In this episode of the Reinventing Finance Podcast, KASKO CEO & Co-Founder Nikolaus Sühr speaks with Ronald Engel, CEO of VIG Platform Partners and Head of Transformation at Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), who just took over the role as Nick's new co-host.
Here are some of the key topics discussed in the episode:
📍Ronald Engel’s background in law, consulting, and entrepreneurship.
📍Overview of his role at VIG Platform Partners and the group’s innovation function.
📍VIG’s focus on enabling B2B2C digital insurance across CEE markets.
📍Discussion on VIG Platform Partners’ complementary approach to existing insurance partnerships.
📍Embedded insurance as a potential structural shift in distribution.📍Reflections on early embedded insurance implementations and evolving product strategies.
📍The role of modular insurance products in customer acquisition and upselling.
📍Views on embedded insurance economics and scale challenges.
📍Common challenges in corporate venturing and execution.
📍Importance of strategic alignment, internal sponsorship, and operational autonomy.
📍Risks of over-investing early in corporate start-ups without proven traction.
📍Preference for lean teams and variable cost structures in early stages.
📍Use of external support to stay agile in execution.📍Experience launching the SZIGET Festival insurance pilot under tight deadlines.
📍Innovation governance across a decentralised insurance group structure.📍Efforts to shift from isolated pilots to scalable business contributions.
📍Reflections on success and failure in group-wide innovation efforts.📍Vision for Platform Partners as a group-wide execution and acceleration unit.📍Discussion on challenges scaling pilots without dedicated infrastructure.📍The role of in-person events like ITC Europe in relationship building and industry engagement.
📍Ronald Engel’s motivations for joining the podcast as co-host.
This episode offers strategic and operational perspectives on how Vienna Insurance Group approaches
#embeddedinsurance, #corporateventuring, and #innovation #orchestration across a decentralised organisation. It provides insights for executives involved in #productinnovation, #digital #distribution, or #digitaltransformation initiatives within #insurance #ecosystems, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.