Customer experience is no longer a differentiator in insurance — it’s the battleground where growth, trust, and relevance are won or lost. In this episode of the Scouting for Growth Podcast, Sabine VanderLinden speaks with Mark McLaughlin, a senior leader at IBM, who today leads AI, hybrid cloud, and risk innovation engagements with insurance CxOs worldwide. With more than 25 years in the insurance industry, Mark offers a clear-eyed view of how insurers must evolve customer experience in a world defined by digital expectations, data transparency, and accelerating innovation. The starting point is uncompromising: customers expect frictionless, digital-first engagement — whether they interact through brokers, affinity partners, or directly with carriers. They want speed, convenience, and clarity. But above all, they want trust. Transparency around how data is used has become a prerequisite, not a nice-to-have. Insurers that fail here won’t just lose customers — they’ll lose permission to play. Mark explains that meeting these expectations requires far more than digitising old processes. Simply repackaging analogue workflows into digital wrappers is a dead end. What’s needed instead is a fundamental reconfiguration of the enterprise fabric — spanning skills, processes, technology, and culture. When data, intelligence, automation, and insights come together, they can augment decision-making across underwriting, claims, and service — but only if organisations are willing to change how they operate. This is where the concept of “risk experiences” comes into play. Insurance is shifting from selling static products to delivering dynamic, personalised risk experiences — services and advice aligned with customers’ real needs and behaviours. Insurers are inherently strong at managing risk through sophisticated analytics and underwriting. InsurTechs, on the other hand, excel at designing compelling customer journeys. The future belongs to those who can combine these strengths, either organically or through partnerships. The scale of innovation underway is undeniable. More than $47 billion has been invested in InsurTechs, with 30+ unicorns already created — and more on the way. This innovation wave is reshaping expectations across the industry. To keep pace, IBM works with the top 100 insurers globally, helping them modernise legacy systems and global delivery models using AI, cloud, blockchain, and IoT, alongside deep industry expertise. But Mark is clear: technology alone doesn’t deliver transformation. Customer-centric growth comes from rethinking the core of the business — identifying where to innovate internally and where to partner externally to unlock new value. This episode is essential listening for: Insurance executives rethinking customer experience strategies Leaders modernising legacy systems at global scale Innovators balancing incumbent strengths with InsurTech agility CxOs focused on trust, transparency, and long-term growth As Mark makes clear, the future of insurance isn’t about digitising the past. It’s about designing risk experiences that customers actually want — and trust — to engage with.