How the Internet of Things will disrupt the insurance sector
The use of sensors and data can offer tremendous value to insurance companies that are looking to minimise risk. The possibilities are endless, but turning ideas into actual projects can be harder than expected. In this blogpost we go over some concrete examples and we explain how the partnership between Crodeon and Datametrics can help the insurance industry to optimise efficiencies and reduce costs.
The benefits for insurers
This article by McKinsey & Company talks about the impact of IoT (Internet of Things) on the insurance industry. The reduction of costs through safety and prevention is named one of the most important advantages that the Internet of Things can offer insurance companies.
IoT sensors are more and more used by insurers to mitigate the risks of their customers. For example, insurance companies can give incentives to customers for implementing IoT sensors in their homes and factories. With the valuable data collected by these sensors, the insurer can now predict possible outcomes and automate processes to mitigate risks.
But that’s not all. IoT could help the insurance industry to completely transform their business models and to disrupt the market. You can already see many insurance companies starting to offer home services instead of just selling insurances. The insurance is included in a service package priced as a subscription.
The importance of data visualisation
For data to become meaningful and resonate in an effective manner, it needs to be visualized in the right way. Storytelling with data is such a powerful and effective way to get your audience connected and focused on the information that you want to present. This is all about sharing information that speaks to the reader, quickly and easily understandable. We need to present it in a powerful way.
That’s why Datametrics has developed Espresso. By sending powerful information shots, the user gets the full picture in one go. No overload of information, just unambiguous facts and figures presented in a fashionable manner. By linking Espresso with Reporter®, the wireless sensor device from Crodeon®, the generated data is easily accessible for your organisation to share. By using Reporter® data and creating automated posts within Espresso, the stakeholders will get to see the essence of the data in a glimpse.
How Datametrics started
With systems integration as its primary mission, Datametrics from its beginning in 2013 found a strong customer base in the insurance industry. An industry that due to complexity is still characterized by many business rules locked in legacy systems. However, the data in these silos has to move on in order to become information that can be effectively used and even better, monetized.
As technology moves on in an ever changing digital world, the need for connections with external data sources increases exponentially. The connected organisation is an important aspect of staying commercially relevant. The Internet of Things is a great example. Monitoring drivers behavior, ventilation systems or fire prone buildings are just some examples of effective application of IoT.
Monitoring elderly people
Another example is remote elderly care monitoring. The world’s aging population introduces a quest for new services. The well being of elderly people has redefined the focus on health, care and especially sociability.
To address this need, the development of an elderly community platform brings together friends and family, (medical) services and IoT. Such a platform will trigger the right actions and inform the relevant participants of this platform when needed. For example, a Crodeon CO2 monitoring device could be used to detect anomalies in a elderly persons home and trigger an alert. A relative nearby or special services will be notified and come into action. Applying this type of monitoring will improve the quality of life of an elderly person.
Using smart farming for risk mitigation
Crodeon has come across insurance related matters in many different sectors. Livestock farming is another obvious case, where the use of sensors and data can help to keep animals safe with Smart Livestock. CO2 sensors can prevent suffocation in pig farms, and smart temperature sensors can prevent heat stress in chicken sheds. Cost savings can be enormous. In general, any solution that is able to lower the risk is of significant value to an insurer.
The deployment of real-time connected weather stations is another relevant case for insurance companies. Affordable registration of local weather parameters can help speed up insurance claims in case of damage from bad weather.
Crodeon is also involved in water-related projects. Possible Smart Water applications include measuring water level, ground water level, rainfall or water flow. Leakage detection is an easy next step when reliable flow data is available. Many insurance claims are related to water damage but relevant sensor data is often not at hand.
The power of predictive analytics
By constantly retrieving data for specific situations, IoT sensors are the ideal power source for the use of AI. Smart algorithms can be used to extract information from the huge amounts of data being collected. With enough historic data, after a while these algorithms can start detecting anomalies in the data stream.
This allows us for example to predict that ventilation in a pig stall will soon fail, based on real-time CO2 and temperature measurements. Similarly, we might predict that a cooling installation in a food company is slowly freezing up. Disaster monitoring is great, but preventing disasters from happening is a lot better.
Conclusion
Let us conclude with a message to insurance companies, as cited by McKinsey: "It is important that insurers position themselves as attractive partners for existing IoT providers, ensuring that they find their role in the ecosystem and create genuine value for customers."
Today’s technology can help us to save lives or prevent food waste. Let’s work together and use technology to limit business risks as much as possible.
About Datametrics
Datametrics is an international tech company based in The Netherlands with branches in Belgium, South-Africa and Morocco. As an expert in data science, Datametrics has successfully consulted on data strategies for over 10 years for organisations ranging from start-ups to multinational corporations such as Gartner and Akzonobel. The many years of experience in consulting projects resulted in the development of several software products such as intelliFlow® (workflow platform), BestNextAction (customer engagement tool) and Espresso (data storytelling platform). These products have been helping organisations to be more data-centric and to get the best value out of their data. Datametrics makes data accessible within organisations and enables the way to become an AI-driven company.
About Crodeon
Crodeon Technologies is a leading manufacturer of plug & play end-to-end monitoring systems. The company offers an all-in-one solution consisting of a hardware device named Reporter®, a third-party sensor line-up and a cloud platform. The technology of Crodeon lets customers set up real-time remote monitoring and data logging in a matter of minutes, with no power and no internet required. Crodeon designs generic technology that is used across multiple sectors, including agriculture, industry, infrastructure, water, HVAC and research. The mission of Crodeon is to enable companies of all sizes to start using data.
