RISKWORLD, the annual conference and exhibition from RIMS, the risk management society, bills itself as “the center of the risk management universe,” and it certainly lives up to that description. After the COVID-19 pandemic caused RIMS to be canceled in 2020 and go virtual in 2021, RISKWORLD was back live again in 2022, held in San Francisco from April 10-13.
Among the more than 10,000 attendees were three Joyn team members: Chief Distribution Officer Uwe Schoberth, Broker Relationship Leader Pete Delaney, and Broker Relationship Leader Russel Newman.
“This might sound funny in a COVID world, but I haven’t seen that many hugs and smiles,” said Uwe Schoberth. “People were just really sincerely feeling good about being together as an industry, seeing their peers and colleagues again, and having a little bit of that sense of normalcy. For me, it was just nice to be there and see that as an industry we were able to come back together.”
“One thing that surprised me is that there are so many people in the industry that we know,” Schoberth continued. “It was nice to see them and connect with them, whether it’s a partner that we do business with right now, a former business partner, a customer, risk manager, broker, or even friendly competitor.”
Below are five key takeaways that the Joyn team reported after they returned from RIMS last week:
- Even though Joyn is a young company, being at RIMS showed that we have a seat at the table. We’re getting invited to the party and we are bringing something with our combination of technology, data, insurance, and the fact that we have an experienced team. Not everyone can say that.
- When we talk to people about what we do with data and technology, people definitely pay attention. Our competitors are trying to find out what is going on and how they can stay competitive with what we are offering.
- Brokers are extremely excited about Joyn’s value proposition and curious to learn more. Our ability to connect data and technology with the ability to provide insurance is a conversation that brokers are very interested in. They’re trying to solve a similar problem and the same challenge applies in terms of how they use data and technology. Being at RIMS allowed us to form real strategic relationships with many brokers who want to use us as a sounding board and strategic partner as well as a carrier to place their business.
- Brokers like that they can have a one-stop shop with Joyn. All of the team members who attended have a deep knowledge of every aspect of the company, including the value proposition, growth plan, states that will launch by the end of the year, intake processes, how we handle submissions, what we do if there’s a clash, how we quote, and how we bind, among others. That’s really interesting to brokers because at other companies, team members are often siloed and don’t know what’s happening across different segments and groups like processing and claims. That means that Joyn’s value proposition really comes through when talking about the E&S space, specifically things getting lost, brokers not hearing back, the submission black hole.
- Brokers love Joyn’s ability to direct bill.
“We went to RIMS with a purpose: to be seen, to gain visibility, and to showcase our great Joyn story,” Schoberth said. “We went to build on the momentum that we created since launching, and we certainly left with a lot of it. Now it’s all in the follow up.”
