Insurance
Insurance is, at its core, a business of assessing, preventing, and mitigating risk. Insurers are constantly looking for better information about the properties they insure. That can be when they’re assessing how much it should cost to issue an insurance policy for a building (underwriting), what damage occurred (claims), or, in the best scenario, preventing claims before they happen (risk mitigation). Using drones to gather photos, video, and data about a property is a big leap in the technology behind this process, but insurers were already doing something similar before with adjusters climbing on ladders and roofs with a digital camera in hand.
Consider the Possibilities
Safety and Efficiency
The real benefit of drones being used in insurance comes from the gains in safety and efficiency. Companies can move from dangerous, hands-on, time-intensive property inspections, to a quick, safe, and much faster process that allows their workforce to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground.
Customer experience is paramount and the ability to shorten the claims timeframe is a crucial part of maintaining competitiveness in the insurance industry. Drone usage is predicted to make claims adjusters’ workflow 40– 50% more efficient. Drones can improve the speed with which customers receive settlements and give claims managers a better sense of where and how many staff should be deployed. There is also less risk involved for claims adjusters, who no longer need to climb ladders or go on roofs to assess damage; by using drones they can remain in a safe area during their assessments.
One-way insurers stay competitive is through policy pricing. Drones can be used to collect information about a property before a policy is issued by capturing data on property features that make it less vulnerable. This can facilitate personalized premiums. After all, insurance is all about measuring risk and accurately pricing it.
After an extreme event, it is common for insurance companies to receive numerous claims for damages that existed before the event occurred. By using UAVs prior to an extreme event to capture images of insured properties, companies can protect themselves from such fraudulent claims.
Collecting evidence for an insurance claim can be difficult and even dangerous. Insurance adjusters are often handed the challenging assignment of investigating property claims in the aftermath of calamitous events including fires, tornadoes, and floods. Many professional adjusters are turning to drones to assist with evidence collection in the aftermath of a tragic event. Claims adjusters can improve both the safety and quality of work by effectively flying a drone equipped with a quality camera.