IBM, who has partnered with AAIS on the development of the openIDL data-management platform on blockchain, has long been a strong proponent of open-source software development. Chris Ferris, an IBM Fellow and CTO for Open Technology at IBM, spoke to AAIS’s Joan Zerkovich on the importance of the open-source concept and the powerful outcomes IBM has seen from building technology in an open environment.

At AAIS, we’re continually refining our best-in-class products and services to better meet the needs of our Members in a quickly changing industry. In January of 2013, we recognized the need to improve our work processes in order to respond to growing market demand. That’s when AAIS adopted Agile as a new approach to project management.

It’s common to hear the phrase, ‘the world is getting more complex every day’…so much that it’s become cliché. That is, unless it’s your job to try to understand, quantify, and insure the perils that come from that complexity. We know you’re looking for actionable insights to protect your business. The problem is typically not the lack of information about these perils but rather, the information overload that makes it a challenge to to find timely, relevant, and reliable insights that you can use to make informed decisions. You rely on AAIS for advisory expertise on the products your customers use, and now we’re inviting you to try our new Risk Awareness Service, our latest tool to help our Members maintain your competitive advantage.  

Open source technology. Collaboration and cooperation to improve the products and technologies necessary to move innovation forward. Building a platform where new applications are welcomed to extend the tool’s use cases. These fundamental practices led to the creation of the Internet…and are being seen again as distributed ledger technology takes center stage.

As today’s families fall asleep at night, they rest assured that they are protected from home perils. When thinking about keeping our homes safe, many think of the standard home perils: fire, floods, and burglary. However, as we delve further into the age of technology, many people forget that their homes are susceptible to more than physical perils. Danger can lurk within their phones, computers, and other IoT devices.

The Internet was built on the concepts of open source, open collaboration, and cooperation. One industry pioneer believes these principles can and should be put into use today for continued success.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, regulators quickly realized two problems. They would need to collect massive amounts of data and issue multiple data calls, particularly around business interruption, and there was no secure, efficient way to gather this data to truly understand the impact COVID-19 was having on the P&C market. With business interruption claims growing, a quick, effective solution was needed.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world. Storefronts and restaurants were shuttered; jobs were lost; many became ill, and most companies had to quickly adjust to a new, remote working environment. The effects of the pandemic are pervasive, and will have a lasting impact on families, communities, businesses, and the country for years to come.

Climate change continues to wreak havoc on farm and agriculture businesses. With increasingly unpredictable weather, destructive storms, and a decrease in natural resources, the farm & ag industry is scrambling to find a more reliable way to farm– one that would protect the industry from a quickly changing world.

An increasing number of states are legalizing the use of medicinal and recreational cannabis, creating the opportunity for new business ventures and the need for reliable insurance coverage as the industry expands and matures.