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InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant

Pravina Ladva, Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer: Swiss Re: The beauty of technology is in the small things (356)

InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant

InsTech

Entrepreneurship, Investing, Business

4.850 Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With generative AI, engineering excellence and legacy system resilience all under one remit, what does it take to lead digital transformation at one of the world’s largest reinsurers? In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Pravina Ladva, Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Swiss Re, to explore what it means to drive impact through innovation at scale. Pravina shares how Swiss Re is helping clients get more from their data, reduce underwriting time and prepare for a future shaped by new technologies. It’s a conversation about strategy, change and what it really takes to turn curiosity into impact – without losing sight of operational fundamentals. Key Talking Points: Embracing GenAI responsibly – how Swiss Re encourages experimentation while prioritising outcomes From concept to scale – why small wins in underwriting can deliver real value for clients Beyond the hype – using traditional business cases to prioritise AI use cases Redefining talent – how today’s underwriters and technologists are becoming one and the same From ingestion to insight – why data infrastructure still matters in an AI-native world Making the business case – why AI productivity gains must go beyond speed Building co-pilot confidence – what it takes to upskill thousands of employees globally Thinking top-down – how Swiss Re balances experimentation with bold, disruptive thinking From engineering to impact – how core IP and differentiated services shape tech investment What insurers need to consider – why translating technology into strategic value is the real differentiator If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Pravina Ladva on LinkedIn to start a conversation! Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning. Continuing Professional Development This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme. By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives: Measure the early productivity gains seen from AI-assisted engineering and claims assessment processes. Specify the criteria used by Swiss Re to prioritise AI and digital transformation use cases. Explain the role of talent development and cross-functional collaboration in enabling successful technology adoption. If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 356 page of the InsTech website or email [email protected] to let us know you have listened to this podcast. To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, welcome, or welcome back to the Insect Podcast, Zoya here.

0:15.2

This week's guest is Pravina Ladva, Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Swissory, a company who needs little

0:22.7

introduction as one of the world's largest reinsurers. From the rollout of generative AI

0:28.4

tools across Swissory's global workforce to the automation of underwriting guidelines used by

0:34.0

thousands of life and health clients. This episode takes us behind the scenes of what

0:38.8

innovation looks like at enterprise scale. Robin and Pravina also discuss why tomorrow's best

0:45.0

talent will be fluent in both business and tech. Now let's dive into the conversation.

0:57.1

Welcome to this week's Instech podcast.

0:59.4

This week's guest is Pravina Ladvah.

1:03.3

She's the Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Swiss.

1:08.8

I have been trying to track Pravina down for nearly a year,

1:12.3

and I'm delighted to have her on the podcast. Pravina, thank you so much for joining us. I know how busy you are. Thank you, Robin, and it's great to be here and I'm glad you

1:17.5

managed to track me down finally. Look, I look at a job title like Group Chief Digital and Technology

1:23.2

Officer and I think what a huge company you work for and I think to myself, what earth does that job involve? It must have a huge ambit.

1:33.0

Absolutely. And as we all know, job titles are one thing, but it's actually what you do on a day-to-day basis that makes the role what it is.

1:40.1

And I look at my job for a very simple lens. It's about using all the tools that one gets in the world of technology, but for one single

1:49.3

purpose.

1:50.3

And that purpose is to drive impact and outcome for our business priorities and our strategic direction.

1:55.9

So that's the way I look at my role.

1:57.4

So one day, I might be working on Gen A.I.

2:02.7

The other day, I might be working on operational resilience. The topics vary, which is why I love what I do. But really at the heart of it,

2:08.7

it is about how do I really drive digital transformation with an outcome and an impact to help our

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