On 19th September, the world of insurance and IoT met again as Sense Consortium opened the doors to its show and tell seminar at Lloyd’s of London HQ. Divided into an introduction, vendor pitches; Q&As then demos, attendees were shown how IoT has been implemented not only in insurance, but also by the industries it insures.
“I have been working in IoT for about five years, and it drives me nuts how slow the industry is to adopt it.” Helene Stanway, CEO of SENSE Consortium began the session, delivering the statement to a packed seminar filled with insurance execs.
Founded in 2021, SENSE Consortium is a global forum aiming to drive adoption of IoT and the use of real time data to better manage risks in insurance. As a result, they run these seminars every six months, with new execs hopefully in attendance, so they can further their idea of IoT in insurance.
Highlighting how the idea is no longer fringe was Siemens’ sponsorship of the event, which saw its Director of Data Driven X Factory Automation Timo Mühlhausen elaborate to the audience the heavy-industry company’s use of IoT and how it helps them navigate insurance premiums.
IoT has had a place in insurance since the 2000s with the likes of telematics in the vehicle insurance sector. Yet with the rollout of the idea of smart homes and factories, many complain that insurance companies are not taking this data available into account to reevaluate risk and even their services.
Mühlhausen went on to explain how the use of IoT as pre-emptive warning has multiple benefits: stopping the destruction of machinery as it’s decline can be monitored, stopping the downtime caused because of a broken machine, and stopping damage to personnel or property should the issue result in something like fire.
Yet the use of IoT need not be restricted to static schemes. Cleo Curl, Group Insurance Director, at property developer Landsec spoke about their use of IoT to track material and shipments, as a lot of their assets are represented in the materials they are having shipped for their projects.
“One thing that always surprises me in the insurance industry is the pace of change…the world is changing, but insurance is slow to keep up; it’s like the tortoise and the hare,” said Curl. The Insurance Director went on to talk about how they even implement IoT for their operation’s hot desking, to give data on what desks cleaners should clean.
This may go above what the average company choose for its IoT Implementation, but it highlights what Curl says companies like Landsec use the technology for: “IoT helps us maintain a competitive edge.”
A number of reports currently value the IoT insurance market over $10 billion, with CAGR of 36.4% from 2023 to 2032.
SENSE Consortium’s next event will focus on generative AI and take place online on 28th November 4pm-5pm.
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