Higher investments in IoT PropTech will lower overall costs
The panel discussion on ‘The Changing Insurance Landscape: The Reduction of Risk through IoT’ at the IoT PropTech summit, held on 19th November, was an insight-packed hour with industry experts sharing their current experiences and some exciting forecasts for the future. Speakers on the panel included Cameron Britt (Northbridge Insurance), William Fender (FirstOnSite Restoration), Sandra Henkel (Hub International Ontario), Chris Della Mora (Hub International Ontario), and Shkya Ghanbarian (Eddy Solutions) with the discussion moderated by Conrad McCallum (CABA).
All panelists agreed that the insurance industry is undergoing a shift as it integrates IoT and PropTech to provide better solutions. ‘Insurance has always been slow to change but we’re starting to see the evolution of insurance. IoT provides a way to give access to a lot more data much faster and I foresee user-based insurance becoming much more prevalent,’ shared Cameron Britt Vice President, Personal Lines at Northbridge Insurance.
‘There’s definitely been an increase in adoption of IoT PropTech within the industry. Insurance is looking at technology to reduce risk and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are a big part of this,’ said Shkya Ghanbarian, Senior Director, Insuretech at Eddy Solutions.
IoT and PropTech integration allows businesses to proactively protect their assets; it’s economical (in the longer run) to invest in preventative measures than to wait for failures to occur. It was tougher to justify ROI for risk mitigation projects previously, but companies are beginning to recognize the long term benefits, and are starting to invest on technology that allows them to take predictive and preventive measures or helps with early detection to avoid bigger damages and losses. A huge factor in this conversion has been the decreasing cost of IoT technologies which makes investing easier and attractive for smaller businesses or home-owners.
Adding how IoTPropTech is changing restoration business, FirstOnSite’s William Fender shared, “We now work with clients to utilize IoT technology in preparedness and prevention methods. Working upstream with commercial clients to help prevent incidents from happening has become the key focus for our business.”
“The insurance industry is making huge investments in insuretech because that’s where the savings are. We are part of a competitive market, and as soon as insurance companies realize better bottom lines on their underwriting, the benefits will be passed on to the clients in form of premium reductions,” said Hub International’s Sandra Henkel.
Henkel also added “The earlier in the value chain IoT and PropTech technologies can be implemented the better; and the bigger the savings all along. As brokers, it is our responsibility to demonstrate that ROI to our clients.”
“Call it what you like, machine learning, AI, industry 4.0 or algorithms, this shift will have a big impact on reducing the costs mostly because we will be able to prevent most incidents before they occur. Or, if incidents do occur, automated systems will be able to react and take action quickly to reduce further losses. From the risk management side and insurance side, I predict we will see both the frequency and severity of claims go down significantly,” commented Chris Della Mora from Hub Insurance.
And that is the end goal for everyone involved, isn’t it?
Watch the session here.
About the Author: Pooja Dawani
Pooja Dawani is a corporate communications professional and is currently working with Eddy Solutions as a Communications and Social Media Coordinator. She tweets @pdawani.
