PropertyCasualty360 2021 Technology Innovation Honorees
Meet the Technology Innovation honorees in the inaugural PropertyCasualty360 Insurance Innovators recognition program. (Part 1 of 4)
The P&C insurance industry was well on its way to becoming a digital-first business before the global COVID-19 pandemic forced a myriad of societal evolutions.
Now, many segments and professionals within insurance are forging fresh business practices and models around some of the most impactful issues of our time. These are companies, people and projects worthy of the title “Innovator,” and the team at NU Property & Casualty magazine and PropertyCasualty360.com is proud to recognize them.
We called for nominations for the first PropertyCasualty360 Insurance Innov
In a development that represented the robust nature of insurance modernization initiatives, nearly 180 nominations were submitted for individuals and businesses that are making strides in this award program’s five themed categories: Technology
Innovation; Customer Experience Innovation; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI); Risk Management Innovation; and Environmental Stewardship.
This year, we permitted nominees to vie for recognition in more than one category.
Then, our editorial team scored each nomination based on the following five criteria:
- The nominee’s impact on the client, company, community or industry.
- This impact should include both quantitative and qualitative results such as the number of colleagues, policyholders or business partners affected by the nominee and a clear description of the nominee’s innovative contributions.
- A demonstrated ability to achieve goals and display ingenuity in terms of creative thinking and problem-solving.
- A description of the nominee’s dedication to furthering modernization in P&C insurance.
- A personal commitment to the highest ethical standards, service and excellence.
What follows are Technology Innovation honorees in the inaugural PropertyCasualty360 Insurance Innovators recognition program.
Product
Applied Digital Agency
Applied Digital Agency seeks to help traditional agencies transform into digital agencies to improve revenue, efficiency, customer service, growth and profitability. It builds its powerful transformations on: 1) Improving productivity with a single, integrated agency management system; 2) Improving financial performance with data analytics; 3) Saving time and enhancing client service with agency-insurer connectivity; 4) Improving client retention with a better customer experience, and;5) Providing better access to data with cloud services. These five aspects of improving the function of an agency can dramatically increase revenue. https://www1.appliedsystems.com/en-us/
Product
Applied Epic
Applied Epic is the agency management system that automates back-office operations, keeps the front office sales team connected, and integrates with customer service and insurance connectivity technologies. With just a few clicks, the system lets employees view account and policy details, complete a quote, file a claim and more. It keeps employees connected during the daily workflow and finds the best products for customers. Plus, the system integrates seamlessly with an online client portal to help customers help themselves with 24/7 access to policy information. The result is increased efficiency and better client retention. https://www1.appliedsystems.com/en-us/
Vendor
Arity IQ
Arity IQ enables insurers to offer customers the most accurate price at new business by leveraging its database of tens of millions of U.S. drivers for whom it’s already collected driving-behavior insights. Insurers don’t have to wait to collect telematics driving data. By offering drivers valuable benefits through its aps, Arity IQ gains permission from consumers to monitor their driving. Arity IQ also improves the telematics experience for both insurers and customers. Insurers can price products more competitively, and customers get policies customized to their driving habits. https://www.arity.com/
Product
Boost Insurance
Boost Insurance enables companies to offer digital insurance products through a fully embedded experience. Boost is also a fully licensed MGA that can underwrite any commercial or personal P&C product. Combining insurance capabilities and technology, Boost is the only platform that packages all the necessary operational, compliance and capital components into a turnkey infrastructure solution. Boost’s platform lets customers present a fully branded experience that automates all lifecycle events. The system also helps customers develop and market new products in as little as two weeks. It has helped partners insure $10 billion since launching in 2019. https://boostplatform.io/
Product
C3 Risk & Insurance Services
C3 Risk & Insurance Services develops technology platforms to shake up the insurance industry with nimble concept innovation and rapid product development. Two recent technology innovations are C3 Profile and C3 The Answer. C3 Profile provides underwriters with a comprehensive look at any public company in the U.S. This allows productive risk management conversations and better negotiations based on a true understanding of risks. C3 The Answer analyzes exposure and helps clients make better coverage decisions based on industry-specific data, which has helped C3’s customers save millions of dollars in just over a year. https://c3insurance.com/
Practice
Carpe Data + Zurich Insurance
Zurich Insurance and Carpe Data utilize an automated solution to screen personal injury claims in the U.K. at inception to establish whether the claimant’s online profile is consistent with their alleged injury. This lets Zurich’s claims team corroborate loss facts for legitimate claims while proactively identifying fraudulent ones. Carpe Data’s tool takes a holistic view of the array of open-source data available to web users including social media profiles, news articles, hobby forums, and more. This has saved 1.5 million pounds (or more than $2 million) in fraudulent claims over a 12-month pilot program. https://carpe.io/
Product
CCC® Total Loss Care
CCC® Total Loss Care (TLC) is a digital platform designed to streamline total loss resolution. Launched in June 2020, TLC uses a range of technologies to connect disparate parties, inform decisions and automate time-consuming tasks. On average, total loss claims take 73 days from date of loss to payment. TLC lets lenders and insurers get paid nearly 10 days sooner. TLC’s mobile app speeds up the process even more by using telematics data and mobile photos to accelerate the notification process by nearly 90%. Advanced AI distinguishes between repairable and total loss damage to improve claims routing efficiency by 57%. https://cccis.com/
Vendor
Claimatic
Claimatic claims automation automatically triages, routes and assigns thousands of claims in seconds. Claimatic’s software modernizes the claims management process, achieving results with a fraction of the time commitment. The software helps connect policyholders with the right claim team member who can help them with their claim. It achieves these goals despite the challenges of data standardization, high turnover, PTO schedules, skill sets, capacity thresholds and more. Still a startup, Claimatic has already auto-assigned more than 1 million claims, improving the customer experience for policyholders while lowering the Loss Adjustment Expenses for its clients. https://www.claimatic.com/
Product
Company Nurse / Lintelio
Since 1997, Company Nurse has offered in-person triage services for its customers. Then the COVID-19 pandemic created the need for digital services. Lintelio DS offers digital screening and telephonic nurse guidance for COVID-19 symptoms and exposures. This helps organizations maintain healthy work environments. The growth of Lintelio DS inspired the creation of Lintelio. Lintelio offers expanded access to health and safety benefits for Company Nurse’s customers. The service continues to offer COVID-19 information and screening but also includes employee notifications, the ability to track attendance and report workplace hazards, and a powerful communication portal. https://www.companynurse.com/
Product
d3 Intake™
d3 Intake™ by Convr virtually eliminates submission paperwork of commercial insurance carriers during the underwriting process. d3 Intake™ automates the intake of documents such as ACORD applications, loss runs and relevant PDFs. Machine learning enables d3 Intake™ to properly transfer and sort data, leading to a more efficient underwriting experience and superior customer outcomes. When one customer implemented d3 Intake™, for instance, they were able to achieve more than a 130% increase in underwriting efficiency by offering same-day quotes, which previously required two to three days. https://www.convr.com/
Product
Duck Creek OnDemand
Duck Creek OnDemand is an evergreen SaaS solution designed to empower carriers to innovate faster and better capitalize on emerging market opportunities. The platform shortens implementation time of digital transformation from years to 3-6 months. The OnDemand Control Hub, introduced in 2021, lets carrier IT teams deploy, monitor and control all Duck Creek applications through an intuitive, web-based portal. This allows carrier DevOps processes to be more productive while limiting the burden on IT. In the past year, dozens of insurers have selected or gone live via OnDemand. https://www.duckcreek.com/
Vendor
Exdion Solutions
Exdion Policy Check solved a major problem for insurance brokers. Brokers hold liability for the final policy document, so they work to avoid costly errors by checking the entire policy document. Manual checks can lead to delays of more than 90 days between policy binding and policy delivery. Exdion Policy Check rapidly generates a list of potential errors and omissions for the broker to check. This quicker process freed up an estimated 75,000 hours for brokers in 2020 alone. https://www.exdion.com/
Product
Fetch
Fetch was born as part of an ongoing effort to streamline insurance agency procedures. This software improves the process of researching underwriting guidelines. With 38 billion combinations of variables, Fetch enables research into specific risk profiles and provides underwriting information in under 30 seconds. The speed and comprehensiveness of Fetch allows all quotes to be based on underwriting information rather than solely on premium. Fetch Envoy also gives users up-to-the-minute changes in guidelines previously researched on a carrier’s site. Eliminating reliance on paper underwriting data has saved an estimated 1,400 reams of paper. https://fetchuw.com/
Individual
Frank Giaoui
Optimalex Founder and CEO Frank Giaoui steadfastly pursues a vision of creating a platform for legal predictive intelligence, which has this year resulted in Optimalex’s Agatha Insurance Module. Feeding data into the module generates a dashboard of case estimations for each individual case. Users have the ability to work through changing scenarios to see how it affects potential outcomes. Because insurers utilize different data sets, Giaoui developed the NOAH system that allows insurance companies to bridge data into the predictive platform, which lets all insurers get predictions regardless of their starting data. https://www.optimalexsolutions.com/
Individual
Ed Jordan
Ed Jordan spearheaded the development of Chameleon technology for SecondLook, a national leader in subrogation recovery. With more than 15% of all claims closed with a missed subrogation opportunity, costing insurers $15 billion a year, Jordan saw the profit potential of improving subrogation analysis. While many companies lean on analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, Chameleon also draws from the brainpower modeling of more than 600 years of subrogation expertise. Using Chameleon, SecondLook has yet to perform a file review where money wasn’t left on the table by adjusters or other vendors. https://secondlook.net/
Vendor
Karen Clark & Company
Karen Clark & Company has consistently taken up challenges other risk modelers have found intractable, demonstrating innovation leadership that benefits the global insurance industry. For example, the Live Events process for hurricanes, earthquakes, severe convective storms, wildfires and winter storms gives insurers high resolution and accurate loss data in real time (or within 48 hours for earthquakes). Also, the company released its U.S. winter Storm Reference Model in January 2021, enabling them to be the only modeling company to issue insurer-specific loss estimates during the February 2021 Arctic Air Outbreak also known as Winter Storm Uri. https://www.karenclarkandco.com/index.html
Product
LexisNexis® Telematics OnDemand
LexisNexis® Telematics OnDemand shifts the paradigm for usage-based insurance (UBI) by unlocking connected car data at the point of quote and enabling insurers to assess driver risk and price with greater precision in near-real-time. When consumers engage with their automaker for connected services, they also can share their driving-behavior data. Telematics OnDemand has compiled a broad profile of generalized data from drivers, creating a database against which any driver’s individual data can be compared. This often eliminates the need for UBI trial and monitoring periods, enabling insurers to offer faster, more precise and personalized pricing. https://risk.lexisnexis.com/
Individual
Jason Liu
When Jason Liu joined Zywave as chief executive officer, he took time to visit with clients, prospects and other stakeholders to understand the needs that would drive the company’s growth. He delivered a creative vision plan that helped Zywave offer a complete package of front-office solutions for independent agencies across all lines of business. The cloud-based package is now used by more than 15,000 customers in more than 10 countries, including the top 100 U.S. insurance brokerages. Jason is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and has been with Zywave since 2018. https://www.zywave.com/
Product
Marble
Marble is the first digital wallet and rewards program for the insurance industry. Its design-first approach empowers insurance customers to take control of their insurance. With an educational, engaging, gamified platform, Marble transforms the information-dense insurance market to make comparison shopping easy and transparent. Even the fragmented and outdated information systems of legacy providers are open accessible to members, who get unbiased insight into competitive policies. Marble also offers cash-back rewards to members and has already paid out $50,000. https://www.marblepay.com/
Carrier
Mosaic Insurance
Mosaic Insurance seeks to reinvent how specialty insurance is sold, underwritten and serviced. To achieve its goal of automation everywhere, Mosaic uses innovations throughout the risk lifecycle. Machine-learning algorithms and natural-language processing aid underwriting in Mosaic’s product lines. Blockchain-distributed ledger technology provides transparent and instantaneous sharing of data across the platform. Data transparency, open interfaces, robotics and artificial intelligence cut costs and streamline processes. The platform has proven its robustness by supporting nearly 3,000 submission requests for insurance policies in Mosaic’s first six months. https://www.mosaicinsurance.com/
Agency
Mylo
Mylo transformed insurance shopping for small business owners and individuals with an embedded insurance platform that seamlessly integrates into the ecosystem of companies they trust. The cloud-based technology (The Mind of Mylo™) matches customers with ideal insurance products. It recommends coverage based on what insurable events are likely for each customer to spare unnecessary expenses then finds a carrier that wants to take on the risk. With intelligent quoting, customers get a recommendation that balances needs and expenses. Customers also receive personalized guidance regardless of whether they choose to shop online or with a licensed advisor. https://choosemylo.com/
Individual
Dr. Claudia Piccirilli
Willis Towers Watson Cyber Analytics Product Director Dr. Claudia Piccirilli guided the development of a global cyber benchmarking tool that includes both standard and risk-adjusted benchmarking. The data connects through common industry reference points to allow for global discussions around risk-adjusted benchmarking as an entry point to more advanced quantification analysis that focuses on comprehensive cost of risk. The connected data is visualized through agile, digitally enabled dashboards that will be rolled out to approximately 150 cyber brokers and producers at scale. The strong user interface presents simple but effective business intelligence dashboards around next-level benchmarking. https://www.willistowerswatson.com/en-US
Carrier
PURE Group of Insurance Companies
PURE is a member-owned reciprocal insurer that combines the traditional ideas of mutuality with the efficiencies of modern technology and expertise. One innovation rolled out for members is the PURE Home Spotlight report. This complimentary report helps members avoid costly real estate mistakes by providing them with 35 data elements from six different sources. The report includes construction details, permitting history, prior insurance claims and local flood, fire and hail risks. It can be generated in seconds for any MLS-listed property. https://www.pureinsurance.com/
Product
QBE Digital API Marketplace
QBE North America implemented an Application Protocol Interface (API) Marketplace to expose complex insurance processes in a simplified digital ecosystem. Delivered in nine months, the project led to 36% year-over-year (YOY) transaction growth for quote and bind. It also created more than 400 APIs that support billing, claims, underwriting, distribution and customer communication, which corresponded with 140% YOY transaction growth. API reusability led to $3.1 million in savings. Rapid successful development was achieved by partnering with product vendors that possessed necessary niche skills as well as use of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach. https://www.qbe.com/us
Agency
RightSure
RightSure is passionate about embracing technology to constantly improve the client experience while fostering innovation throughout the organization. One key innovation was its RightRater: a 90-second auto insurance quoting tool now used by 283 dealers and 60,000 policyholders, generating $100 million in premiums. RightSure conducts insurance across 43 states blending AI, chatbots, mobile apps and multivariate rating technology to save money and time for policyholders, brokers and more. RightSure entrenches its service approach with staff engaging in charity work and community events. A portion of every policy’s proceeds also is donated to charity.https://www.rightsure.com/
Agency
Risk Placement Services
Risk Placement Services (RPS) deployed Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate repetitive and complex submissions tasks across four transportation carriers. The goal was to grow new business, reduce quote time and improve user experience. Deployed in under a year, RPA reduced data entry time by 50-75%, taking quote times down from hours to minutes. One carrier grew 44% in 2019, and another grew 34% in 2020. The solution also grew submissions, sales, close ratios, policies and renewals. Speed to market improved along with general carrier and retail agent satisfaction. https://www.rpsins.com/
Individual
Wesley Todd
Wesley Todd experienced firsthand the inadequacies within claims litigation departments: utilizing different data platforms led to duplicate data entry and wasted effort. Todd developed CaseGlide, the industry’s only unified litigation management system that aligns claims professionals and their attorneys. This not only operates more efficiently, it lets everyone involved use structured data to inform case strategy. The result is reduced claims cost, not just in legal fees but also in indemnity. This helps claims organizations close cases faster and process payments more efficiently. https://caseglide.com/
Program
Total CSR
Around 400,000 insurance professionals are retiring in the next few years but only 4% of millennials are interested in an insurance career. Meanwhile, insurance agencies and companies struggle with the amount of time it can take to train new hires. Enter Total CSR, an insurance-professional training program that turns a two-year training process into a one-month course and in the process cuts insurance-professional training time by 95% and training costs by $15,000 per new hire. Since launching in 2019, Total CSR has saved $220 million for over 1,500 insurance agencies. https://totalcsr.com/
Product
Vertafore
Vertafore’s Sircon for Carriers simplifies and automates the process of on-boarding, credentialing and compensating insurance carriers. This makes it easier for carriers to attract and retain top independent agents. Sircon for Carriers includes three integrated tools. Sircon Compensation helps carriers create tailored, targeted incentive programs to drive growth. Sircon Producer Central helps carriers ensure independent agents are up-to-date on licensing and other regulatory requirements. Sircon Onboarding & Self-Service helps carriers get new agents on board quickly and easily. This improves the hiring process and reduces agents’ time to productivity by up to 40%. https://www.vertafore.com/
Vendor
Zendrive
Zendrive’s Insurance Qualified Leads solution is solving a multi-billion-dollar problem for the auto insurance industry. It is helping insurers identify and acquire ultra-preferred risk based on their qualification criteria. Through publishers, Zendrive offers test-drive opportunities to millions of users, allowing them to qualify for special discounts based on their driving behavior. Zendrive evaluates risk after each test drive, and the publisher shows a personalized offer to qualified drivers. This lets insurers acquire safer drivers and improve their profitability. It also reduces reliance on unfair risk proxies such as age, gender and credit score. https://www.zendrive.com/
Freelance writer Matthew Candelaria contributed to this report.
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