Sarah joined Hastings in January this year as Digital Product Manager for Claims. In this week’s colleague story, she tells us about her background, the digital opportunity in the claims space and her love of gadgets!
A virtual induction
After completing my Criminology and Psychology degree in Brighton, I settled back in Ipswich where I’d grown up. My digital background is with Amex and Transport for London (TfL) before accepting a role with Hastings in January 2021. Like most people who’ve changed roles over the past year, I was onboarded virtually which was a brand-new experience for me! But so far, I've found that everyone is incredibly supportive, and there is a very positive team morale – I’m looking forward to meeting people in person soon!
An exciting learning curve and plenty of opportunity
There's so much happening in the digital space right now, so it's a very exciting time to join the company. My focus is on our claims digital experience across both our app and the web. It's been a huge learning curve for me being new to the insurance space, but I'm getting there with the acronyms! There's a huge amount of opportunity in the claims space to improve the digital experience and build a roadmap of work, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes to life in the coming months.
I've always had a passion for all things digital
This last year has taken my appreciation for all things digital to whole new level. The newest addition to our house is a portable projector. In the absence of being able to go to the cinema, it definitely gave movie night an upgrade. Like most people in the world, I suddenly became solely reliant on technology to stay in touch with friends and family. The thing I love about digital is that there's always more to be discovered – it's a space that's always evolving. Imagine being told 15 years ago that we'd be making payments using watches or asking Alexa to turn the lamp on! At Amex, I was the user acceptance test lead for Apple Pay in the UK, so was one of a small group of people walking around trying to make payments with devices and wearables. Safe to say I got some very strange looks from inquisitive staff when trying to test it in store!
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