Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • July 23, 2018 • Hartford Business Journal 15 access to mentors and investors. The InsurTech hub is currently seeking applications for its next crop of startups, which will participate in a three-month accelerator program starting in February. Applications are due Sept. 30. HSB is not directly participating in the accelerator, but is monitoring the program's success and will look for opportunities to engage with it, the company said. Entrepreneurial bent Barats took the helm at HSB in 2011. A longtime company employee, he began his career as a tech entrepre- neur, founding two startups in the 1990s. Barats, who is being recognized in September by the University of Hartford's School of Business for his leadership in integrating technology and insurance, still carries the sense of urgency of working at a startup. HSB's One State Street building, which Munich RE bought in 2014, is itself an example of modern-day and futuristic technology. It's filled with sensors collecting data on things like what people are ordering at the restaurants inside the building to what types of drinks employees are dispensing out of a souped-up fla- vored water and coffee machine in the Mashup floor's lunch area. The setup enables HSB to test its sensor technology before deploying it to customers. Workers on the Mashup floor, where Barats also has a desk, toil on projects approved by the company's "growth board." The board is made up of senior exec- utives who decide to invest resources into projects that match up with the company's growth strategy. A recently approved project includes a team developing new online distri- bution channel strategies for HSB's cyber risk insurance. Teams are usually allowed a specific amount of time, anywhere from 30 days to a year, to complete their proj- ects, Barats said. "You hear the term all the time, 'fail fast,' and that's what we want to do here," Barats said. "If it's not a good idea, let's get it, let's get to it, let's kill it quickly, and move on and get the next idea." Workers from any part of the com- pany may submit proposals and — if approved — work on the Mashup floor, Barats said. It's hard to say how much of HSB's resources are going toward technol- ogy, Barats said, but about 20 percent of the firm's business is services unre- lated to insurance — like engineering and consulting. As HSB leans further into the in- novation sphere, Barats recognizes that other insurers in town are mak- ing similar investments. But, he said, that's of little concern. "We're not really holding ourselves to (competing with) the insurance in- dustry, we're looking more toward the technology world," Barats said. "We're trying to hold ourselves to a different, I'd say, competitor." AVA I L A B L E I M M E D I AT E LY H i g h B ay Wa re h o u s e S p a c e Find out why Amazon, Walgreens, Dollar Tree, Domino's, Eaton, Westinghouse, FedEx, Pepsi, UPS and Tire Rack all chose to locate within central Connecticut's premier industrial market D D63,000DSFDavailableDD D D32'DclearDheightD D DAuxiliaryDtrailerDparkingD D DEasyDaccessDtoDBradleyD Interna onalDAirportDandD theDI-91,DI-84DandDI-90DD corridorsD D DMasterDplannedDfirstDclassD industrialDparkDwithDFTZD &DBradleyDDevelopmentD ZoneDbenefits 330 Stone Road Windsor, CT 860-286-7660 www.griffinindustrial.com Hartford Steam Boiler Fact Box • Hartford Steam Boiler was founded in 1866 and was acquired by German reinsurance company Munich Re in 2009 for $742 million. It was formerly owned by insurance giant AIG. • HSB owns one of the world's largest technical databases on equipment failures and causes. • Over 50 percent of HSB's staff is made up of engineers, inspectors and other personnel with extensive technical knowledge. • HSB conducts more than 1.5 million on-site inspections of equipment and property-casualty risks worldwide each year. • HSB distributes equipment breakdown insurance and other specialty coverages through property-casualty insurers, insurance agents, brokers and managing general agents. • HSB recorded $1.3 billion in revenue in 2017. Photos inside HSB's innovation lab including: flat-screen monitors displaying real-time data; a sensor-laden flavored water dispenser; and a 3D printer. HBJ PHOTOS | SEAN TEEHAN

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