Ageas integrates strategic thinking with Trendtracker's trend detection

Company

Ageas, an international insurance group with a 190-year heritage, is a key player in Europe and Asia, the heartlands of the global insurance market. Operating in key markets like Belgium, the UK, France, and various Asian countries through wholly-owned subsidiaries and strategic partnerships, Ageas offers a range of Life and Non-Life insurance products tailored to meet the evolving needs of both Retail and Business customers.

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With a strong presence in many countries, including Turkey, China, India, and several Southeast Asian nations, Ageas is recognized as a market leader in these regions. The company employs over 40,000 staff and reported annual inflows of approximately EUR 32 billion in 2016, evidencing its significant global footprint and financial strength.

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Trensition plays a crucial role in detecting and prioritising trends, including delivering strategic suggestions.

"The Horizon Scan is a remarkable tool that helps us set the right priorities, drive innovation, and prepare for future scenarios. I encourage you to make best use of this rich source of information in your planning and decision making. Remember that knowledge is of no value until you put it into practice." - Hans De Cuyper, CEO Ageas

Strategic Question

What will the role of an insurance company be in 10 to 15 years?

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Objectives

• Which trends will impact the insurance industry positively or negatively?
• Where should we invest as an insurance group?
• Which scenarios have the best chance of success?
• Where exactly are there growth opportunities?
• What challenges and risks lie ahead for us?

Challenge

Thinking and acting ahead is difficult in a fast-changing and complex world in which uncertainty dominates. Ageas Insurance Group, which operates in Europe and Asia, recognises that it must anticipate change to stay relevant. It wants to continuously reinvent itself and the insurance industry by anticipating trends and acting proactively – and that’s no mean feat for a company operating in 14 countries with over 40,000 employees.

“Trensition positively challenges us. It does not replace the expertise of our people, but raises it to a higher level. What’s more, Trensition objectifies our way of thinking so that we can look to the future more confidently and better prepared, knowing where and when we need to take action.” - Gilke Eeckhoudt, Chief Development & Sustainability Officer Ageas

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Solution

Think 2030, the internal think tank set up by Ageas Group, thinks about what the world will look like in 2030. By monitoring the evolution of trends linked to ten themes that impact the insurance sector, it determines the strategic direction of the organisation:

• Future of work
• Consumer behaviour change
• Future of banking and financial services
• Societal and health evolution
• Environment
• World economy
• World politics and regulation
• Demographic evolution
• Technology and data
• Mobility and urbanisation

Initially, the company’s entire process of tracking and analysing trends relied solely on internal human expertise and judgment. Since its partnership with Trensition, which started in 2019, that approach has been enhanced with 100% AI-driven trend insights based on our Trendtracker platform.

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Within the cluster of ten trend themes and based on AI-driven technology, Trendtracker continuously monitors 148 trends that could potentially impact Ageas. At the same time, more than 1,500 employees around the world are surveyed. Based on their expertise and knowledge, an assessment is made of how impactful specific trends will be and when they will occur. This process is fully automated into a custom online platform that is used by Ageas employees worldwide working in strategy, innovation, risk, market intelligence, digital, development and so on.

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Impact

Besides mapping AI-driven insights, Trendtracker is also responsible for putting these trends into perspective to bring in human judgment. Both of these aspects come together in a statistical model. We assign each trend to one of five categories based on the results. This output forms the basis for drawing up various scenarios that Ageas can use to arm itself for the future. In brief: a unique man-meets-machine combo helps Ageas Group set priorities in its long-term strategic action plan.

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“I don’t think AI will ever replace strategic functions: AI is an augmentative intelligence that complements human brainpower to access, process and analyse data in an unprecedented way. That’s where the value of our partnership with Trensition lies within our Group.” - Ernesto Zaccaria, Strategy Manager, Ageas Group

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Discover how Trendtracker, Trensition's AI-driven strategic intelligence platform, empowers Ageas in preparing for future challenges by analyzing over 200 million open data sources to identify impactful trends. The platform's integration of AI into their future foresight methodology, established since the inception of their think tank 'Think2030,' ensures comprehensive and unbiased scenarios for strategic planning.

This video introduces Ageas' Think2030 think tank, a diverse team that identifies key trends impacting Ageas and challenges conventional thinking. Ageas highlights their unique approach to future foresight, emphasizing the importance of long-range trend analysis in a rapidly evolving world and the role of their annual 'Horizon Scan survey,' which incorporates insights from hundreds of employees, aided by an AI-powered trend scanner. In this case, Trendtracker. The video sets the stage for an in-depth look at Ageas' trend scanning process during the 'trend scanning season.

In this video, Think2030-member Lynn Lambrechts discusses the trend of Upskilling and Reskilling, highlighting how it led to the establishment of the AG Campus in Brussels, a hub focused on the personal and professional development of employees. This approach exemplifies the Group’s Think2030 strategy, which integrates AI-generated insights on evolving trends with employee feedback, ensuring a comprehensive, actionable view of the future that aligns with the changing needs of stakeholders.

Join our CEO, Vincent Defour, and Hans De Cuyper, CEO of Ageas, as they delve into the art of long-term strategy in an ever-evolving world. They'll explore how foresight can be woven into the fabric of your company's culture and the pivotal role AI plays in shaping the future.

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