Insurers have been urged to embrace technology and technology companies in order to meet rising customer expectations and cut costs because, while it’s tempting to view insurtechs as rivals and disrupters, tapping into their expertise could provide a win-win-win solution for insurer, tech provider and customer.
That was the message delivered by Jeremy Hyams, CEO of the Claims Consortium Group, who was addressing delegates at the I Love Claims Home & Property Claims Conference, held at the CBS Arena, Coventry on 11 November.
Invaluable
He said that new technologies and new types of insurance products could prove invaluable when it comes to extreme weather claims, which are only going to increase in the coming years.
One in every six claims today is the result of severe weather. That equated to more than 300,000 such claims in 2020 – a year when there wasn’t any significant storms or weather catastrophes. Between them they cost insurers a staggering £1bn. Meanwhile, the Met Office predicts that the cost of flooding alone is set to increase by between 25% and 80% by 2050.
Jeremy said, “Are we ready to deal with an extreme weather event? I don’t think so.”
However, he is confident we can be, and provided delegates with three examples of tech-based insurers who are taking a different approach to home claims.
Solutions
FloodFlash offers a parametric-based insurance solution, which means it doesn’t insure the loss but agrees to pay out a certain amount when agreed parameters are met. FloodFlash provides policies that pay out automatically when flood levels reach a certain water depth. It installs sensors in the policyholder’s home, and as soon as water levels pass a trigger point the pay out is transferred immediately, with no restrictions on how the money should be spent.
Meanwhile, ICeye provides on-demand satellite coverage across the globe which enables insurers to track changes at certain locations using timely and reliable imagery. Radar technology ensures coverage is 24/7 regardless of the weather.
Jeremy said, “Insurers can understand in real-time where their losses are, even before the policyholder makes a claim.”
He also highlighted the potential efficiency savings of using Whenfresh, a data company that enables insurers to get detailed information on residential properties when home insurance application forms are incomplete or incorrect.
Collaboration
Jeremy said, “We’re only limited by our imagination. Collaboration is when two separate entities share an identical goal and aspiration, and then work in a united way to get there. These companies could all disrupt my business, but actually I think there is something great about combining technologies and the sum being greater than its individual parts.
“There is not enough of it in our industry and that leaves us vulnerable to a surge in claims brought about by a catastrophic event, but I truly believe that if we start to collaborate, to join the dots and think big, then we could be in a better position now than we’ve ever been before.”
ILC Home and Property Claims’ next live event will be the Environmental and Sustainability Specialist Conference taking place on 31 March 2022.
ILC’s Home & Property Claims Conference 2021 was supported by headline sponsor Synergy; Gold Sponsors – Catalyst, Dasa, LexisNexis, Perfect Group, Polygon and Sedgwick; Silver Sponsors – Belfor, Bdeo, CRDN, Farcroft and Gelder; and ILC Corporate Partners – Carpenters Group, CoreLogic, ICAB, ICAB Pod, and Innovation Group.
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