PropertyCasualty360 2021 Risk Management Innovation Honorees
Meet the Risk Management honorees in the inaugural PropertyCasualty360 Insurance Innovators recognition program. (Part 3 of 4)
The world around us is ever-changing. There are few arenas where that is more evident than risk management, where innovative leaders are finding way to get ahead of the next big catastrophic event.
What follows are the Risk Management Innovation honorees in the inaugural PropertyCasualty360 Insurance Innovators recognition program.
Product
ADEPT
ADEPT (ACORD Data Exchange Platform & Translator) allows real-time data exchange, translation and transformation. ADEPT eschews the traditional peer-to-peer model of data sharing in favor of a hub and spoke model that expedites adoption, eliminates multiple integration points, and provides a rich ecosystem for partners. The platform supports use cases across insurance domains, specifically targeting the longstanding industry issue of policy/binder/invoice/payment information discrepancies among broker and carrier systems. This product, created by the industry and for the industry, continues to evolve according to the needs of global insurance stakeholders. https://www.acordsolutions.com/
Practices
Aon Global Risk Consulting
Aon’s Casualty Claims Consulting team conducted an extensive study of the entire claim review process to pinpoint what needs improvement, identify measures to fix what’s wrong and achieve better outcomes. The survey included multiple surveys of more than 100 risk management, finance and human resources executives and nearly 20 insurance company and TPA claims administrators. Aon then compiled an extensive list of best practices. This led to more strategic approaches to claim reviews, more efficient focus during the process, and claim review results tracking for continuous improvement. https://www.aon.com/home/index.html
Product
At-Bay
Since 2016, At-Bay has been on a mission to address the dynamic nature of cyber risk. Built by a team of cybersecurity experts, At-Bay’s active risk monitoring keeps its insureds safe year-round. At-Bay conducts a security scan at the start of the quoting process, identifying any vulnerabilities the business might have before offering terms and binding a policy. Insights from the scan are compiled into actionable insights, recommendations and best practices for the applicant to implement. Continuous scanning of insureds’ technology identifies new threats and exposures that arise, with security alerts for critical and time-sensitive vulnerabilities. https://www.at-bay.com/
Product
Cowbell Cyber
Cowbell Cyber offers AI-powered cyber risk underwriting. The goal is to make effective cyber protection accessible to organizations of any size while closing insurability gaps as they occur due to evolving threats, expanded digital footprint or new employees. Continuous risk assessment evaluates criteria of cyber risk, utilizing an established risk pool of 13 million accounts to benchmark risks. From January 2020 to July 2021, Cowbell established a network of 86,000 appointed agents and brokers and increased its admitted states from 1 to 47, achieving 1600% growth in premium run-rate. https://cowbell.insure/
Practice
Farm Bureau Financial Services
Farm Bureau Financial Services Innovation Manager Wendy Peterson adapted the company’s SmartIQ system to streamline the underwriting process for the Ag Operations team. Aggregate data and apply information across systems to cut 3-4 hours of data entry per agricultural operation visit to just 30 minutes. Once fully implemented, SmartIQ will save at least 25,000 hours a year, enabling the company’s 70 agricultural underwriters to spend more time serving agents and clients. SmartIQ has a bidirectional information flow, letting agents receive underwriting packets, then upload them to a reference database. New integrations are planned to further improve the system’s impact. https://www.fbfs.com/
Carrier
FM Global
FM Global launched its Hurricane, Typhoon and Cyclone Resilience Center in 2020. This educational resource has helped thousands of global business leaders think more deeply about catastrophic preparedness. It addresses growing concerns about extreme weather, rising climate-related property risks, and impacts of a fractured supply chain through an interactive experiential tool. By making decisions about what preparations to take in advance of an upcoming hurricane, visitors more thoroughly understand the risk. At the end, they receive actionable steps for risk mitigation. https://www.fmglobal.com/
Product
Gallagher Bassett GBCARE Clinical Concierge
Gallagher Bassett’s GBCARE Clinical Concierge engages clinical resources on claims that would most benefit from them, providing support for injured workers at the critical moments early in their care. It identifies barriers to recovery and recommends future needs to promote optimal outcomes. This results in cost reduction from the traditional triage and nurse case management assignment model. Drawing on the recommendations of evidence-based medicine, the Clinical Concierge contacts the claims adjuster with status and future clinical needs to guide conversations with the injured worker and the client to control cost and preserve an ongoing professional relationship. https://www.gallagherbassett.com/
Vendor
Karen Clark & Company
Karen Clark & Company’s (KCC) January 2021 release of its U.S. Winter Storm Reference Model was timely to say the least. In February, KCC issued a real-time industry loss estimate of $17.5 billion for Arctic Air Outbreak Uri. The model predicted even before this event that freeze losses of this magnitude were possible while other models did not. A recent Swiss Re report determined that the insured loss was likely $15 billion, showing the accuracy of the KCC model and proving this was a “model miss” for others. KCC is developing future catalogs reflecting climate change projections for 2025, 2030 and 2050. https://www.karenclarkandco.com/index.html
Practices
Risk Management Solutions (RMS)
RMS has worked with partners and industry for over 20 years to understand the impact of climate change across the globe and facilitate solutions that quantify the risk from climate-related events. By demystifying the impacts of physical climate change, RMS helps organizations better assess short- and long-term risk to climate change-related perils through modeling, risk data and climate risk analytics. Despite the pandemic, RMS delivered new models for U.S. and Canada wildfire and European flooding. These models and others combine RMS financial impact modeling framework with the best climate science consensus. https://www.rms.com/
Practice
Skyward Specialty Insurance Group
SkyDrive improves risk management in Skyward’s Specialty Transportation niche: mid-sized risks in intermodal trucking. This portal combines real-time intelligence on driver and fleet history, safety and performance — incorporating a broad range of native and third-party data. The powerful data allows for better decision-making in risk selection, underwriting, risk management and claims. Once a risk is scored, this information can be used to provide feedback on driver and trucking company behaviors to allow for greater risk mitigation. The brokers and insureds view their relationship as more than just insurance: It’s a complete risk management solution. https://www.skywardinsurance.com/
Freelance writer Matthew Candelaria contributed to this report.
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