Virtual Room: providing digital access and collaboration within the Lloyd’s marketplace

Since launching the Virtual Room in September 2020 we've continued to listen to feedback from the initial cohort of market users (they covered carriers [20%] and brokers [nearly half] who work within the US Property market). Following the improvements released in November, details of which are available in our Lloyd's Virtual Room: Latest improvements blog, in the first quarter of 2021 we will roll out two new features to greatly improve the user experience: 

• Meet Now / Meet Later - calendar integration between the Virtual Room and users’ own calendars is vital. Using this feature, users will be able to book a meeting from the Virtual Room, while syncing up with their work calendar. 
• Voice & Video - To support our goal of a fully integrated platform, we’re adding dial-in details with video and voice calling capabilities so that all communications can be accommodated within the Virtual Room. 

We will continue to work with users to carry out research to identify new features that will be most valuable. 

We will be opening to all classes of business

We will be looking to extend access to include all classes of business. Sign up to our Terms & Conditions now to be ready for this. For further information and to arrange a demo please contact virtualroom@lloyds.com. 

As our ways of working change, we are also developing a longer-term workplace vision for the physical underwriting room in the Lloyd’s building in London. The ability to negotiate complex risks face to face with Lloyd’s expert underwriters is, and will continue to be, an important element of our global and growing market. However, we think now is the right time to talk to stakeholders in the market about how best to operate the trading floor to reflect these different ways of working. In early 2021, we will undertake a market-wide consultation to canvas opinions and research ideas about the future requirements for the physical space within the Lloyd’s building, as well as how this will interact with our new virtual underwriting room. We are keen to get as many perspectives as possible to help inform our thinking, and we’ll communicate more in the new year about how everyone can get involved. Whether physical or virtual, our goal is to ensure Lloyd’s continues to be the space to meet, convene and transfer risk.