Regardless of your individual opinion on the #MeToo movement, it continues to be headlining news and is causing policymakers and business leaders to change the way they view things like bullying, discrimination and harassment. All of these factors can result in an increase in employment and reputational risk, so we thought it was worth examining how these trends could impact our clients, their risk management practices and insurance solutions. 

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Recently Director Melissa Donaldson was lucky enough to cross paths again with Steve Sammartino.

She says “He’s a futurologist and all round cool guy. We are besties – we both have a life in Geelong, so that makes us besties. Oh and he did sign his book “The Lessons School Forgot” …with love.”

So what does Steve see for our future?

Steve was at the NIBA insurance conference, filling the audience in on what the future in insurance might look like.

He sees totally autonomous cars!

Cars that look after themselves. They are not just driverless, they book themselves in for servicing. They know when their best days are behind them, and program a new bundle of automotive joy to be delivered to replace them.

And what does this future technology mean for insurance?

So what does this mean for us? Who is being insured? How are they insured?

Do we need to even have insurance, with autonomous vehicles’ collision avoidance capabilities? Who is responsible if there is an accident? The car…? The manufacturer?

Did you know there are smart buildings?

They do more than just turn light on or the air-conditioning when in use and turn it off when no one is there. They will be able to send reports back on any issues, like leaks, and arrange them to be tended to.

I’d imagine if your building has these features your premiums will be better.

New technology allows business owners to track stock in their building, in their supply chain and even see what sells quickest and then the building/software can order new stock.

Those in insurance that define what kind of ‘risk category’ policy seekers belong in have traditionally used broad actuarial tables. Which means that often it would be about right, but in some cases people would be paying more or less than they necessarily should, based on their actual risk level. However, through using technology and all manners of devices, including GPS tracking of cars to the activity trackers on our wrists, we’ll be able to more accurately delineate groupings of risk, allowing products to be priced more competitively. All because we’ll have a more accurate idea of your actual level of risk!

There’s also interest for things like creating an app for on-demand insurance for one-off instances like borrowing your mate’s car. In today’s sharing economy, there’s been some take up of a peer-to-peer model of insurance to both create customised group coverage and incentivise positive choices through group rebates.

These are examples of just some of the new interesting innovation and use of technology that is becoming available. It will be exciting to see how it will shape insurance for the insurers and clients.

What does the term insurtech mean, anyway?

Insurtech refers to the use of technology innovations designed to squeeze out savings and efficiency from the current insurance industry model. Insurtech is a portmanteau of ‘insurance’ and ‘technology’ that was inspired by the term fintech (financial technology).

Aaron Donaldson, Director of Allsure Insurance (and Melissa Donaldson’s “awesome!” little brother) is a drone techno guru. He loves bringing the understanding of insurance and drone technology together. Coming soon are drones that can carry a person! What sort of insurance will we need then?

Drones are used extensively for insurers now, especially after events such as fires. They send in drones to areas people couldn’t access for days yet, to assess homes decimated in bush fires. Insurers had claims paid out, even before any person could physically assess the homes. It’s become a safer, faster and overall better solution to traditional assessment.

Insurance is all about risk, risk reduction, risk trade off, risk mitigation, risk transference and taking on the risk. Technology can help us do that better, faster and more easily than ever before.

As we say…”having the right insurance is no accident.”

Allsure Insurance’s Melissa Donaldson was pleased to be able to help a new client with insurance for her ‘tricky risk’.

Donaldson says: “The gorgeous Narelle found me in a women in business group that we’re both active in. Narelle’s business is Country Heart, which is actually a caravan, cafe and farm venue! She is super lovely and a joy to work with.”

The difficulty with difficult to place insurance risk

Narelle was having trouble with a reception venue that was being partially pedantic on their insurance cover for her coffee caravan, Frankie, that was to be in use for a wedding at the reception venue. Some businesses like food trucks and coffee caravans can pose a unique risk compared to the traditional bricks and mortar restaurants and cafes, due to their mobility and the risks that each changing location could serve up.

We looked after her cafe insurance and luckily, due to our network and our insurer partner relationships, we were able to offer an insurance solution for her caravan.

About Country Heart

Narelle’s parents own the biggest Brussels sprout farm in Victoria, which also has a huge spare hanger that Narelle set up as a wedding venue (here is a beautiful real life wedding that was held at the venue). She runs approximately 10 weddings a year, and is fully booked for the next wedding season. We’ve sorted her insurance for this venture too!

With our advice, support and insurance solutions, Narelle now has the peace of mind and ability to grow her business. Which she’s done! From one cafe, to the caravan, and now a wedding venue.

You can find out more about Narelle’s story here.

Do you have a unique ‘tricky risk’?

Are you having trouble getting insurance for your business or personal asset? Or perhaps you have insurance but it seems too expensive or doesn’t cover all your needs and leaves you exposed… Either way, why not get a free, no obligation quotation from Allsure Insurance? You’ve got nothing to lose but some risk, and you can gain cover and maybe even some $ savings!