Meet Jamie Boyer, INSTANDA's Configuration Lead for North America

Jamie Boyer on Insurance User Experience

In November, we spoke with Jamie Boyer, INSTANDA’s North American Configuration Lead, to learn about his time in the industry and how he sees user experience evolving in insurance.

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I grew up as a “mid-westerner” in Ohio where I went to college at Miami University (the university that was a college before Florida was even a state). I graduated with a bachelor's degree in management. I migrated to Florida about 10 years ago to get away from the chilly weather and enjoy one of my favorite passions year-round: golf. I also enjoy traveling to take in diverse cultures and photograph unbelievable places. My passion for photography was passed to me from my grandfather. I am a parent of one, four-legged and very stubborn, English Bulldog.

What has your insurance journey been? How did you end up where you are now?

My professional carrier started out in IT with Great American. I started in analytics, coding COBOL and data warehouse reports. From there, I joined my first software vendor as a developer and quickly grew into a lead role.  This job also required me to adapt to every role of a delivery project (developer, business analyst, UAT, lead, project manager, etc.). The experience allowed me to find where I fit best in the delivery model. 

I joined INSTANDA in 2018 as a configuration analyst to help clients get what they need out of the product. I’ve always been on the technology side of insurance, whether with carriers or vendors. What impressed me about INSTANDA was how easy it is to configure. Most vendors are only partially configurable, and even then, it is often clunky. INSTANDA can truly be configured for the business by the business.

Are there any trends that you're seeing continually come up in your work with insurers?

 Sites are trending to be simplistic, with a lot of behind-the-scenes work to gather the necessary data for enrichment. Companies are focusing less on data entry and more on making the process simple for the policyholders and agents. This shifts the focus to using proper data sources to enhance the data captured without sacrificing user experience. There is also an increasing focus on AI/analytics to better price the products.

What have been some of the biggest wow moments you've seen with our clients?

The biggest wow moments at INSTANDA are seeing how quickly clients can pick up configuration and run with only a little bit of training. My favorite project was an Accident and Health product we worked on for a client. It challenged the configuration capabilities of INSTANDA, which allowed for me to use my problem-solving skills. We created a slick, easy-to-use platform for agents that looks great!  A bit selfishly, it also allowed me to work with some colleagues from the early days of my professional career. It was great to see how we have all grown and come together to meet today’s needs of the business. 

A close second is working with one of our Canadian clients. After a couple of days training, the team has now added over 20 products to their site in record time with minimal assistance.  It shows how easy and flexible INSTANDA can be.

Finally, do you have any advice for people looking to join the tech industry?

I have two pieces of advice:

1. Do not chase the money. Sure, money is great, but the culture of the company and the other benefits need to play a significant role in any job selection.
   
2. Do not focus too heavily on technical skills. You do not necessarily need to learn a programming language but do need to understand common functions and processes of the tech industry. Sure, you will need to understand how code translates, but you don’t need to become an expert Java developer first; those are skills you can learn on the go. As innovative technologies emerge, you will need to continually learn, but the principles you have in place should help make learning innovative technology feel like just another day in the workplace.

We'd like to thank Jamie for his time. If you'd like to find out more about how INSTANDA can help your business, talk to the team or try our free demo.