Q&A: Ash Roots, director of digital at Direct Line Group

Ash Roots has been director of digital at Direct Line Group since joining the insurer from Three UK just over two years ago. Since then, he has built an in-house digital services team and led the successful launches of new apps and consumer websites. He has been driving digital innovation across the media, telecom and finance industries for 15 years. Ahead of his speaking slot at Post’s Digital Insurance Strategies conference on 10 March, Roots explains why the insurance industry must strive to attract the right talent, capitalise on the emergence of social media and use data to properly understand the needs of UK consumers.

Is the insurance industry embracing digital insurance strategies? 

It definitely is, but there is still so much more to be done. We need to fully entwine the cloud, social media, mobile and new, big