Meet Jon Halbert, Solutions Engineer at INSTANDA

In July, we met with INSTANDA's Solution Engineer, Jon Halbert, to hear about his experiences at INSTANDA and how he's seen integrations enable insurtech success.

He also explores the changing attitude of insurers, as they become more open to change, and the positive impact this will have on the future of insurance.

Tell us about your role at INSTANDA

As a solutions engineer, I focus on the integration layer, connecting different systems and services together to increase automation, accuracy, and efficiencies in the quoting and underwriting process. One of the cool things about my role is the ability to work with multiple groups and affect change within the product. I work with our configuration analysts, the product team, prospects, and existing customers to provide insight and guidance into connecting different technologies to Instanda, helping the platform match each client’s unique use case.

What has been your most exciting project so far?

For me, it was a combination of flood products we worked on for an existing customer. It gave me insight into not only the integration side of what we're doing, but a general introduction to the configuration of the product and how it's being leveraged. Integrations play a huge role in insurers gaining traction for their products. They have a huge effect on insurer’s overall customer base, as well as how well they sell their products.

What initially drew you to INSTANDA?

I had the benefit of partnering with INSTANDA at my previous company. And so, I got to meet the team and see demos to understand what INSTANDA can do. I could see the value of automation INSTANDA adds to insurance processes. The technology, the people and the idea of working for a company planning for explosive growth was exciting. I couldn’t wait to get in at the ground level and become an expert on a real growing company.

I worked with data and digital transformation for about ten years before joining INSTANDA. Before that, I worked on core platforms, specifically from a document management system perspective. I was interested to see a no-code platform in action and how much value it brings compared with the big monolithic systems I was used to in the past.

What trends are you seeing making the biggest difference in insurance and technology?

One of the things I'm most interested to see play out is telematics. There is so much data out there, and I’m interested to see how it will evolve the insurance market as a whole. Companies can incorporate so much technology into vehicles these days and use it not just for personal vehicles, but also commercial vehicles. It will be interesting to see how commercial vehicles are treated, ranked, and rated, and how telematics impacts the automation of underwriting, claims processing, and reporting. Telematics has been around for a little while, but it’s certainly not used to its full extent. I can’t wait to see how it will fit into multiple facets of insurance.

How have you seen insurance change in your time in the industry?

One of the big changes in the insurance space over the last few years is the openness of insurers. Insurers are more and more willing to test, validate and adopt new technologies. Before, it seemed to be such a long process. It would take two to five years for someone to even consider implementing new technology. Now, it can only take a few months to adopt new technologies and new ways of doing things. It’s a big shift that helps insurtechs put themselves out there. They can test something, and if it doesn't work within six months, they can shift gears and try something else. It’s changing insurance as we know it.

What advice would you give to someone looking to build a career in insurance and technology?

Very few plan to go into insurance, but so many of us end up in insurance and love it. I recommend going in with an open mind and not setting limits on what’s possible. Some people think it might be boring or a stopgap for a time, but there is so much evolution and so many new ideas in the insurance space. It provides a great deal of room for growth, always learning about new technologies, processes, or ways to implement. It’s an ever-changing industry that will keep you learning and intrigued.

We'd like to say thanks to Jon 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.