This is exactly what Matterport does — delivering virtual reality renderings of real-world spaces like homes and factories.

Through its camera, which produces 3D floor plans, adjusters can gain insight on what an insured's property looked like both before and after disaster strikes. This paints a more accurate portrait for adjusters while assessing the damage.

"It changes the product we create," explained WriteLoss's CEO, David Herring. "It lets everyone go back to a frozen point in time because it captures images of everything in the space." An adjuster can capture approximately 1300-1500 square feet in an hour.

It also solves another real-world problem of cutting down on travel time. No matter where insurers are located geographically in relation to the claim — expediting claims adjudication time is invaluable.

Guidewire

Another tool available for insurers is Guidewire ClaimCenter, an end-to-end claims management system for property/casualty insurers. The platform helps define, enforce and continually optimize preferred claims handling processes to make it faster and more transparent for policyholders.

The technology continually monitors and optimizes the claims process — as spelled out by the insurer.

As managing the workflow of the claims process can be time-consuming, Guidewire offers easy access to customer data and sets benchmarks for deliverables. This brings transparency to the typically drawn out and 'grey' claims process.

According to their website, the system eliminates the need for repetitive data entry, provides a simplified first notice of loss and automatically generates correspondence. Furthermore, it automatically assigns claims and workloads to agents based on current workload and automatically reports on claims.

TRUEPIC

With the insurer applications available to collect data from policyholders, it becomes even more important to verify that the digital images and videos provided are an authentic representation of the loss. Within seconds of capturing a photo, TRUEPIC verifies that an image has not been digitally altered, ensures the time, date, and location are all accurate, and runs through a variety of computer vision algorithms to test for fraudulent behavior. The company also creates an evidentiary quality chain of custody utilizing blockchain technology.

"Our technology aims to cut back on the $32 billion in P&C related fraud experienced in 2016, while also reducing adjustment costs and compressing the claims cycle for consumers," said Jeff McGregor, CEO.

Home Inventory from Binary Formations

Itemizing everything in a house can be a pain, especially if people make regular purchases. Home Inventory lets policyholders identify everything in their home, (even the home itself) and share data with their broker.

Once policyholders make a purchase, they will be instructed to upload a photo of the purchase, and it will be cataloged once they complete the form about the newly-acquired item. The form, which is fairly detailed, will prompt them to enter information on the price of the item purchased, its color, make, model and more. It answers all of the questions necessary to assist adjusters in performing an assessment of loss and can come in handy when issuing payment for damages.

Policyholders can segment all of their purchased items into categories like electronics and jewelry. The platform has an alert system that updates them when cataloged belongings have valid warranty coverage, coverage on the verge of expiration and coverage that's already expired.

One of its most powerful features takes the value of all of their belongings and presents it in a chart, which paints a wholistic photo for homeowners that includes the total value of each item by category and overall value. It even stores copies of receipts, insurance policies and other important files.

This solves the real-world problem of proving the value of items in case of an emergency weather, a fire, or burglary where valuables are stolen or damaged.

Snapsheet

With statistics like closing a claim within two-and-a-half days after having opened a claim — Snapsheet has the potential to be a valuable tool for claims adjusters. The technology also helps reduce the time involved in waiting for photos of damaged property and receiving an initial estimate.

So how does it work? Through a preparatory solution, the insurtech startup created a faster yet accurate way to adjudicate claims.

On a practical level, its technology was recently used during Hurricane Harvey. Snapsheet processed more than 6,000 claims starting August 17, 2017 and ending September 7, 2017, with an average cycle time of just over one day from first notice of loss to the final appraisal.

Adomea

A hailstorm can be more than inconvenient — and can cost both insurers and policyholders a lot of money.

However, there is now a new way to evaluate hail damage. As futuristic as it sounds, it taps the power of AI and photography to take over 1700 photos of a vehicle after a hail storm.

The scan itself provides an accurate digital overview of the vehicle and damage sustained.

By comparing 3D images of the vehicle to its library of all makes and models of cars — Adomea Weather eliminates the idea of an estimate and provides policyholders with the exact amount needed for repairs. It does this by providing a thorough report to insurance providers, policyholders and repair shops.

Weather Analytics

Equipped with a suite of technologies for what it calls "predictive weather analytics," the company takes over 150 years of historical weather data from sources like airports and The National Weather Association — analyzes it and provides an idea of what weather conditions will be like on any given day in the future.

There is at least one major insurance company currently implementing its technology, which allows them to tell policyholders the most optimal time to travel with the lowest threat for rain or inclement weather.

PDA Express

Here is a web-based app that makes the appraisal process more efficient. It also lets policyholders receive estimates in three hours or less.

PDA Express enables users to upload photos of damage — nixing the need to visit a body shop. To ensure things run smoothly, a live adjuster assists in managing the process.

DroneDeploy

Drones are becoming more than just a buzzword — and they are buzzing through the skies helping record and assess damage when an insurance claim has been filed.

In the case of DroneDeploy, its drone captures detailed renderings of sites, which can save insurance providers time and more importantly, money. It can also reduce the amount of time adjusters need to spend on-site, furthermore reducing the risk of danger and injury.

Secondly, insurers can more accurately map and inspect natural disaster sites and car crashes. The drone can do this by capturing high-quality images, and also makes for better collaboration between adjusters and inspectors — allowing them to complete their analysis quickly and accurately.

Even though insurers are slowly but surely adapting to new technologies, it is important to recognize the value in exploring them for current and future applications.

As policyholders become more impatient with the overall claims process, it will become paramount to integrate such technologies in order to keep customer satisfaction and response times high.

Moshe Beauford is a freelance journalist, copywriter and blogger. Beauford's work has appeared in publications such as GeekTime Israel, PasteMagazine, Times of Israel, Property Casualty 360 and Claims. He can be reached at [email protected].

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