Next steps

For corporate finance and risk managers, here are some next steps in determining how the IoT might benefit your risk management practices:

Begin a conversation with your broker regarding the rapidly evolving practice of using IoT solutions to solve specific risk issues. Ask what IoT solutions are available to bring down risk management costs for businesses like yours. Consider requesting a similar briefing from insurers that profess to be experts in your industry.
For any proposed IoT solution, get true empirical evidence that it works. It's best if the evidence comes from an independent third party or university-supported study.
When evaluating your insurance and risk management program, consider seeking service-level agreements that target specific reductions in your number-one cause of losses, based on your successful commitment to — and execution of — an IoT-based loss prevention program.
Consider asking your insurance carrier for a multiyear commitment based on successful implementation of its IoT-based strategy.
Speak with your peers about innovation within your industry and about what they may (or may not) be doing in the deployment of risk mitigation solutions.
Speak with your industry association to find out what they are seeing in the way of risk mitigation strategies.
Remember to focus on solutions that solve the big problem, such as general or workers' compensation claims. You may want to pay more for a turnkey solution that is proven to reduce losses.

As sensor costs fall and the flexibility of data analytics software advances, IoT solutions will become increasingly prevalent in the insurance market. The challenge for everyone involved in an insurance transaction — broker, carrier, and insured client — is how to evaluate the IoT solutions that are part of an insurance offer.

Special Reports /

The Internet of Things and corporate risk management

Related Stories

Recommended For You