Microsoft teams up with AI-based underwriting tool provider

Microsoft has teamed up with Flyreel, an artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted underwriting solution for commercial and residential properties, according to a Feb. 15 press release.

As part of the alliance, Microsoft is investing resources and expertise to accelerate Flyreel's go-to-market strategy, bringing new efficiency and accuracy to the property and casualty insurance market.

“So many of our insurance industry clients have been asking for this kind of intelligent, automated solution to help them cut costs, improve operational efficiency, and increase customer satisfaction and retention. But, we’ve been unable to find one – until now,” said Colin McClive, director, US insurance industry at Microsoft. “That’s why we’re so excited to work with Flyreel. Their solution does just that by enabling end users to conduct on-demand property inspections for better transparency and accuracy across the entire carrier-policyholder relationship.”

Insurance carriers face a number of challenges when it comes to efficiently and accurately pricing premiums and underwriting coverage. For high-value properties, a professional inspector may conduct an assessment, but this is expensive, inconsistent and can be difficult to scale. Many properties are insured sight-unseen based on averages for property features, contents and liability. That means carriers risk overvaluing the property, quoting a high premium and losing the business, or they may undervalue and charge too little, resulting in premium leakage. This can lead to insufficient coverage and customer dissatisfaction, especially in the wake of a claim, according to the statement.

“Nearly 40 percent of customers look to switch carriers after a claim because of dissatisfaction with the way it was handled--most often because of discrepancies between the amount they thought they were covered for, versus what the insurance company is willing to pay,” said Cole Winans, CEO of Flyreel. “Flyreel solves that problem by letting the customer or another authorized end user act as the inspector to conduct an accurate assessment of the property value and its contents, ensuring a more accurate quote and sufficient coverage from the carrier. It’s a win for the entire insurance industry.”

Built for scale on the Microsoft Azure platform and delivered through a mobile app, Flyreel’s conversational AI-powered assistant can be used by customers, inspectors or brokers, guiding them through inspections just like an expert underwriter would, adapting to the user’s input to ask appropriate questions. Flyreel’s proprietary, insurance-specific computer vision technology documents the property’s contents, condition and more to create a complete inventory with exceptional ease and speed. Insurers get detailed property and contents reports, allowing them to make underwriting decisions quickly and transparently, based on accurate data.

This enables carriers to offer better coverage and pricing to customers and work with policyholders to jointly mitigate risk. In the event of a claim, this baseline documentation helps minimize claim cycle times and expenses to ensure expediency and customer satisfaction at every point in the insurance lifecycle.

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