A Culture of Experimentation and Diversity

I have a passion and a curiosity for creating digital-first solutions to make work easier and more enjoyable. I was seeking a product management opportunity, and I found it here when I joined Arch in October 2021. Here, I am like the CEO of the product I manage; I craft the future of it and I help implement that future by working with my team.  

At Arch, we have a real culture of experimentation. We are encouraged to learn by taking risks.  

I started my work in the industry by digitizing claims submissions. I then found opportunities to digitize other parts of our business, because I wanted to have an impact beyond claims. I am passionate about asking folks who are working on process improvement to do the manual version of the job for a week. Learning what frustrates those who do the work is essential before even thinking about automation. This moves us beyond time or money savings, to improving the employee experience so people can contribute at higher levels.  

I do this by taking a scientific, almost anthropology-like approach to engaging in automation via technology. We look at artefacts, persona or journey mapping; we identify bottlenecks; we do focus groups internally and externally; and we build better. I could dream up the most advanced workflow or product, but if that’s not going to actually work for the users where they are, it won’t be successful.

This is Pursuing Better Together: meeting people where they are, collaborating without fear, recognizing that we get better by sharing what works and what doesn’t.  

Meeting people where they are works internally and externally. We have had some brokers who just want to send us an email instead of logging into a portal. We also have some brokers who are digitally advanced, they are doing things we aren’t even doing yet, or can’t do because of data privacy. We build things that accommodate a breadth of ways of doing business. We learn a lot from both perspectives, by being curious about what works for them; there is a lot to learn.  

Since I joined Arch, I have motivated four other strong women to join me. My selling point is that at Arch, we get to be ourselves. As an example, I have a bunch of tattoos, on both of my arms and both my legs. Traditionally, in insurance you try to assimilate into the picture of what it means to be an insurance professional. At Arch, we don’t have to do that. Arch recognizes that innovation benefits from a multitude of perspectives: what makes you different is a strength. What brought me here is the opportunity to do more; what keeps me here is that I get to be myself while doing it.  

The Beauty of Tech 

The beauty of tech is that if you are passionate and curious, you are never done innovating. Once we have implemented something, we keep looking for ways to streamline and improve. We keep looking for ways to differentiate ourselves. This is scary for some, but exciting for people who have a passion for technology. If this is you, you need to join Arch.  

Katelijne van Drongelen

AVP, Principal Digital Process Manager
Arch Insurance | Raleigh, N.C.

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