Insurers understand they need to embrace intelligent automation

e2Value talks about its web-based property valuation tool that leverages both intelligent automation and AI, as CEO Todd Rissel tells Intelligent Insurer.

Most insurers and brokers are aware they do not want to get left behind when it comes to their ability and willingness to leverage some of the new technology available, including intelligent automation.

But many are also increasingly realising its application need not be disruptive or even that difficult—and can quickly save them money, says Todd Rissel, CEO of e2Value, a full-service application development and SaaS technology provider that offers products to assist with asset valuation.

It is a web-based property valuation tool that leverages both intelligent automation and artificial intelligence. The company recently added the ability to obtain a roof with a home value or roof-only value for homes, as well.

Rissel is one of the speakers at the Intelligent Automation in Insurance event being run by Intelligent Insurer in London on April 26.

“They know they need to do something and there is a real push to act in this space. I think it will be surprising how quickly things such as intelligent automation become mainstream, and people know they don’t want to be left behind.

“Ten years ago, the concept of cloud computing was new. Technology can change things very quickly and as people become more used to using things such as smartphones themselves, they become more willing to embrace new things in the workplace,” Rissel says.

Rissel’s company has rolled out a new roof-only valuation product, based on client demand which, he says, is proving to be of great interest to the London Market in the aftermath of the recent severe catastrophe losses in the US.

Scoring for structures

As part of a strategic alliance with Willis Towers Watson, e2Value has launched its new offering to the US property insurance market, called a Structure Insurance Score (SIS).

The SIS measures risk inherent to a property based on hundreds of unique characteristics in homes or buildings. The first generation of the solution can be applied to residential risks. Scores for farm and commercial property risks will be added in the future.

e2Value will capture the building characteristics that insurers use when rating for homeowners and dwelling fire policies—uniquely, as it has a patented methodology—then use these collective characteristics to calculate replacement cost. Willis Towers Watson will then apply its advanced analytics capabilities to develop the score. The SIS uses rating variables above and beyond variables used in current carrier pricing.

Rissel says London Market carriers and brokers have been keen to discuss the new product. “After a hurricane season like that in 2017, a lot of people in London were exposed and perhaps thinking their premiums had not been adequate for the risk they took,” he says.

“This can help with that. It is not a ‘possibility’ product—it is something a company can use today, which can make a big difference to their profitability.”

In addition, the system will continue to learn based on new data and information.

“There is a real appetite now to discuss this sort of technology. That appetite has definitely changed in recent years,” he says. “As well as becoming more open to technology, a bad hurricane season like that really wakes people up.”

Rissel says that many underwriters’ minds have been further focused by the fact that they have been unable to achieve the rate increases they would have wished for, post losses on that scale, in the January 1 renewals.

“If there is no elasticity in rates, they know they need to be smarter in the way they assess risk,” he says.

Using the SIS can improve carriers’ margins by 2 percent on a compound basis, he says. “Everyone understands the slim margins with most lines of business,” he says. “Across any portfolio a compounding 2 percent will make a very big difference.”

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