Sedgwick named as 2024 CIO 100 Award Winner

March 27, 2024

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MEMPHIS, Tenn., March 27, 2024 — Sedgwick, a leading global provider of claims management, loss adjusting and technology-enabled business solutions, has been named by Foundry’s CIO as a 2024 CIO 100 Award winner for Sidekick, a first-of-its-kind application developed by the company’s technology team. Foundry’s CIO 100 award recognizes enterprise excellence and innovation in IT.

In 2023 Sedgwick launched Sidekick, which integrates OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) with the company’s claims management platforms to give its claims professionals an advantage in their daily work.

“There is a lot of buzz about how GenAI and the use of natural language processing to respond conversationally to human prompts might transform the way people interact with technology, revolutionize work processes, and address key business challenges,” said Jason Landrum, Global Chief Information Officer at Sedgwick. “With Sidekick, we’ve successfully piloted an application that truly has the potential to transform long-established insurance claims handling processes.”

A first for the claims industry, the advanced application allows Sedgwick colleagues to explore the benefits of GenAI performance and natural language processing for day-to-day tasks, such as document summarization, claims queries, medical and biomedical classifications and more. To ensure data security, Sedgwick built Sidekick within its secure, proprietary technology environment while leveraging the capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT. 

“Sidekick is designed to automate important but routine aspects of our colleagues’ daily work,” said Leah Cooper, Global Chief Digital Officer at Sedgwick. “This groundbreaking application helps us better support our talented professionals — enabling them to quickly gain value from claim information, efficiently relay it to clients and other stakeholders, and dedicate more time and energy to the people whose care is entrusted to them.” 

Sedgwick has previously been recognized by the CIO 100 Awards, including in 2020 for its global smart.lyplatform, which introduced automated data gathering and decision engines into the company’s claims handling and intake processes. The innovations embedded in smart.ly paved the way for Sedgwick to bring Sidekick to the digital landscape.

“Once again receiving this distinguished honor from the CIO 100 Awards validates our technology team’s hard work and continued drive for meaningful innovations,” Landrum added. “We look forward to celebrating the outstanding expertise of our team and their tireless efforts to support Sedgwick’s position as a trusted industry leader in the adoption of advanced technology.”

For more than 25 years, the CIO 100 Awards have recognized innovative organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of strategic and operational excellence in IT. 

Sedgwick and its fellow honorees will be recognized at the CIO 100 Symposium & Awards.

About Sedgwick
Sedgwick is a leading global provider of claims management, loss adjusting and technology-enabled business solutions. The company provides a broad range of resources tailored to clients’ specific needs in casualty, property, marine, benefits, brand protection and other lines. At Sedgwick, caring counts; through the dedication and expertise of 33,000 colleagues across 80 countries, the company takes care of people and organizations by mitigating and reducing risks and losses, promoting health and productivity, protecting brand reputations, and containing costs that can impact performance. Sedgwick’s majority shareholder is The Carlyle Group; Stone Point Capital LLC, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Onex and other management investors are minority shareholders. For more, see sedgwick.com.

About CIO
CIO focuses on attracting the highest concentration of enterprise CIOs and business technology executives with unparalleled peer insight and expertise on business strategy, innovation and leadership. As organizations grow with digital transformation, CIO provides its readers with key insights on career development, including certifications, hiring practices and skills development. The award-winning CIO portfolio provides business technology leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of IT’s role in achieving business goals. CIO is published by Foundry, an IDG Inc. Company. Company information is available at foundryco.com.

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About the US CIO 100 Awards
The annual US CIO 100 Awards celebrate 100 organizations and the teams within them that use IT in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth, or improving relationships with customers. The award is an acknowledged mark of enterprise excellence. Coverage of the 2024 US CIO 100 award-winning projects will be available online at cio.com in the weeks and months leading up to the event.

About the US CIO Hall of Fame Awards
The US CIO Hall of Fame was created in 1997 to spotlight 12 outstanding IT leaders who had significantly contributed to and profoundly influenced the IT discipline, the use of technology in business and the advancement of the CIO role. Ten years later, in 2007, CIO inducted its second class of honorees into the CIO Hall of Fame during CIO magazine’s 20th anniversary celebration. The CIO Hall of Fame induction ceremony continues to showcase this elite group of CIOs — now numbering 190.

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Developing workers in the evolving EV sector

February 21, 2024

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Regardless of line of business, the way people learn and grow in their jobs is changing. Development is a valuable approach, going beyond training in preparing people for more than just the immediate requirements of work. Flexible learning encourages longer-term critical thinking, helps build resilience, and opens new pathways for growth.   

As various industries rapidly change, up-to-date knowledge and skillsets must be taught to the workforce’s next generation to meet growing demands. Within the electric vehicle (EV) sector in particular, the development of standardized educational materials and an informed, highly trained workforce is of critical importance.

Establishing a competency standard for EVs

As innovative EV technologies continue to emerge, standardized safety and maintenance techniques must be established. Unlike those for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, there are not yet recognized, standard best practices for estimators or technicians who may work on an EV — and more specifically, perform ICE to EV conversions. 

The mounting importance of this conversation has been gathering steam. Legacy EV — an entity that’s part of Electric Vehicle Technician Education Council (EVTEC), the committee that developed and proposed the first-ever EV standards — has even been engaged in recent conversations with the administration on EV technology at the White House.

All the hardworking instructors that provide training on EV technician skills need a universal education task front to rely on for guidance, and manufacturers want standards for their products, as well. A standardized education system would support the regulations/standards in place across the globe, while enabling international collaboration and market growth in the EV space.

Training should be flexible, evolve continuously 

Training is especially important due to the unique characteristics EVs possess. Specialized knowledge is required when working on things like advanced battery technologies and high-voltage systems. Without adequate training, technicians are unable to properly service not just the vehicles themselves, but they can’t easily adapt to every new technology, specialized car part or charging infrastructure that surfaces.

For repair shops, particularly small ones, it can be difficult and expensive to acquire and carry certain specialized parts, and new manufacturers routinely pop up with new models that need to be integrated into existing standards. Education and training should be reviewed and revised regularly.

The bottom line

For the widespread global adoption of EVs to succeed, there must first be a solid instructional foundation, and a well-trained workforce with an ever-evolving knowledge base at the ready to solve technical challenges, provide reliable services, and ensure customer satisfaction. 

At Vale Training, whether it be fleet managers, insurers, estimators or repair facilities learning to implement high voltage and EV training and safety practices in their workplaces, or insurance adjusters learning to properly evaluate property damage following catastrophes, we aren’t just training people for today — we’re developing them for the future. 

Learn more — Vale Training, a Sedgwick company, is equipping the next generation of claims specialists with the expertise necessary to meet industry challenges. Vale is part of the EVTEC board, has been training auto estimators for more than 70 years and introduced the EV and hybrid course several years ago to establish a standard for writing an EV estimate.  Vale’s partnership with Legacy EV is specific to the technician audience. Visit the website to learn about the range of online courses, career consultancy services and certifications offered, including EV courses hosted in partnership with Legacy EV. 

Scotland’s hydro-electric schemes, severe flooding and insurer implications

December 21, 2023

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Hydropower has played a critical role over the past century in connecting vast swathes of rural Scotland to the power grid, all by using its plentiful natural resources to generate electricity: steep mountains and hillsides, lochs and reliably heavy rainfall. Scotland now provides 85% of Great Britain’s hydro-electric resource, with a total generation capacity of 1,500 megawatt units (MW). 

In recent years, there’s been a notable growth in small-scale hydro-electric schemes — that typically generate ~6 MW — installed by estate and property owners in the Scottish Highlands. The schemes take advantage of the hilly slopes and water runoff to generate clean energy, while simultaneously raising revenue and positive cash flow to offset the property’s expenses.

But as climate change perpetuates extreme weather events in both size and frequency, property owners and insurers alike face an unprecedented challenge: contending with the impacts severe flooding events are having on small-scale hydropower schemes. Is this renewable energy source truly insurable, and are the assets built robustly enough to withstand intensive weather patterns to come? 

The innerworkings of a hydro scheme

A typical small hydro-electric power scheme comprises a turbine and electrical generator positioned within a pump house located at a low-level where water run-off is collected. The water run-off flows into a mechanical turbine (essentially a propeller) resulting in its rotation and the production of hydro energy utilised to power an electrical generator. 

By nature, a pump house must be located at the bottom of a hill — as water flowing downhill is the mechanism that powers the turbine. As a result, there’s always potential exposure for the pump house to become flooded. 

Flooding is highly problematic for several reasons. Electrical assets, like the generator and control panels, can easily be damaged or destroyed altogether by floodwaters, necessitating costly repairs or full-on replacement. Secondly, it can render a scheme unusable until fixed properly, amounting to a costly business interruption (BI) during the period — often several months at a time — that energy generation is suspended.

Any viable solution would be as costly — if not more so — than bearing the consequences when flooding occurs. Either engineers must redesign pump houses to be more robust, or property owners must invest the necessary funds to install flood resilience measures and ensure a pump house is as watertight as possible. Few mitigation options remain in between. 

Climate change exacerbates severe weather patterns

Climate change continues to affect Scotland’s natural environment. Over recent decades, Scotland has experienced a warming trend that has both shifted rainfall patterns — including higher average annual rainfall and an increasing proportion of rain falling during heavy rainfall events — and contributed to rising sea levels. 

An evidence report, the third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3), found that the risk of flooding to people, communities and buildings remains among the most severe risks for Scotland and is the costliest hazard to businesses. It also found that water, energy and transport infrastructure networks are at imminent risk of “cascading failures,” and infrastructure services are at risk of river and surface water flooding. 

Such risks are expected to become more dire year by year. According to a March 2023 report published by the UK’s Climate Change Committee, by 2050 the UK is expected to have ~5% wetter winters on average, ~10% increased intensity of heavy rainfall, and a 10-30 cm increase in average sea levels — all making way for more acute river, surface and coastal flooding, and subsequent loss of transmission and distribution capacity due to flood damage.

Implications for insurers and insureds

For insurers, on the construction side, there is potential for large loss(es) to occur, and insurers must consider high-complexity risks to third-party property and the environment. Operationally, there is potential for large loss(es) to occur as well, due to inherent and environmental factors. Claims for small-scale schemes amount to around £1 to 2 million for site works, property damage works and BI. 

Insurers are increasingly concerned about policy limits, and if the BI sum insureds are high enough to cover a potential loss — particularly as energy prices soar. If flooding and subsequent damage occurs more frequently, insurers will ultimately need to decide: Is insuring hydropower assets disproportionate to the risk? 

Where hydro losses occur a multi-discipline team comprising of loss adjusters, forensic engineers, forensic accountants and environmental consultants with specialist training should be engaged. It’s critical to partner with an entity educated in emerging technology and local market/industry knowledge to assess repair versus replacement options and provide guidance.

Learn more — Read about Sedgwick’s recently-launched power and energy division in the UK.

Navigating the latest developments in AI regulation: what businesses need to know

November 23, 2023

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Regulators, lawmakers and technology experts alike seem to agree on two things: artificial intelligence (AI) is an important piece of our future and it needs guidelines for its use. Across the globe, there has been a recent flurry of activity ranging from executive orders and guiding principles to voluntary codes of conduct and regulatory proposals.

While the European Union was an early leader in AI regulation with its proposed EU AI Act, other governing bodies have been quick to follow suit with a variety of approaches to regulating a technology that continues to evolve. As we continue to track new developments in AI regulation, here are some recent updates that could impact how businesses across industries use AI in their products.

G7 leaders reach agreement on guiding principles for AI

At a meeting in the end of October, leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) economies reached an agreement on International Guiding Principles for Organizations Developing Advanced AI Systems and a voluntaryCode of Conduct for Organizations Developing Advanced AI Systems. Both documents aim to “promote safe, secure, and trustworthy AI worldwide” and provide guidance for organisations developing AI, as lawmakers work to develop regulations.

The voluntary Code of Conduct outlines 11 actions that AI developers are encouraged to follow. These include taking appropriate measures to identify, evaluate, and mitigate risks across the AI lifecycle, as well as publicly reporting advanced AI systems’ capabilities, limitations, and areas of appropriate use to contribute to increased accountability.

In announcing the agreement, G7 leaders stressed that the Guiding Principles and Code of Conduct would be living documents that “will be reviewed and updated as necessary” to ensure they remain “responsive to this rapidly evolving technology.” While the actions outlined by the G7 are not mandatory, companies with a vested interest in AI should try to comply given that the regulations that follow will likely build off these models.

U.S. Executive Order outlines sweeping standards for AI safety and security

Also at the end of October, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, which introduces new requirements for AI security and outlines new safety standards to be developed. While most welcomed the executive order as a necessary first step, some technology industry stakeholders raised concerns about the broad nature of the order and the potential it has to stifle innovation.

Some of the key measures outlined in the order include a requirement that developers of AI systems “share their safety test results and other critical information with the U.S. government” to make sure these systems are safe, secure, and reliable before companies make them public. The order also directs several federal agencies to develop standards, tools, and tests to “help ensure that AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy.” The timeline for implementation of the actions in the executive order is relatively short, with most deadlines occurring between 90 and 270 days after the order was issued.

Looking ahead

The two developments in AI governance outlined above join a growing list of efforts to simultaneously manage the risks of AI and promote innovation in the field. For companies developing AI systems or using them in their products, it can be difficult to keep track of the voluntary guidelines and mandatory regulations that they either should or must comply with. As lawmakers continue to weave an international, industry-crossing web of regulations for AI, having a solid team of expert partners in compliance, brand protection, and litigation at their side will become crucial for companies’ success.

UK Government under pressure to develop regulations for artificial intelligence

September 25, 2023

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In late August, UK Members of Parliament criticised the UK government for failing to lead in regulating artificial intelligence (AI). The criticism came ahead of an AI summit the UK government is hosting in November, and followed the release of a government white paper on the subject.

In March of this year, the UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology released the aforementioned white paper, laying out the government’s approach to regulating AI. The white paper established the views of the government on what AI regulation should entail before suggesting a regulatory framework. The white paper noted several of the government’s underlying concerns regarding AI. Central to the white paper was the government’s view that AI has the capacity to stimulate the UK economy under the proper regulatory conditions. Furthermore, the white paper expressed the view shared by both the government and Parliament that, as countries around the world begin to establish rules for governing AI, the UK government needs to act quickly to lead the global discussion on AI regulation.

The white paper also identified several factors that make the implementation of AI regulation critical, including the potential harm that AI could pose to physical and mental health, privacy, and human rights. As new AI innovations emerge, proper regulation to address potential bias and discrimination in AI will also be key to maintaining public trust, which is necessary for business investments in the technology.

When it comes to developing a regulatory framework, the government proposed regulating the uses of AI, rather than the technology itself. The government argued that this will enable it to ensure the regulation is not “cumbersome” to businesses and further proposes that the principles outlined in the white paper should not initially be enshrined in law. This will ensure that innovation is not obstructed. Instead, any AI regulation should be implemented by existing regulatory agencies that have industry-specific expertise.

The regulatory approach set out by the government’s white paper varies significantly from the EU’s proposed approach to regulating AI, as outlined in the EU AI Act. Where the UK approach seems to leave decisions to the discretion of regulatory agencies on an industry-by-industry basis, the EU has provided a list of banned AI systems and expanded their classification of high-risk AI systems. The EU approach expands obligations for producers and distributors, while the UK approach prioritises minimising disruptions to AI innovations.

As the UK and EU continue to chart their own legislative paths post-Brexit, the regulatory landscape will become increasingly complex for businesses that operate in both markets. At this time, the UK government’s proposed approach to AI regulation does not directly expand obligations for producers and distributors, but this may change considering criticisms from Members of Parliament and other input received from stakeholders during the consultation period.

With so much of the UK’s AI policy undetermined, manufacturers and distributors could still face significant upheaval. Given these evolving complexities, businesses who develop AI or use the technology in their products face continued risk from sustained regulatory oversight, despite the lack of concrete rules to govern AI. Businesses with an interest in AI regulations should take advantage of opportunities to participate in the development of legislation and should pay close attention to new developments.

Trusted by the world’s leading brands, Sedgwick brand protection has managed more than 5,000 of the most time-critical and sensitive product recalls in 100+ countries and 50+ languages, over 25 years. To find out more about our product recall and remediation solutions, visit our website here.