SIR Research Workshops Recap: Key Takeaways for Insurance Researchers

Corporate Insight recently attended the 2025 Research Workshops hosted by the Society of Insurance Research (SIR). The webinar-based series with virtual skill building sessions brought together competitive intelligence experts, insurance researchers, product developers and UX specialists. Throughout the sessions, emphasis was placed on the core competencies of competitive intelligence, which include not only research and strategic thinking, but relationship building, innovation and curiosity.

 

Experts broke down various resources for sharing insights to clients that raise awareness of emerging trends while resonating with multiple audiences:

• In the Beyond the Inbox: Leveraging your Market and Competitive Intelligence Core Competencies to Develop New Ways to Share Insights session, presenters Rachel Dowlin and Amber Dowd from Excellus BCBS incorporated brainstorming sessions into the presentation, with moments to pause and workshop with handouts shared in the webinar. The handouts outline steps for participants to identify and evaluate available internal tools and platforms and design a strategic plan aligning with team goals. Collaboration was emphasized at every step, encouraging participants to leverage new partnerships across teams and departments. The interactive workshop left market and competitive intelligence professionals with a sense of empowerment, ready to elevate their influence and visibility across the organization.

• The Best of Both Worlds, Marrying CI with Voice of the Customer Research to Create 360 Degree View session offered practical approach solutions to bridge the value of competitive intelligence and the voice of the customer through case study examples. Speakers from Moda Partners, FCSI and MassMutual broke down varying approaches to addressing this issue, with affordable vendor insight options. The results increase research accuracy, report greater depth in detail, identify un-met needs and best practices, and deliver actionable recommendations.

• Intentional use of artificial intelligence tools was discussed as a resource to augment insights communication. In AI-Powered Storytelling: Turning Research into Strategic Influence & Conference Wrap Up, Smirti Sinha, the CEO of Natural Healing House, explained how using AI can help compress time when distilling raw data to an actionable story to communicate research impact. The session left participants with five plug-and-play AI prompts that elevate the storytelling power of any research team—without needing technical expertise or live tools.

Corporate Insight continues to monitor cross-industry research with best practices in mind as customer and user expectations increase. Joining sessions such as SIR Research Workshops provide opportunities for industry leaders to better adapt to customer needs with resources for disseminating data driven insights.

Visit CI’s Insights section for more information on the latest insurance trends and takeaways. Be sure to check out our research services in four areas: Health Plan, Medicare, Health System and Pharmacy.