Technology Is Changing The Insurance Industry

It’s no secret that technology is having a substantive effect on pretty much every vertical out there, including insurance. Never has that been more clear than in the wake of the unprecedented hurricane seasons the past few years. In the wake of the last few hurricanes aerial imaging technology was utilized to help with damage assessment, and it’s changing the game.

A KPMG survey of roughly 300 senior insurance executives found that the two biggest challenges facing insurance companies in the wake of these last few hurricanes are difficulties assessing property damage and managing customer expectations of coverage. To try to solve that problem, many insurance companies turned to using drones to help speed up damage assessment to allow them to process claims more quickly.

Laura Hay, the National Insurance leader of KPMG, told the Insurance Journal that, “The insurance industry has been doing a great job embracing technological innovation…The recent hurricanes will present an opportunity to showcase some of the advancements made in assessing damages and rapidly settling claims.”

Many insurers, like Travelers and Farmers, are utilizing drones to help speed the damage assessment process up in the wake recent hurricanes, starting a several years ago in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria.

However, not all insurance companies have the resources to invest in, what is still, rather expensive technology. To solve that problem, several companies are popping up that offer aerial and drone services to insurance companies for the purpose of assessing property damage. EagleView seems to be the most popular of these services and was utilized in the wake of these last few hurricanes. In fact, after reviewing Harvey images EagleView donated their images to FEMA for free to help in the aftermath.

It’s exciting to see drones already being used in the field to help make insurance companies more efficient in processing claims after a major disaster. We will likely see this happen increasingly more often as technology continues to improve.

Source: Insurance Journal