okay so let's begin um I'm here with uh Greg uh from from from an MGA called Ridge who is based in in in Canada it's a pleasure to have you here uh firstly in the UK second of all with us um Insley so yeah pleasure to have you and thanks for having me yeah thanks uh thanks for joining us uh it's good to have you here and uh yeah maybe we can start with a brief introduction of your of yourself sure um Greg marel i'm the president and CEO of Ridge Canada Cyber Solutions Inc uh
We've are a Canadian managing General agent uh we started with a focus on Cyber insurance and we underwrite on behalf of uh Lloyd's syndicates um we've been at it since 2016 and we've been working Within for a number of years in developing out our backhand platform um just in terms of policy management and data management and we're integrating a whole lot of really interesting stuff and building building things out um so overall I started on the underwriting side and uh at a a Canadian insurance company before moving over to a national brokerage where I became
a partner and then left there to help start up the Cyber team at another uh large Canadian brokerage and was there for about 18 months before uh getting the opportunity to start up Ridge Canada and so we The Ridge and ridge Canada is uh Tom Governor Tom Ridge who or secretary uh Ridge who in 2001 when the towers came down at George Bush Jr tap Tom on the shoulders to consolidate a lot of the US intelligence agencies and thus the Genesis of uh Homeland Security and Tom was the first person to lead Homeland and it's
been a wonderful partnership we are canadian-based though uh we are only operating in Canada so our modus operandi overall is to really focus and help Canadian small midsize businesses in their transferring the risk from a cyber Insurance perspective so uh we're very consultative we try and help we work exclusively through Retail Partners retail Insurance Brokerage partners and we try and be extensions of their sales teams and help them get to yes and when we are successful in doing that uh we are continuing to build our portfolio and it's all on a risk-managed basis and it's
been quite successful and we've just uh moved into two new spaces um where we're underwriting on behalf of some domestic uh Canadian carriers in the technology Arizona mission space so a tech cyber uh combined product as well as we saw the writing was sort of on the wall that cyber in general is a governance problem issue yeah governance issue and Boards of directors are needing some help and and in speaking security language so getting a getting to board level to really help manage and control cyber risk for Canadian organizations and so we've uh We've also
moved into the directors and officers space and we've just launched that product as well so pretty exciting times we're uh you know launching new products growing um we've got one of the strongest underwriting teams in the country and it's uh I think we're in a very enviable position right now definitely yeah that that is a really helpful I think introduction um on both yourself and um uh on Ridge and I think I think the Providence and the the the backstory as well is very very important it's kind of part of the the company's Heritage if
You' like so it's very very good to know that um so I guess the next kind of general area um or kind of focus after your kind of um explanation of what Rich does is kind of what leads you on to that next step so if kind of cyber is kind of the the kind of the core Focus or one of the focus areas um how can you then facilitate that to your customers who are the Brokers now an very important part of that would be the underpinning technology which allows you to do that or
the software or the system that allows you to do that so um you know what was the trigger or the kind of the intentional uh first point that kind of LED you to actually search for software uh as a solution to either assist you with kind of underwriting or your your your overall MGA operation was there a moment um you know that was either too much admin or whatever it might be that kind of led to that decision uh and what was that kind of process like yeah it's a great question the Genesis of us
looking for a system was really around how are we going to be able to scale um we have all we have this glut of underwriting talent inhouse but how do we make sure that we're supporting our Underwriters in their decision-making process and how are we looking at things long term from a from a cyber perspective uh in order to be able to continue to write profitable business on behalf of our cover holder markets and our the syndicates that we represent and this is exclusively on the Cyber side but it does apply to all other lines
of coverage at at this point but we looked at everything and you know we were we were operating out of a self-made uh Azure environment and it would have just been very difficult to scale um insurance is a very regular ated industry and you know we try and be um leaders in terms of we get our audited statements every we get our books audited every year not just by uh our Lloyd syndicates that are back us but also by public my public Auditors and we just want to make sure that you know we are a
very Source secure and you know governance is very important to us we're our our board is very very a lot of high a lot of horsepower uh behind it and it's doing the right thing and making sure that we're above board but being able to really dissect and look into the data that we're creating on a day-to-day basis with cyber you know it's we're we're coming out of what's called A Hard Market which is where the supply of your capacity is at much less than the demand for the product and so we were testing the
elasticity or inelasticity of um of the Cyber product itself overall not just in Canada but globally and when we were excuse me when we were looking at it we've at Ridge Canada we've always asked a little bit more questions fortunately we have some very understanding and very supportive retail broker partners that um you know we we value the relationships immensely and so for us it's about being communicative and giving people just what we're seeing across the across the entirety of the market what controls are working what's effective uh for Canadian companies and where Canadian companies
are a little bit um you know not quite ready for risk transfer and so we looked at that we knew pretty early on that data management was going to be a very very Paramount and and required element if you wanted to write in a sustainable way and a profitable way cyber Insurance our under our Underwriters need to have visibility on what's going on sector by sector geography by geography even though we're only operating in Canada but Province by province uh looking at okay where are controls up to speed or where might they be lacking and
so that was really what we were setting out to do one being able to scale but two really being able to empower our Underwriters to continue to make good Selections in terms of risk and staying ahead of where we're seeing market movement and that um is really the Catalyst for us getting into uh using a a specific software for our U our day-to-day management yeah that that that's um that's really interesting because we get kind of um a lot of uh people in general who site kind of appetite for growth and scalability is one of
the main reasons for using software so it's encouraging to hear that obviously um from your perspective it was quite quite a similar approach um and and just in terms of uh before you started using um a kind of inlead software um to kind of help facilitate that growth were you using any software or solution before that um or how was kind of um you know you've also cited that kind of data management was really important um how was that kind of before uh before the current software or or or solution works as it is it
was a a Litany of spreadsheets yeah so it was not going to be sustainable long term um the data entry requirements were going to be an issue um so it it we knew we need we needed to make a move um and it wasn't just as a result of our tra of our backing markets telling us that we were going to have to make a move but the sophistication and and scalability that it was going to bring with it was where we needed to be and where we wanted to be and so you know we
we um we actually hired a a third party computer engineering firm to uh run a diligence process for us just on what was out there and when what we were using previously we had built out of azure right and so the in the in the Microsoft environment which was working great for us um but if we wanted to get to that next stage and that next growth and EV and evolution of the business itself we needed a we needed a solution and so we set out had a diligence process that was I think it was
a few months um requirement Gathering and that kind of stuff yeah yeah we got scoping statements of work looked at everything and actually hired the computer engineering firm to take a look at the underlying base level of code on it and so what we were looking for was something that was going to be flexible um and scalable but also um what we would be able to integrate um because there's a number of tools and a number of Partnerships on the Cyber Insurance side that we're bringing to Canadian companies and so how do we potentially integrate
how do we leverage the data that we are collecting to help Canadian businesses if they want it um get to a state where they are relatively secure it's secure enough at least to transfer the risk and how do we work with our broker Partners to do that so always we the one thing that we set out to do is continue to keep client and broker in mind um you know I spent too many too many years on The Brokerage side to to forget about it um and so when you know firsthand what it's like that's
exactly it when when we were when we were looking at the systems designed we looked at okay what is going to bring benefit to our brokerage Partners what's going to one what's going to make us uh work better and smarter and faster but two what's going to bring long-term benefit to our retail uh insurance broker partners and ultimately how are we going to get um and help Canadian clients um because small midsize business runs Canada it is the Lion Share can Canada Canadian economies built on the back of small business um and so how do
we trade how do we do that better uh than anybody else well still not um sacrificing any of our underwriting philosophies uh our control requirements and how do we get product into Canadian uh company hands better faster and more efficiently yeah that that makes complete sense and um a lot of people when they kind of walk into or start a conversation around software they'll always have something in the back of their mind um which is maybe like kind of Roi focused um but I think there's obviously there's a few things that you've mentioned just there
like security um a better customer experience for your Brokers as well that probably sometimes even takes precedent so would you say that was the case um when you were having those those conversations or did you still have kind of some sort of Roi um in mind maybe speed or kind of um cost or something like that yeah I think scale uh realistically um you know if we're able to write more more and issue uh our policies and our our product ultimately the contracts that we're writing is our product um faster and our Underwriters would then
you know it's it's it's looking at time as as a resource uh for our Underwriters as well so if they can do more in the time that they're working at Ridge Canada then everybody does better and so trying to leverage the software component to help get policies to Brokers immediately invoices out immediately and now working on realtime Integrations from an accounting perspective so that we um you know were we well above uh audit standards and and we're we're doing the right thing overall it was it was absolutely Paramount that uh that we did that and
and um yeah and that was where we set out on our journey with Insley yeah that's that's really good and that kind of goes back to having the original intention of scaling and kind of embedding that in what you wanted to have as the end outcome so us yeah I'm I you know I I'm always uh my board knows me as a as as a very frugal person and but it's bottom line is key um you know and and we know that a system will add efficiency add scale at at size and and really help
with that time element of things at the end of the day and that makes an an immense impact on overall profitability 100% And if and if a if an underwriter um at Ridge or or anywhere else could kind of be empowered to to do something or issue a policy and much less time than they would in a very manual way then obviously that's of Paramount importance as well right yeah but also being able to we we pride ourselves on being good communicators yes um I think that the there's an element of insurance and it is
very relationship focused and it cannot be forgotten you know our Underwriters are not keyboard Warriors um did much rather pick up the phone have a conversation yeah and it's it makes a big difference um I think being able to to communicate with our Retail Partners and so if we're seeing Trends throughout our portfolio we want to be able to distill that down and share with our with our broker Partners what we're seeing because it may have an impact on their client base you know we nobody does their all of their cyber exclusively uh through Ridge
Canada so if there's an opportunity to be better communicators as a result of the data that we do have and we are bringing in and growing then it's Inc combing upon us to to continue to be better communicators and so looking at the data and really being able to drill down and effectively quantify uh some of the trends that we're seeing overall was really one of the key elements that we were looking at uh when doing our partner selection on the software side so harnessing and and taking control of our own data was massively important
in that decision-making process definitely and and that kind of brings us on really well to kind of the next point or area which is when you were evaluating or or looking at different software providers um obviously that data management side you've said is is kind of imperative um but was there anything else that particularly made inly a good fit when you kind of when you were open to um sourcing a software software solution so obviously data was one of them but was there anything else that was like like an aha moment or something like that
yeah I think for us when we originally set out we wanted to be flexible and we again we hired a a very good firm to to help us uh understand what we didn't know and that goes down to the you know just the programming language that things are are done in the open capabilities from an API perspective to really uh be able to build and grow uh overall because Insurance software you know it's like accounting software like finance software it's it's very good at what it does um but overall there's no well there's there's a
couple of of companies that are are trying to provide a one siiz fits-all solution and that wasn't going to be the case especially when you're a specialist kind of focus on a specialist area exactly we are hypers specialized you know we are um which is a blessing and a bit of a at at times in in the overall uh you know Dev cycle and and everything else because we understand what we're trying to ad do and trying to accomplish but we know we have to work with our developer partners because not everybody is an insurance
uh expert either right and so we wanted to to make sure that we were working with with people that one we liked is an important thing as well definely um but just having the flexibility to be able to move the need on certain elements of the system and the software um but while being open and being flexible and what I mean by that stretch is like the configurations that we've we've made into uh accounting based software you know being able to integrate and API in but at least in in the interim before uh having that
API done be able to generate the reports so that we can do B bat uploads on a weekly basis so that we can do all of our reconciliations and overall get as close to realtime views of our books um as possible and so that was the first one you know trading with Lloyds and Lloyds Canada uh Lloyds Canada has a specific um trading platform that we is is has that is API ready so if we are looking at at realtime reporting and again we're be able to query our data and slice and dice it the
way that we need to and visually represent that um via different reporting structures or or anything else that's not just good for our Brokers but it's also good for our markets and so we can look at everything um and it just having that built out saves so much time from an administrative standpoint and also um reduces the potential for error if you're only doing data entry once and it is direct from The Source then any mistakes that are made can be corrected very quickly they can be spotted very quickly but there you know that that
element uh when it comes to our capacity providers they get full-time visibility of of what we're doing and how we're growing and so we again we we like to be very good communicators and that applies to both our Brokers but it also applies to our backing markets and that element of visibility that we are bringing to the table with our data is really imperative to long-term strategy in terms of portfolio management exactly so so the future will probably bring conversations such as how can we use data to our advantage rather than retrospectively maybe asking yourself
you know is the data correct because you've kind of removed that as like a like a failure point right like um the wreaking of data for example if it's done once and it's done properly then you can kind of push forwards from from from their owns um and and of the products that are currently live and trading uh what was your uh experience of implementing those products would you say yeah I mean I think we went in pretty eyes wide open um you know the the development cycle has been a little bit longer um but
I think that seems to be the case um with just about every everything you know you can't Rome wasn't built in a day you can't snap your fingers and just automatically have a special completely specialized customized uh platform trading platform implemented with everything connected and working like that just doesn't exist we we knew that I think it you know the the life cycle of our customization and our buildout um has been a little bit longer but we're getting there and and the future looks very promising on it um again with looking at how are we
going to be able to really take control of our data again uh overall and that with our again we we ask more questions um you know you go back five six seven years in the Canadian cyber Insurance market and you would go to trade shows and the banners were up where like get Cyber insurance with three clicks that's not sustainable you know you need to you need to be a more information you have the better exactly and so for us as we collect it looking at it analyzing it and really looking at okay where where
are these elements where are these sectors needing some support because that allows us to go out and look towards Canadian Solutions to security issues that Canadian companies are having as well so because security tools there's no Silver Bullet um you know and there's no such thing as 100% security at the end of the day so how do we help and how do we really position ourselves by leveraging the data that we're collecting and the reinsurance community and and insurance back or backers have I think really appreciated that um we can give visibility now with this
our our data set is richer we can look at it and we can actually report it um back in a much much more efficient and better way so if we're asking the questions it's incumbent upon us to use the questions otherwise why are we asking them in the first place so we've really really tried to hone in and zero in on exactly what is needed from an underwriting perspective that helps us move the needle when it comes to either uh pulling something into our portfolio um or not you know we're we're still the the reality
is I was quoted a number of years ago by one of the magazines saying 60% of Canadian businesses um are not ready to buy cyber Insurance our declination rate is right around that number but that's in essence an element of just the lack of proper security and hygiene and so again if we can communicate what we need to see and we're asking the questions that are related to those elements of security it's incumbent upon us to use that in our decision-making process and to use it better than anybody else out there and we wouldn't have
been able to do that without software definitely yeah that's that's a really kind of powerful tra of thought and I think from a from a business um benefit perspective you definitely kind of made it very clear that that visibility on the data side uh is is is super important but not only that it's also passing that visibility on to your customers who essentially the Brokers um what's maybe on that trail of thought or following up on that what do you think has been the most useful part or piece of that data visibility for the actual
Brokers themselves what's one thing that they've you've maybe provided or they've maybe asked for which is for them being kind of like you know a wow moment or a wow factor uh and and and that could probably kind of give you the Cutting Edge over um competing mgas who can perhaps maybe not offer that level of visibility what would you say is a well that's what we're working on okay yeah we're still working on that right now for us it's uh the Integrations and the visibility from an accounting perspective as well as um you know
the reporting side into our backing markets has been the focus um I'm excited for the next stage where we are leveraging that to really create custom materials for our Retail Partners um and being able to to to do that but I mean the reality is we were we've been in the the platform for just over a year now so we're still having um a uh a BPO firm help with some of our data entry on a from a legacy perspective so we're still adding to the richness of the data set as well so as we
continue to do that and as we continue to renew policies within the system the visibility on that data already exists so in force we've got access to it but we also want be conscious of looking at everything that we have for the last eight years so how do we do that and that's going to take time um you know there's there's no secret solution for absolute uploading of of really rigid old applications that may be in word they may be in PDF but they also are may not be harmonized against our question set and you
know the there's still a need for the human touch on the underwriting side that's never going to go away you know leveraging some of the the the AI uh capabilities that will present themselves in the in the future is is uh great those are tools that are just going to make our Underwriters more efficient and better um so it's I've I've said many times to our to our team you know the computers are not going to take your job don't worry about it and uh you know I think that sentiment is echoed by a number
of our broker Partners who still want to talk to someone they want to understand they you know they're you know we're learning every day as well and if that stops we're in trouble because security evolves at Breakneck Pace because the hackers and the threat actors are very Advanced and they're sophisticated and it's organized and so it's incoming upon us to look at okay what is the threat and how is it going to impact Canadian businesses and how is it going to impact our portfolio overall that we man you know and on the capacity that we
manage on behalf of other other companies and so when we're looking at product development when we're looking at where the market is when we're looking at how is going to operate factoring all of these elements in becomes very very important especially for the sustainability and long-term View and vision of what we're putting into the portfolio definitely yeah and um that that kind of sustainability piece is very important when you're kind of looking ahead um at what's to come as well so on that note it might be quite interesting to ask about kind of the the
future aspirations for for for Ridge as well as well kind of which direction do you kind of see yourselves heading in um and you know is there any plans to maybe expand outside of Canada or to other product lines what would be your take on that well we've just launched uh the technology aors and emissions and the directors and officers uh lines so we're excited to get those into the into the platform um we're excited to grow in those in those lines and in those sectors we've got the a great great team that's really well
known within the Canadian industry and has a track record of of success um so I'm very excited to work with um these teammates and and really grow this together where I see things going I can't I'm not really going to comment on on uh geog Geographic expansion plans but at the same time we're we're Canadian focused company and there is still a lot of work to do in Canada um Canadian small midsize businesses deserve uh Security Solutions and they deserve the ability to transfer the risk uh at certain maturity points um so we we want
to work on what we have in front of us because it is Greenfield there is a lot of opportunity but there is a lot of work to do at the same time so we are focused and um and we are pretty steadfast in that overall I think there's what I'm excited about is focusing intrinsically within Canada the procurement process overall and working with Brokers how do we help our Brokers become more efficient in selling and distributing this product you know it's it's no secret that the level of data entry across the board is really material
um yeah so we still need the data because otherwise we can't make the the underwriting decisions that we're we're we're needing to make so how do we reduce that which will increase uh the time savings at a retail partner level um so excited to to focus in on again some of the Integrations and capabilities having been a a broker for a number of years to starting Ridge Canada uh the word portal is a bit of a swear word because for a retail broker it's okay we'll give you access to a portal so thank you for
doing our data entry for us and we're not going to pay you anymore so what's the benefit um so I think the Brokers don't need portals they need dashboards um and you still need to be able to transact in the old old fashioned way but to give an option of that seamless flow of data that empowers Underwriters to make decisions faster but also empowers Brokers to get uh to get their sales life cycle shortened significantly and if we can do that that's really really exciting um and again just integrating additional tools within that we will
be able to use that help us become better risk selectors and overall more profitable Underwriters awesome and then two last questions which kind of ask the same thing but for different audiences so say for example if there's me or someone else out there who's a Canadian broker let's say for example and uh they're looking to partner kind of with an MGA what would be in maybe a few words or sentences what would be the kind of the main Reasons from your side for them to kind of consider a partnership or a relationship with with Rich
you've mentioned quite a lot of things in our in our conversation but if you had to cherry-pick maybe two or three things what would what would they be yeah I think it's about collaboration really we are we value the relationships that exist ultimately what needs to be focused on is end client so if if a retail broker um a partner of ours needs help we are there to give it uh we're we're there to help however we can and again we're not trying to be all things to all people we are focused um we are
very product specific the core pillar is cyber but security at the end of the day again is is a governance related issue and so the product development side that we are looking at from a risk transfer perspective is related to overall governance and Specialty insurance so I think partnership and when when people are selecting Partners um there's a number of things that come in into play uh you know price is always going to be an issue for end client um but it's really about delivering value to end client so being able to Showcase and really
communicate why certain risk decisions are being made um I think that that will be valuable to our retail broker partners and not just being a you know black box of of information with onepage marketing material that are so generic that they're not that helpful right so I I I really think it's it's going to it's it is about that level of communication and and sharing and having visibility on our data makes us better communicators yeah absolutely and then to flip that question on its head um or to kind of reapply it to an MGA audience
if there were prospective mgas kind of out there who were looking to maybe digitalize their processes or find a software solution um what advice would you give to them if they were in kind of the exploratory phase of searching for something if they were quite early on in that process what would what would your words of wisdom be to uh be to that that um that audience I think ultimately people need to be clear in what they need from software um for m G's you know the the prospect of just integrating or launching something new
and getting full visibility on on the past is unrealistic and shouldn't be an expectation I think patience is is going to be uh a key for everybody um you know a lot of the developers aren't Insurance experts most of the time I you know we we were drawn to Insley because of the insurance expertise overall and the experience there and that has saved us a fair bit of time uh overall but product development and life cycle to roll out and development time it takes time um but you want to get it right and you get
it right the first time and you nail the foundation it's setting yourself up for scalability and for success and again we were we are hyper focused and specialized with three Pro three product lines so looking at okay what do we need in each of these product lines but how do we correlate all of our data that we are collecting on across each product line as well because there are overlaps and similarities so if we can focus on efficiency uh on the on the overall within the overall underwriting process we're going to have a whole lot
more happy broker partners because we're not asking a client the same thing three different times or the same thing two different times we're asking it once and that's what we need and then once a client is in the portfolio it's maintenance it's you know having were there any changes is there anything that you need this year but being able to produce that element for our broker Partners ultimately will save clients time and so I think for other mgas that are MGA mgus that are looking at it I think my advice would be again never forget
about client yeah that's why we're here definitely yeah and uh I think that's kind of the end of the questions um but Greg really appreciates it to you uh being here with us today uh would you have any kind of final comments for the audience or anything else no thank you for having me it's uh you know it's it's always a pleasure seeing the team at at Insley and you know seeing the the people that that make all of this really cool Cloud native stuff happen um because for us it's again there's there's much like
Insurance there's an element to relation of relationship at the end of the day that is uh it's it's not lost on us and it's respected so thank you for your time awesome no thanks a lot it's good to good to have you with us as well and uh yeah thanks to our audience for for watching and we'll catch you on the next one
