InsurTech McKenzie Intelligence Services (MIS), has launched a U.S. market-first product aimed to accelerate incident and claims responses following hailstorm events.
With the addition of hail to the Global Events Observer (GEO), insurers and loss ajustor clients will now be able to gain data-driven, actionable insights for hailstorm events, with near real-time situational awareness and accurate damage assessments.
The GEO platform also provides real-time analysis of global perils including storms, wildfires and flooding. This produces data which allows insurers to assess damages following a natural catastrophe.
Rosina Smith, Chief Product Officer of MIS, said: “Our response to this peril fills a huge gap in the market. Hailstorms are a major risk in many countries around the world and the most underrated climate risk in the US, where there is an average of $10bn in damage per annum. Its ability to cause sudden and unpredictable damage is outmatched only by tornadoes and wildfires.
“Until now, however, its devastating impact has not been immediately quantifiable. With our new Hail capability, insurers can make better-informed decisions during and after a hailstorm event, with actionable intelligence, so that exposures can be understood, claims can be paid more quickly, and policyholder experience improved.”
The new capability, MIS explained, produces reports that record the maximum size of hail and its sustained duration in affected areas and translates them into 1km x 1km grid squares.
Depending on whether these results meet certain thresholds, each grid square is then assigned a corresponding MIS damage assessment.
Using this information, MIS can then provide its clients accurate and quick damage assessments within 24 hours of a hailstorm event, even down to a property level (where the PIF is held).
Insurers can then visualise which properties have been exposed, allowing them to triage, reserve, and assess locations. This enables insurers to quantify their exposure and ensure claims relate to the hailstorm under their coverage, not pre-existing damage.
MIS also highlighted that, by knowing the extent to which properties have been damaged, insurers can quickly and proactively send the correct number of adjusters, choose to pay claims without the need for an inspection, or build a hybrid model, thereby speeding up claims and reducing insurers’ costs.
