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How can Lloyd’s support you with hybrid, flexible working?

June 2021

Why do we need a Virtual Room and a physical Underwriting Room?

The market is about the people and trading, we should be designing channels in a way that supports this. Our Chief Digital Officer Louise Smith covered this in an article in ‘Wired’ recently highlighting that:

“Innovation isn’t always about technology. Just as importantly, it’s about purpose, behaviour, and culture. It’s about people.” 

The question about the way that the Virtual Room and physical Underwriting Room will work together has been talked a lot about with the market when looking at the future of the Underwriting Room (another exciting and once in a lifetime opportunity). Something came through loud and clear during this research.

Lloyd’s goal should be to ensure that it continues to offer the space to meet, convene, and transfer risk—whether that space be physical or virtual.

There shouldn’t be barriers to this, and connection with and between the market should be seamless with both. 

The Virtual Room enables the drumbeat of the market by giving users the ability to see who is planning on being in the Lloyd’s building and planning the week ahead, book slots if needed, or see who is in the Lloyd’s building on the day so they can dive straight in, knowing who will be coming to the building and talking to who they need to. And if not, users can book a meeting or share a personalised link and have a call/share your screen – voice or video - all within the Virtual Room without needing any other software or applications. Soon users will be able to video call instantly and share screens, as if they were walking up to someone’s desk.

At the end it all boils down to enabling the Lloyd’s community to work flexibly, stay connected and keep that heartbeat going.

Where are we now?

Accelerating and improving the user experience of the Virtual Room has been a key focus for us to keep the market connected during the pandemic. We are growing and continue to learn and develop solutions to deliver what is important to users. We see the huge potential for the enabling role the Virtual Room can play in supporting hybrid, flexible working. We are taking this vision and running with it. The core fundamentals for allowing hybrid working is flexibility, flexibility to work from wherever is best for you while still being connected to those you need, either instantly or by booking a meeting.

We’re growing…get on board now!

In the first 8 months since launch we have seen a huge amount of growth and interest in the Virtual Room. This is still only the start - we know that to have the biggest impact we need to have communities of brokers and underwriters across all classes of business so that you can find and connect with those you need easily.

While we started with a cohort in North American Property, these firms are adding other classes of business. We also have several firms to be onboarded and we are working with underwriters and brokers to build communities within the Virtual Room.

Want to see the numbers?

The Virtual Room is growing to support flexible and hybrid ways of working. As at 16 June 2021, the Virtual Room had:

33

Live firms

(Brokers: 22 | Underwriters: 11)

640

Live users

(Brokers: 411| Underwriters: 229)

35

Firms approved ToU and onboarding:

(Brokers: 20 | Underwriters: 15)

54

Classes of business covered

We will be updating the numbers every month on our Virtual Room webpage.


How Lloyd’s is continuing to support you to plan and stay connected

  • Highlight when you will be in the Lloyd’s building in the coming weeks and set this to repeat weekly
  • Search across the market to see who is/is not in the Lloyd’s building, and view this on people’s profiles.
  • Quickly and easily share your personalised link with individuals in the Virtual Room when they are available for spontaneous meetings, without the need to book ahead.

Additional features available in the Virtual Room now

  • View Underwriter and Broker’s profiles
  • View team profiles
  • See availability of those who have connected their calendars
  • Book a meeting in these available slots
  • Have a call within the Virtual Room, no extra tools or software needed

Get involved

Now is the time to get involved so you can make the most of these features and stay connected to the market in a way that suits you.

We are here to help – so if you have any questions, or would like to discuss how you can use the Virtual Room to support your ways of working, please email virtualroom@lloyds.com. You can also find information and materials on our Virtual Room webpage.