A conversation with David Morris, Head of New Markets at Bdeo
We recently sat down with David Morris, Head of New Markets at Bdeo. Bdeo partners with Claim Technology to streamline the claims management process for motor insurance and fleet management companies. He unpacked some of the challenges facing the insurance sector, how AI can play a part in solving them, and the value of Bdeo’s long-standing partnership with Claim Technology.
About Bdeo
Bdeo is an AI-powered tool for motor insurance. Their goal is to empower the insurance and fleet management industries and the way they engage with their customers. Their vision? To become world leaders in visual inspection.
Bdeo develops Visual Intelligence, a specific type of Artificial Intelligence. It helps streamline the claims management processes for motor insurance and fleet management companies, reducing claims handling times from days/weeks to minutes. This is achieved by enabling an AI-powered inspection where evidence is collected via digital photos. Damaged parts and severity are detected immediately and recommendations of next steps are offered to the insurer based on their rules.
The results of the Visual Intelligence inspection are available within seconds of the photos being taken. This process can categorise damage severity so that lighter damages can automatically be routed to smart repairers, medium damages routed to body shops and heavier damages routed to engineers for total loss evaluation. The Insurer defines all these rules.
Some of our clients are routing 65% of claims in a highly automated manner, leaving the remaining complex cases for engineer inspection and expert decision.
The challenges facing the insurance sector
We wanted to hear from David about the challenges facing the sector, especially considering the overdependence on legacy technology. He agreed that insurers might be holding on to lengthy and inefficient processes which aren’t adapted to today’s user, who’s looking for seamless, self-service support.
“Other challenges include loss of information due to inefficient channels and lack of control, with its impact on the quality and duration of the process, or the low capacity to respond to peaks in demand, which are increasingly frequent due to the increase in extreme weather events.”
David also delved deeper into the challenges of integrating new, digital processes into pre-existing workflows. “Digitising the process can be difficult for companies, which sometimes do not have the internal team to carry it out.”
Bdeo and Claim Technology are working to make these challenges a thing of the past.
“The concept of a customer self-serve platform and insurtech marketplace to solve many different insurer problems is attractive. Bdeo is a solution that can optimise some parts of the claims workflow but not all parts – the insurer requires other solutions for that. Claim Technology is the glue between the pieces.”
Where does AI fit in?
AI is very much a focus of the insurance industry at the moment. Businesses are trying to find the best way to incorporate it into their workflows such that it lowers costs and improves efficiency. We asked David whether what is currently possible really measures up to the hype.
“Bdeo is a solution that uses AI to achieve a specific result within a defined workflow. It is not ‘AI for AI’s sake’. The customer should not go to the technology provider with the request to integrate AI, but with concrete results in mind; whether or not to integrate AI will be assessed in terms of the impact it will have on those objectives.”
David went on to explain that prospects tend to want time and costs cut when they come to Bdeo. They also want to better connect with today’s policyholders, who are looking for a seamless, efficient, and self-service experience. To achieve this, he explained, there has to be a balance between AI and human expertise. “The straightforward cases can be assessed by the AI, keeping the expert free to focus on the complex.”
Motor insurance
When asked where he saw Bdeo placing their focus in the future, David said “Bdeo already provides AI inspection services to motor insurers for pre-underwriting checks and also has products for home insurance claims. Our intention is to deepen the reach our product has in the motor and household processes so that Bdeo is the go-to tool for all points in the process that can be streamlined.”
Bdeo’s partnership with Claim Technology is enabling them to grow into the default tool for motor insurers, according to David. “Claim Technology has a cumulative outreach that may extend beyond our own scope. They also have an existing customer base that is open to adding an additional module from the insurtech marketplace to further automate their existing process.”
The future of the insurance sector
We asked David for his predictions on the major shifts in the insurance industry over the next 5-10 years.
“Increasingly, insurers will rely on the support of external specialist providers who can provide them with technological developments: this union between insurance and insurtech will help the sector to greatly accelerate its digital transformation.”
David went on to discuss how customer expectations are changing, and how insurance providers can keep up with shifting needs.
“A new generation of policyholders seek a remote, low-effort and flexible relationship with their insurer. Over the next few years, we will see insurers looking for ways to offer this service without depersonalising the relationship and opting for new forms of loyalty: Artificial Intelligence will play a fundamental role.”
What will distinguish successful insurtech companies from the rest?
“Innovation and R&D are at the heart of startups but it’s critical to be able to deal with large corporations — whether through the experience of the team, connecting to an innovation team within the corporation, or by using a marketplace provider who is on the insurer’s level.”
A roadmap for success
Bdeo and Claim Technology have created a symbiotic relationship through their partnership. Partnering invaluable insurtech such as Bdeo’s Visual Intelligence with Claim Technology’s one-click marketplace is a symbol of the future of insurtech: seamless, easy to integrate, and all-in-one.
