With over 50 years of combined experience in the insurance industry, Jackie Childs and Lyn Thomas, our senior business analysts, have been instrumental in shaping Polaris and our Standards offering to the market. We sat down with them to chat about their time so far at Polaris, the changes they’ve seen in the insurance industry, and the memorable projects that have defined their impressive careers.
Lyn:
“I’ve been with Polaris for 17 years because the work is so varied. My background is a mix of insurance, particularly claims and IT, which has helped me bridge the gap between business and technology. Polaris lets me work with both sides, which keeps things interesting. Plus, the relationships I’ve built with colleagues and our clients have been a huge part of why I’ve stayed. The variety, the people, and the satisfaction of doing work I enjoy have really kept me here.”
Jackie:
“Similar to Lyn, it’s the interesting work and the people that have kept me at Polaris. I stumbled into Standards and digital trading after a reorganisation at my previous job. I ended up as an IT administrator, thinking it was temporary, but here I am decades later. My background in motor insurance worked well with Polaris’s focus on motor and household insurance at the time. Over the years, I’ve built strong relationships across the industry, and that’s been invaluable.”
Lyn:
“One of the biggest changes was the rise of aggregators and comparison websites. These platforms transformed the market, pushing insurers to trade more efficiently and manage costs because of the multiple distribution channels. Digital trading has been key, letting customers input their own data and reducing the administrative burden on insurers. But it also means we have to ensure data accuracy and clear communication with customers since these directly impact risk assessments.”
Jackie:
“Another major change was the FCA’s consumer duty regulations, which focus on making sure customers get fair value. This goes beyond pricing—it’s about considering the value a product provides from the start. We’ve adjusted our Standards to accommodate customer vulnerabilities, like sharing information about a hearing impairment with the insurer, provided the customer agrees. This shift towards prioritising customer fairness has had, and will continue to have, a big impact on how we develop Standards at Polaris.”
Jackie:
“One memorable project was our work with Flood Re. We developed a process for capturing and sharing flood data with Flood Re. It was a detailed but surprisingly quick process, which made it all the more rewarding. Another challenging project was related to provision of No Claims Discount (NCD) and the ‘step back’ rules applying for protected NCD policies. We had to interpret the Competition and Markets Authority’s requirements and work closely with them to ensure compliance, which was crucial for customer transparency.”
Lyn:
“A standout project for me was migrating our internal system for maintaining Standards. We developed a new Standards maintenance system that made us more efficient and let us adopt newer technologies like JSON. It was a significant internal improvement for Polaris. Another memorable task involved creating a guide for validating UK vehicle registrations when new formats were introduced. This guide was widely used by insurers and software houses, and even years later, people still rely on it. That’s very rewarding.”
Jackie:
“One of the biggest challenges is managing diverse business requirements from different insurers. Each has their own product structure, making it tough sometimes to reach a consensus. We’ve put a governance procedure in place to guide changes, and when consensus isn’t possible, we move forward based on the majority view. Another challenge is standardising contentious questions, like those related to insurance refusals or cancellations, where insurers often want specific wordings. Our focus is on creating standards that are clear, unambiguous, and fair for everyone.”
Lyn:
“Reconciling differences between insurers’ needs can be challenging. It’s about finding fair solutions that work for everyone. We rely on our governance procedure to guide us, especially in situations where agreement is hard to reach. For example, we had a debate about a question on the proximity of a property to a watercourse. After much discussion, we standardised the question to focus on whether the property had ever been flooded, ensuring clarity and removing ambiguity.”
Jackie:
“I’d tell aspiring business analysts to have a solid understanding of both business and IT, though business knowledge is the most important. You don’t need to be an IT expert, but you do need to understand how technology supports the business. Be curious and proactive learning about the insurance industry, including distribution models and the role of brokers and aggregators. This broader knowledge will help you navigate and communicate effectively in your role.”
Lyn:
“For those aspiring to be business analysts in insurance, deep business knowledge is key. If you enjoy the technical and advisory sides of insurance, this role would be suitable. Additionally, knowing how to ask the right questions is crucial helping you spot gaps and develop the right solutions”.
Lyn:
“I’m really into sports—football, cricket, golf, tennis. I mostly watch these days, though I still play a bit of golf! I’m also fascinated by history and science, particularly astronomy. I’m a member of the Natural History Museum and enjoy attending talks on various topics. In my free time, I love reading and diving into these interests.”
Jackie:
“I’m quite sociable and love going out with friends to bingo, the pub, or for meals. I also enjoy reading, doing crosswords, and playing Scrabble. My reading tastes lean toward light novels and crime fiction. I also love online shopping and discovering new places to eat!”.
Read more about our team at Polaris here
