This was an interesting week, with Canada Day falling on a Wednesday. Not taking holidays on either side as many have, I’ve had two “mini” weeks. A belated Canada Day to you, or Independence Day if you’re from the US.
As always, like (here or on Twitter or LinkedIn), comment (same) or subscribe (below).
Three Things
1. I celebrated Canada Day by staying home.
This wasn’t because of COVID-19 and the required social distancing and lockdown. It’s because Vancouver’s famous “Juneuary” continued into July, with a rainy day that made it perfect to curl up with my fiancee and a couple of movies and TV shows. This weekend, however has been nice and sunny.
2. I wrote a post about American adjusters working in Calgary
I read an article on the 30th about American adjusters already hard at work in Calgary after the June 13 hail storm. That kind of set me off a bit, and I posted about it on LinkedIn. I slept on it overnight, and fuelled by coffee (per usual), I was still itching about it on July 1. It seems to have struck a chord that has resonated with many people – the reaction has been frankly surprising. So, pour yourself a coffee, have a read, and join the discussion by commenting on the blog, or on the original LinkedIn post above, or the one linking to the article.
3. My humble little blog had over 1,000 views last month.
On Monday, my site registered 1,000 views last month. I always thought that that sort of level of readership would take years, and even then would only occur if I personally kept hitting refresh on the site – but the stats from my activity don’t even count, so thanks! I’m really pleased with that little milestone, as I only re-launched this site in May, so thanks very much.
According to the interweb machines, the count is primarily due to four things: some thoughts about the strata insurance crisis in BC, some tips surrounding privacy and social media, a deeper look at the Google and Apple COVID-19 contact tracing API (I think this one is important), and my various fitness posts. Motorcyclists have yet to find me, it seems.
Thank you all for reading!
Random Links I Found Interesting
It turns out that we all got used to working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown – so much so that a recent survey shows more Canadians now plan to work from home. The study, conducted by Leger Marketing for website Rates.ca, found that the number of people willing to work from home went from 9% to 30% during the lockdown. This is a big change, and many companies will find this the push they need to re-evaluate office space and office location, especially if there are cost savings to be had. I’d be afraid to be in downtown commercial office space right now, but on the bright side, suburban office space will boom. Maybe we will see more commercial building conversions to condos and stratas – provided they could find insurance for the buildings, of course.
My emerging favourite site about the future of insurance, Insurance Thought Leadership, had two fascinating articles about where things are going with respect to insurance and the overused trope “insuretech”. The first, a great look at artificial intelligence (AI), and what it will actually do for insurance, beyond automating the drudgery of data-intensive tasks or executing routines based on complex rules.
There’s a lot of talk about autonomous vehicles, including autonomous trucking. Self-driving transport trucks are in their infancy, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t coming, and this somewhat hyperbolic article from Carrier Management outlines where things currently sit. However, we shouldn’t forget that vehicle autonomy has some issues that will need to be overcome, as this (and several other) lawsuits against Tesla currently show.
Upcoming Articles
Insuriosity – I had an interesting discussion about battery technology (of all things) that has me rethinking some things about electric vehicles. Likely part of a series (as I think about it) – electrification of the fleet, autonomy, car sharing, and fractional ownership (which are intertwined in the future), and the actual future of automobile insurance.
Fitness – Several items still gestating, plus an idea: interviewing fitness nuts that work in the insurance industry. I know several. It might be informative, and even inspiring. Simple, a “15 questions with” sort of thing.
Motorcycling – I’m working on a report on my off-road riding experience in Kelowna. Plus some other general stuff from my rides, and from various points around the world of motorcycling.
Have a fantastic week!
