Industry leader interview: Jess Woodhouse, Chief Operating Officer, Homeprotect, part of Avantia Group 

Jess Woodhouse, Chief Operating Officer, Homeprotect, part of Avantia Group, shares what she describes as a ‘leap of faith’ in joining Homeprotect, and considers how inflation, global warming and AI are all impacting the industry.  

Tell us a bit about you – how you got into the sector, your career path to date and what the current role entails.  

I started my career at British Gas, firstly as part of their graduate scheme before going on to a number of roles across operations in business process, change, transformation and customer journeys. I then joined the AA as their Head of Business Improvement, which was a role involving all things continuous improvement and change across the Road and subsequently, the Insurance operations.  

After several years in support roles, I decided I wanted to be more involved in the action and got the opportunity to lead the operational teams across the Road Sales and Retention Operations, including looking after the breakdown claims team. I had a short stint at Openreach before being asked if I’d join Homeprotect.  

It was a leap of faith at the time as I hadn’t heard of Homeprotect and I was only just getting started at Openreach, but it is by far the best career decision I have made to date!  

Provide us with an insight into the Homeprotect business, the market you serve and how it supports the claims process/customer journey.  

Homeprotect is an award-winning direct-to-consumer home insurance brand, and the only UK home insurer with a quote footprint of 97%. As an MGA, we have delegated authority for a number of functions from pricing through to claims and complaint handling, and everything in between.  

We were founded in 2002 on a simple principle – to provide protection to people underserved by the home insurance industry. What we mean by ‘underserved’ is that we aim to insure people whose situations are a little more unique, for example people who want to buy a unique property, renovate, rent a home, unoccupied properties, holiday homes, flat roof properties, listed buildings, homes near water…customers who traditionally may have struggled to get cover from mainstream insurers.  

We support these customers from the beginning of their journey, right through to making a claim if needed.  Aside from that, it’s a brilliant place to work with a great culture and we have some fun along the way.  

What are the major trends impacting your role, the business and the wider industry currently?  

There are the usual external forces at play such as inflation and global warming that are a constant challenge for our industry. After the rates of inflation we saw across the last few years we’d be naïve to think that there are more stable and predictable times ahead.  

I think this will remain a critical area to watch especially with the government’s plans to build over 1.5 million homes across the next five years – we could find the claims industry under pressure once again as we see a shortage of skilled labour and demand for materials increase.  

Additionally, global warming – and the unpredictable weather that goes with it – will continue to stress test our businesses and supply chains. As an industry we will need to continue to adapt our responses to such peaks and troughs in demand and find better, quicker and more efficient ways to flex up and down accordingly.  

Internally at Homeprotect we are constantly reviewing our surge responses, understanding how we can gain competitive advantage for the benefit of our customers and are always looking for new ways and new suppliers who can support us at such a critical ‘moment of truth’.   

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention AI – whether you believe it is coming quicky or slowly, ultimately it is coming, and in my opinion, it is coming quickly.  

AI isn’t a bandwagon we’ve suddenly jumped on; we’ve been using it for years (and long before most insurers) to make intelligent real-time decisions for our customers. But what is new is how we can now start to deploy this technology throughout our operations with varying levels of sophistication.  We spend lots of time debating what we buy vs what we build.  

AI will also undoubtedly play a part in shaping the claims solution, but will never replace the need for top quality claims handlers making sure our customers get the outcomes they need.  Ultimately, AI will change our industry forever, and in my opinion it will be a force of good, enabling more consistent, quicker decisions, and allowing us to assimilate information and reports for our handlers in more effective ways.   

How is your business leveraging new technologies and generational talent/skillsets to deliver better customer outcomes?  

We’ve just been through a monumental transformation, insourcing our claims model – what takes some businesses years took us a matter of months. As part of this transformation, we’ve recruited over 40 new roles into our business and implemented a whole new system.  

This has led to us thinking carefully about how we attract and retain industry leading talent and how we set our people up with the tools and technology to enable them to perform at their best and deliver for our customers. We believe that our people are one of our biggest assets, with the power to turn what could be a very distressing customer experience into an experience where our customers feel informed, supported and empowered to resolve their claim.  

We have thought deeply about career pathways and how we blend deep technical experience with new ways of thinking. We’ve also worked with a technology partner, 360Globalnet, who are as ambitious and determined as us to create something truly differentiated.   

How do you envisage insurance/insurance claims will evolve in the next 3 years?  

From my experience I think there is so much opportunity to modernise the insurance claims industry, whether that is new technologies, different approaches to supply chain and fulfilment or simply improving operational rigour by taking good practice from other industries.  

I’m fortunate enough to be mentored by some experienced and impressive claims industry professionals and they tell me time and time again how for years many businesses have not invested in this area…well, times are changing. There is the realisation that the claims experience is a true differentiator and a key strategic asset, and, on that basis, I think the next three years will be truly exciting and a pivotal time for the industry.   

What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received? And why?  

‘If you’re good enough you’re old enough’ – it has always stuck with me. This was early on in my career, and I had just got a role where I often found I was walking into rooms where, not only was I the only female, but I was also usually younger than many of my peers (not so often the case now, two children and a few hard years later).  

I was questioning if it was right I was there, and a very inspirational leader said this to me at the time. I now apply the principle in many situations i.e. If you’re good enough it doesn’t matter your age, gender, background etc – go in and show them what you can do. 

Jess is set to take to the stage at ILC’s MGA Claims Conference taking place at the Queen Elizabeth Centre in London on 12 February, to find out more about the event click here.