How We're Helping to Build the Future of Insurance with Our Clients

How We’re Helping to Build the Future of Insurance with Our Clients

Article written by Claire Sargeant

In August 2018, our Chief Operating Officer David James, was invited to join the UK Prime Minister Theresa May on her Africa trade mission. One stop on the trip was South Africa where the fintech industry is pioneering in the delivery of financial services to consumers through the use of technology and smartphones.

While there, David had the opportunity to visit our client, South African financial services giant Liberty South Africa, allowing us to formally announce our partnership with them following the successful launch of their innovative telematics proposition, Liberty Short-Term Insurance, which incorporates The Floow’s telematics and scoring capability within it.

Only available in South Africa, Liberty Short-Term - underwritten by Standard Insurance Limited - is a pioneering insurtech proposition offering a range of personal lines insurance products which can be serviced entirely online from quote to purchase and beyond.

This proposition with Liberty Short-Term is quite different to many other projects we have worked on over the past six years as it was conceived with an extremely strong focus on customer engagement at its heart, ensuring a seamless experience for the end-user delivered almost entirely via technology.

For Liberty Short-Term Insurance Chief Executive, Marty Epstein, the aim with this proposition was to “revolutionize the short-term insurance market by making it quick, easy and accessible - all enabled by smart technology.”

Liberty Short-Term is aimed at the young professionals demographic so it was important that this proposition was extremely user-friendly, taking the time and effort out of buying an insurance policy.

The team at Liberty understood this and as a result, they started work on a chatbot which would be accessible via social media messaging platforms and could easily be added into the app to handle customer communications. The resulting chatbot allows app users to self-serve the insurance buying process by allowing them to receive a quote in a matter of minutes and handle any issues that arise throughout the duration of the policy quickly and efficiently.

Drivers obtain their quote and authenticate their identity by using the chatbot to share and upload identity documents such as a driver’s license. With quote in hand, drivers have the opportunity to prove their safety behind the wheel by passing an initial ‘driver test’. This test requires drivers to record their trips in the app over the course of 300km. These trips are then measured by a set of robust driver scores to help identify those who qualify for a reduced quote based on their driving.

The Floow’s scoring capability, FloowScore, is central to Liberty Short-Term as it provides driver scores for the test and it is this data science and scoring experience which sits within the app, collecting trip data and providing unique insights to the driver about their behavior behind the wheel.

We measure a number of areas including the driver’s level of distraction and how aggressive their driving style is by monitoring speed and smoothness of driving. The Floow’s Data Science team has worked on some unique scoring for this client alongside their actuarial leads, based around the specific driving style of South African motorists and calibrated to local driving conditions.

Throughout the initial driving test, the driver receives regular feedback from Liberty Short- Term’s chatbot to help and encourage them to pass the test through improvements to their driving behavior.

Once the driver records over 300km of trips, they receive a competitively priced insurance premium and if they sign up for a policy, they will continue to receive useful feedback and tips from the chatbot as well as having the opportunity to earn rewards, such as Uber vouchers, for continued safe driving.

The use of the chatbot in their solution has been a great way for Liberty South Africa to stay ahead of the market as insurers increasingly look for ways to boost engagement with insurance and telematics-based propositions.

According to the 2018/19 report by Insurance Innovators on The Future of General Insurance, 76% of insurers and brokers questioned expect chatbots to guide customers through processes in five years time, while currently only 23% of insurers and brokers offer this capability.

Around 66% of those questioned also expect chatbots to provide advice on product selection in five years time, while 62% expect them to handle claims. However 21% and 14% respectively are already offering these solutions in some capacity to their customers. Those who have already adopted this technology, such as Liberty South Africa, are ensuring that they stay ahead of the curve by offering services which can change the user experience for the better.

“This telematics-based personal lines insurance proposition is the first in a range of products to be launched, and we are delighted with the capability and partnership that The Floow has brought to making this happen.” - Marty Epstein, Chief Executive at Liberty Short-Term Insurance

In the same report, they quote global research and advisory firm, Gartner, who believe that 25% of customer service and support operations will integrate chatbot technology by 2020, up from less than two per cent in 2017. They report that “organizations that have already implemented the technology reporting a reduction of up to 70% in call, chat and/or email inquiries, increased customer satisfaction and a 33% saving per voice engagement.”

In all the insurer conversations we have it’s clear that there’s a recognition around the importance of creating propositions which are not only engaging but are also simple to use. Our insurance partners are focusing on making the whole insurance process faster and more convenient for busy consumers while also improving what can be a complicated and lengthy experience, particularly when it comes to making a claim.

It has been fantastic to work so closely with Liberty South Africa on this proposition and to learn together in close partnership. As we continue our focus on creating engaging experiences for the end-user, we will take what we have learned from our work with Liberty to improve our offering for clients and end-users to ensure that the customer experience is engaging, efficient and seamless for every single telematicsbased policyholder.