'Everything Is About Engagement': Idea File

2. Getting the webinar going is the easy part.

James sees typical financial professionals and typical clients adjusting to the new web call universe.

"People are making the turn," he said.

For most people, James said, people learning to use Zoom and its competitors is a little like people learning to use Apple mobile devices back when the mobile devices first came out.

James said the biggest tech challenge has not been people's resistance to change, or the need for new information technology systems.

"It was security," James said.

NFP's main network may be stable and secure, but protecting the link between the main network and a client's digital devices, or between the main network and a financial professional's devices, can be tricky, James said.

"We deal with sensitive and private information," James said. "Cyber threats are at an all-time high."

One way NFP tries to defend itself is to be an active participant in threat-sharing groups with other financial services companies, James said.

"This is not an area in which we should be competing," he said.

3. Getting good interns is surprisingly hard.

James himself came into the life insurance industry through an internship program in Boston, in 1991.

He now helps create internship opportunities by supporting the Center for Teen Empowerment in Boston.

It might seem as if pandemic-related disruption would increase the appeal of the kinds of well-organized, virtual internships the center can offer.

But, in the real world, the center still has to work hard to attract interns, James said. He said many would-be interns would prefer to have an internship that comes with physical interactions, not just a virtual internship.

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