo talk with Anny Huang, DVP & Head of Digital Business for Singaporean insurer Income (previously NTUC Income). Singapore's only insurance co-operative, Income is also one of the country's oldest and largest insurers. It is also one of the most forward-looking. Income is the only composite insurer to offer all of its products and services online and has ranked as the number one digital insurer in Singapore for the last two years. Anny describes the pressure to retain that title as more insurers and InsurTech players enter the market. Central to Income's success is its commitment to providing a fantastic digital experience. While Income has a digital transformation office, Anny believes true digital transformation starts with the BAU staff. She began by looking at marketing's core activities to identify ways that technology could improve tactics and increase returns. By adding a data person to her team, it became possible to analyze how marketing activities in various channels produced financial returns for the business. Once it became possible to identify the weak links or failure points in these connections, Anny built a MarTech team to find solutions and improve returns – supported by machine learning and the Google Cloud team. Anny sees a key part of her role as being on top of the latest technologies and digital trends – which requires her to be naturally and insatiably curious. Whether she's configuring her own smart home or checking out the latest apps her son has found, Anny never stops exploring, experimenting, and playing. Her formidable skills, experience, and passion for digital technologies of all kinds sees the discussion turn to gender biases in tech roles. According to McKinsey, the finance and insurance industry in Singapore is leading the way when it comes to gender parity – particularly at the executive level. But as certain roles in the industry continue to be dominated by males, Anny is proof, if proof were needed, that digital talent is defined by passion, not gender.