Diary of an Insurer: Claims Consortium Group’s Jeremy Hyams

Monday

The week starts at 6.30 am as I have my children – Scarlett, aged six, and Harry, aged 11 – so it is overseeing the morning chaos of breakfast, teeth brushing, uniforms on, school shoes found, school bags sorted. We are out the door by 8 am, so mission accomplished.

After dropping the kids off, I head to our nearest office in Taunton, and it’s down to work, kicking off with our regular executive team meeting to check in on the day-to-day running of the group and ensure everything is on track against our strategy. 

My focus is now much more on our technology and data businesses – Synergy Cloud and WeatherNet – with the day-to-day running of the claims management side of the group now being overseen by chief executive Matt Brady.

Later in the day, I prepare for and then take part in a high-level discussion with an external business based in Australia about a potential opportunity for Synergy Cloud to expand outside of the UK. All still under wraps, obviously.

The evening mostly consists of me pulling Harry and Scarlett around the floor on a blanket for about 20 minutes while they try and hang on. Followed by another half an hour of football in the garden with Harry who is obsessed. So, whilst I missed my early morning run, I’m still getting lots of exercise.

Tuesday

Starting off again with the usual fun, hectic morning routine with young children – nothing like a lost book bag to get your brain in gear in the morning.

Then it is mostly online meetings today, kicking off with a potential new insurance client for Synergy Cloud, which I think went well – and they certainly seemed impressed by what the platform could do for them.

That was followed by a call with our people and culture director and a specialist head-hunter we are using as we look to expand the business and ensure we attract the best talent in the market.

Then it is lunch on the go as I drive down to the WeatherNet offices in Bournemouth to see Steve Roberts and his team, which I do every six weeks or so. 

After signing off on their new website, we review progress on the migration of insurers onto the new Validation Suite, and have an exciting discussion about a predictive tool Steve is working on. 

I also see chief meteorologist Rick when there – he advises the film and TV industry on weather for filming schedules and continuity – so it’s always fun to hear what has been happening on set.

I manage to beat the traffic and get back home just in time to read the children a story before bed and then an early night for me as well as I settle into my latest crime thriller audiobook.

Wednesday

Midweek, and it’s administration day – I always try to reserve a bit of time each week specifically for catching up with emails, thinking, and deepening strategies and this week fleshing out set-up and content for a new podcast with my head of marketing. 

I am really fascinated by the concept of failure and resilience, and I think any founder has to be pretty comfortable with things not going to plan and being able to learn and grow from those times.

The afternoon is looking relatively meeting-free, so I dash over to my son Harry’s school to cheer him on in the quarter-finals for the school county hockey championship. Unfortunately, they are playing against Millfield, so it’s a narrow loss.

So, it’s home for conciliatory chicken soup. I love to cook, and this is one meal I know I can get the children to agree on.

Thursday

It’s World Book Day, and for once, I have actually remembered and prepared, so the children are sent off to school in their costumes. Scarlett chose to go as Mildred Hubble, and Harry as Alex Rider. This year I am also taking part – though not dressed up, thankfully.

I have been asked to speak at the local primary school about how I started my businesses, a bit about what they actually do, finished by reading a story – using my best character voices, of course – to celebrate World Book Day. 

It feels like both a privilege and a duty to get involved in inspiring young people. The south-west has the worst educational outcomes for disadvantaged young people in the entire country, and I support Next Stage Somerset, which was established in November 2023, with the aim of bringing together local individuals and businesses to tackle some of these challenges together.

My Jackanory moment of fame over, it is back to the world of business – with more senior executive meetings focused on our evolving data strategy. 

We discuss the launch of our new predictive complaints management tool using GenAI and the roadmap for expanding this out. 

Then it’s back-to-back one-to-ones – firstly regarding the final product for our Underground Services operation being migrated onto the Synergy Cloud platform; secondly with our supplier services team on the strategy to make our supply chain more agile and increase capacity; and finally, with our new head of digital transformation to discuss existing products and planned developments to further improve our products, service and processes utilising AI and automation in Synergy Cloud.

Then as I don’t have the kids tonight, I am off to London to the theatre to see Plaza Suite with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. I didn’t think I was the biggest SJP fan, but I was really pleasantly surprised. It was very funny and engaging, so I definitely recommend.

Friday

It’s a no-kids morning, but that still means a 6am start for me as it’s an opportunity to squeeze in a personal training session. 

I am starting to get back into proper training now after doing the south-west coast challenge last year to raise money for Save the Children. I’m definitely late to the ultra-marathon party as before last year, I had never run more than 10k, but I do always love pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and I am enjoying the new challenge.

Then it’s a mixed day today, which I really enjoy. Some calls from home with our non-executive directors and then into the office for a call with Matt with a very longstanding insurer client of ours. 

Then Matt and I use the face-to-face time at the end of the week to go through where we are at across all the varied service lines and businesses and priorities for the week to come.

Then it’s home for a relaxing quiet night and looking forward to the weekend.