New technology can help insurers trust photographic evidence

Insurers can benefit from new technology that allows them to validate the authenticity of a photograph – something especially helpful in the claims process.

The widespread use of photo editing software makes picture modification fast and simple. At the same time, it becomes harder to prove the authenticity of a digital photo.

This is where Photocert comes in—its technology legally certifies the authenticity of pictures taken via a mobile device at the moment of the shot.

Truppo is one of more than 20 start-up founders discussing changes in the market at the annual Intelligent InsurTECH conference on October 3 in London. Click here to find out more.

“We don’t trust pictures anymore because we’re aware that there can be some Photoshop magic behind them,” explained Rosaria Truppo, co-founder of insurtech start-up Photocert.

The idea of Photocert was born when Pasquale Saviano, the CEO and co-founder of the start-up, had a bad renting experience through a famous online portal.

He realised that it’s not always “what you see is what you get” and he wanted to find a solution to the issue.

State-of-the-art techniques for digital image forensic authentication are photo verification tools that identify the parts of a photo that have allegedly been altered, but they can’t verify that a picture has never been modified before.

But Photocert addresses this issue at its roots by shifting the attention from photo verification to photo certification.

Truppo explained that many insurance operations are still managed in a traditional way that doesn’t keep up with the current digital innovation.

“Claims, for instance, are a key area of the insurance value chain, but claim reporting alone involves too many steps and is mainly paper-based,” she said.

Truppo went on to say that claim cycle time is one of the main reasons policyholders switch to another insurer.

Photocert’s approach allows automated claim processing, which significantly reduces time and costs, while providing a mobile-driven self-service solution.

It’s designed to “seamlessly integrate into an insurance company app and match its look at feel”, while making the claims process faster, simpler and more transparent.

For the start-up, constant innovation is the main focus. It’s already working on features involving the implementation of the newest technologies such as blockchain and AI.

Photocert is one of more than 20 insurtech startups attending Intelligent Insurer’s Intelligent InsurTECH conference on October 3 in London. Click here to find out more.

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