Insurance Times’ annual Tech and Innovation Awards were back last night (22 September 2022) at London’s glamorous Royal Lancaster Hotel.
Sponsored by Genasys, NIG, Carpenters Group and Sønr, the event showcased 22 different award categories recognizing finalists who are going the extra mile to use technology to improve insurance processes and the customer experience.
Opening the evening, Insurance Times editor Katie Scott said: “Just featuring on one of tonight’s shortlists is an accolade in itself.
“The same goes for the nominated categories – in particular Technology Champion of the Year. It’s so inspiring to see how firms have really capitalized on accelerated technology and digital advancements made during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Scott also introduced a new host for this year’s Tech and Innovation Awards – writer, presenter and comedian Timandra Harkness, who is best known for BBC Radio 4 series FutureProofing and How to Disagree, as well as her book Big data: Does size matter?
Scott added: “Harkness is the ideal presenter for such a technology-centric event, with a background in statistics, science and maths.”
One of the most prestigious awards of the night was the Technology Champion of the Year – 2022’s title went to FloodFlash’s broker success manager Ola Jacob.
Jacob was shortlisted in this nominated category alongside Axa’s Tara Foley, ex-Lloyd’s Lab leader Ed Gaze, Insurtech Gateway’s Robert Lumley, Nuvalaw’s Willie Pienaar and Percayso Inform’s Richard Tomlinson.
Multiple wins
Other winners on the night include Zurich, which won Best Insurer on eTrading Platform. The judges thought Zurich showed “an impressive service improvement journey”. The highly commended prize went to QBE.
Ageas and CoreLogic were named winners in the Best Use of Technology by an Insurer for Customer Experience – Claims category, while Zurich UK received highly commended recognition.
The Corporate Innovator of the Year award, sponsored by Sønr, went to Aviva for showing “a rare level of maturity” and a “strong and measurable focus”. The highly commended prize went to Zurich.
As for the Best Insurer Extranet accolade, this went to AIG Extra due to its ”user interface that their broker partners really desire”. Zurich nabbed another highly commended with its Zurich Online extranet, making this the insurer’s fourth prize of the night.
The Best Customer App award went to CPP Group and Blink Parametric. The judges said this joint entry stood out because it “solves the very topical, real world problem of quickly compensating distressed travelers when checked luggage gets delayed or lost at arrival airports”.
CPP Group and Blink Parametric also bagged another award – Best Use of Technology for Customer Experience – which was sponsored by NIG.
Meanwhile, Sprout.ai won the Best Use of Technology by a Technology Supplier for Customer Experience – Claims award for its broad proposition that “touches the lives of many customers” and “frees up time to focus on customer relationships”.
Sprout.ai additionally scored a second award win by nabbing the Technology Partner of the Year prize.
Innovation
As the night continued, the Best Broker Software Management House award went to Applied Systems, while David Oliver Associates (DOA) Underwriting bagged the accolade for Best MGA for Broker Service – the judges thought its proposition delivered ”a great level of service to its broker partners”.
The Insurance Startup Award, which was sponsored by Genasys and presented by the technology company’s co-chief executive Andre Symes, saw a highly commended go to Arma Karma, while Ticker was named the winner. The judges said Ticker had “made real progress towards his goal of taking telematics out of [the] young driver niche”.
The award for Technology Innovation of the Year – Process Automation went to broker IGO4, law firm Horwich Farrelly bagged Technology Innovation of the Year – Claims and consultancy Lane Clark and Peacock (LCP) took home the Risk Modeling Technology of the Year prize.
Software as a service platform company Send, meanwhile, picked up the award for Technology Innovation of the Year – Underwriting for creating an underwriting workbench “to handle standardized tasks, enabling human underwriters to spend [their] time more creatively”, according to the award judges.
The Internet Breakthrough Award went to VisionTrack – the judges thought this entry stood out because it had taken “computer vision and found a practical application for it”.
The Fraud Technology of the Year award, sponsored by Carpenters Group and presented by the law firm’s chief information officer Karen Campbell, went to data enrichment firm Percayso Inform. The judges said the scope and vast use of data within the company’s proposal was impressive.
The Data Analytics Excellence Award went to LexisNexis Risk Solutions, recognizing its “game changer” no claims discount module.
Other winners included The Green Parts Specialist, which won Technology Partner of the Year – ESG, AutoProtect Group, which won Best use of Technology for Customer Experience – Claims, as well as Aviva and Acturis – this joint entry succeeded in the Best Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) category.
Congratulations to all of the evening’s winners.