The Guardian newspaper reports today that one of the last bastions of tradition at Lloyd's of London is about to succumb to the lure of the iPad. Apparently the venerable insurance firm is currently holding trials in its underwriting room with a view to replacing the paper underwriting slips, which have been carried for centuries by insurance brokers, with iPads. A handful of brokerages are currently trialing the use of iPads in Lloyd's underwriting room, and if the trial proves successful, the use of iPads instead of underwriting slips is expected to become commonplace at Lloyd's.
According to The Guardian story, Lloyd's still operates in a very similar way to when it was first set up in Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse in Tower Street in London in 1688, but Sue Langley, Lloyd's director of market operations, says that may well all be about to change, thanks to the iPad. "We have a queue of brokers wanting to join [the trial]," she told The Guardian. "We're using iPads to drive cultural change. We want to modernise without losing the essence of Lloyd's."
Source: The Guardian
