With the next installment of Insurtech Boston right around the corner, Agency Checklists invited fellow sponsors of the Spring Jam ’18 to contribute to this week’s Insurtech Edition as a way in which to introduce themselves to our community. The following is a guest post from FM Global.
What happens when we look at insurtech from a different angle?
When asked to classify InsurTech startups, one would typically fit them into any of three categories:
- A product that could help reduce operating costs, and therefore, the expense ratio
- Improved and better data- and analytics-driven underwriting models
- Improved and faster claims management
But what if there was a fourth option? What if insurance providers could help their policyholders avoid loss in the first place? This would not be a zero-sum game—clearly both the policyholder and the insurer would win. So why don’t we see more focus on loss prevention in the InsurTech world?
At FM Global, loss prevention is woven into our DNA. As a leading commercial property insurer, we believe that the majority of loss is preventable, and that resilience is a choice. We are a mutual company that believes the world will be a better place when organizations pursue resilience with the same vigor they use to pursue opportunity. In a global economy, companies need to be resilient in order to thrive. Those who are not risk losing market share and reputation.
Coming up with effective loss prevention solutions, however, is not easy. Helping our clients become more resilient often requires combining our research capability with our engineering expertise.
For example, how do you protect a warehouse filled with Lithium-Ion batteries? This problem did not exist 10 years ago. It’s not a question that can be easily answered. Even the most sophisticated AI engines cannot create new knowledge.
The world around us is changing and our clients expect us to stay agile and respond to these changing risks. For instance, by providing industry-leading cyber coverage, or by developing interactive global flood maps, or by developing a publicly available Resilience Index that ranks over 130 countries and territories according to their enterprise resilience to disruptive events.
It is an exciting time to try to change the way the world does insurance. We love to learn and feed off the energy of insurance innovators. That’s why we participate in InsurTech Boston. I hope to see you there.
About the author
Jaap de Vries, Ph.D., is vice president, innovation science and technology at FM Global.
