The adoption of drone technology across industry and wider society has been accelerating over recent years so much so, that even the most traditional of sectors are starting to embrace their use.
Insurance isn’t known for its willingness to embrace change and we at Iprosurv know that first-hand. We’ve spent the last six years persuading insurance companies and loss adjusters, one by one, of the benefits of drones. And while we’ve made some great progress, it hasn’t always been easy and often frustrating, but this month marked a bit of a milestone.
More and more companies are using our drone pilots to survey the damage caused to buildings by floods, fires and storms and they are also waking up to the benefits of using them to survey properties to assess their current condition and risk of damage.
Once these companies use drones, they get it instantly, albeit one by one. Drones provide them access to closed off or dangerous sites and the data they produce allows them to get working on paying claims in hours rather than weeks. Despite what most people think, insurers do want to pay claims – they just want to be sure of all the facts before they do and the data our drone pilots provide help them do that quickly.
And it seems that we are approaching a bit of a tipping point in this industry. This month Iprosurv was shortlisted for Claims Initiative of the Year at the British Insurance Awards, the first time the use of drones has been recognised at an industry award.
Don’t laugh but the British Insurance Awards are often called the Oscars of insurance so it’s a really big deal for that industry to recognise the contribution of drone technology in this way.
Of course, we’re really excited at the prospect of winning but what is really satisfying is that it feels like we (and our drone pilots) are becoming an accepted part of the industry. And that’s not just important for us as a business.
It’s important for the industry as a whole because drones can reduce the decision-making time on a claim from days to hours. Delays to claims are one of the main complaints made by customers so anything that the industry can do to improve that has to embraced wholesale across the industry.
We are by no means there yet, but for an industry that is quite innovation-phobic to recognise the contribution and importance of drones to the way they operate, feels like a really important step forward.
