Kathryn wins Individual Protection Adviser 2018 at the Protection Review

I am still very much on a high from the 2018 Protection Review conference. Firstly, because I was given the opportunity to be a panellist on the Simplexity session. Secondly, because I won!

I think many of the people who attended the event will remember me most for having my 3 and 1 year old sons with me. I have to say a huge thank you to Jo Miller, Roger Edwards, Kevin Carr Andy Couchman and Peter LeBeau, for being so accommodating to the fact that I am a working mum, and could not attend the event without them in tow.

My 3 year old had a fantastic time at the sweet stall and loved going around the stalls and getting all the sweets from the insurers; the light up pen from Holloway Friendly was a huge favourite too.

It was quite a surreal experience for me during the lunch when I arrived, as people were coming and chatting to me as if we knew each other. It was wonderful because it meant that all these people have been watching my videos. For me, it helped me to feel like I am achieving something worthwhile.

I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the panel session sitting with Katya, Simon and Adele. I think that there is a clear drive by everyone in the industry to make insurance products and services simpler to understand. I loved Katya’s comment that Guardian are focused upon “intuitive claims” and I look forward to seeing how these work in the future.

The only concern that I voiced during the session is that I believe that there is a limit to simplifying insurance. UnderwriteMe, iPipeline and CIExpert are phenomenally helpful to advisers. They save us time by helping us easily compare the strength of insurance products and underwriting stances, and also streamline cross-selling. My worry comes for clients who do not easily fit into black and white tick box forms, a prime example being people who have mental health issues. I believe that there will always be grey areas and that there is still significant merit in having a human underwriter to speak to, rather than a robotic algorithm.

Obviously, my absolute favourite part of the night was winning the Individual Protection Adviser award. I can truly say that the win was not expected and I am very honoured that I was chosen. The support and whoops from the women in the audience, was overwhelming, and it was wonderful to see so many women winning awards that night.