AI, blockchain, analytics, BI, automation & emerging technologies will fundamentally change how risk is assessed, how products are developed & how customers interact with insurers. Value chains will be adjusted to accommodate, and insurers and brokers that are not only able to integrate these advances into their current value chains but also develop entirely new ways of doing business will be the leaders in the industry in the coming decades. However, even as the industry moves in this direction, the role of humans will not diminish. Instead, it will take on a more analytic, consultative and advisory role, evolving beyond pure risk evaluation. New technologies, from enhanced data capture, particularly in the personal insurance space, to risk analytics and machine learning to digital enablement and automation are expected to fundamentally change how insurance is distributed, how risk is assessed, how products are developed, and how customers interact with insurers for servicing.

During his 15 years as president of the Service Employees International Union, Andy Stern was a controversial figure. He suffered his share of criticism from inside and outside the union. There was, however, no disputing his success in making SEIU the largest and fastest growing union in the country and a powerful political machine that was instrumental in electing President Obama and getting the Affordable Care Act passed. During Stern's tenure as national organizing director and president, he introduced and implemented strategies of industry-wide organizing and bargaining to counter the changing reality of employers who were becoming large and international. He took SEIU out of the AFL-CIO and formed a new labor federation called Change to Win, because he felt the mainstream labor movement was too conservative about organizing and limited its power by refusing to consolidate smaller unions into bigger and more powerful ones.