Award Applications

THE DIGITAL INSURER’S ASIAN START UP INSURTECH AWARD

What is RiskAdvisor?

RiskAdvisor (www.riskadvisor.io) is the only interactive risk assessment tool of its kind that has industry specific data preloaded, can create client-specific risk profiles and is targeted at the small to medium business market (Source: Global RiskAdvisor research). The simple web-based application can create risk profiles in minutes over a coffee meeting right up to powering workshop sessions to create in-depth risk profiles.

It offers Hazard, Business and Work, Health and Safety modules. Each module has industry specific risk exposures and controls as well as benchmarks for each risk. The data set includes over 600 industries, 60 risk classes and 160,000 exposures and controls. The Hazard risk module includes data from A. M. Best, the international credit ratings and services company who provide information to thousands of insurance companies globally.

Susanna Lam, previous Managing Director of A.M. Best in Asia, was so impressed, she not only stated that “Having worked in the insurance industry across Asia and for A.M. Best, I’ve found RiskAdvisor to be the most innovative use of risk data I have ever come across” but has also invested in the company and manages its Asia Region.

RiskAdvisor has operations in Australia, Hong Kong and USA and a workforce of about twenty. Last year saw the product mature extensively in to its current form following exhaustive user testing and large elements of customer input.

See RiskAdvisor in action - https://vimeo.com/160863886

 
Innovative digital solution to positively impact the insurance industry

RiskAdvisor strives to reverse the conventional approach where insurance is ‘sold’ and not ‘bought’ to help brokers and insurers transform to become true risk advisors of clients.

The following industry statements clearly demonstrate the need for a cost effective risk assessment tool that is available to small to medium size companies across Asia. Most similar tools are aimed at, and priced for, major corporates.

RiskAdvisor offers clients, risk managers and insurance industry professionals support with potential insurance, business and work health and safety solutions as well as associated risk exposures and controls.

“Pressure from changing regulations, changing customer expectations, intensive competition and disruptive technology are pushing brokers to change”. (source: Asia Insurance Brokers Summit 2017)

“Be a trusted advisor to clients by helping them to make sense of risk in general not just insurance” “There is a gap between SMEs’ business concerns and their insurance coverage perceptions” (source Vero SME Insurance Index 2016)

“Brokers can look at strengthening their value proposition around physical risk, people risk and financial risk as a way (to) build for a successful future.” (source: AUB Group Chairman Mark Searles)

Demonstrating innovative digital business strategies

In speaking to both insurers and brokers in Asia and across the world, we have yet to find any other tool that efficiently and cost-effectively captures a client’s risk profile, compares it with independent industry benchmarks and helps drive better risk and insurance programs.

Using any internet enabled device, RiskAdvisor captures qualitative and quantitative client specific exposures and controls, records risk frequency and severity perceptions against independent data benchmarks.

It is the only tool of its kind aimed at small to medium enterprises with the ability to digitally capture granular risk exposures and control detail.

Here are just some of the comments made by the insurance industry in Asia-Pacific:
1. To produce a comprehensive risk assessment report to help a client would take them a week whereas “RiskAdvisor can produce a similar report in a matter of hours” enabling insurance industry executives to provide increased risk management support to a greater proportion of clients.
2. A broker had been trying to persuade a client that he was not mitigating his risks effectively without business interruption insurance. After ten years of trying, the independent benchmarks in RiskAdvisor persuaded the client that cover was necessary to protect his business.
3. The ability to provide remote access to the system via email campaign has led one large insurer to offer the platform to one of Asia-Pacific’s largest retail companies. The intention is to utilise the platform to capture risk management information in a cost effective way and provide a guide to each retail outlet on the possible risk mitigation steps (controls) for their operation.

Actual impact of RiskAdvisor

Since our go live date in mid-2016, over 50% of the Asia-Pacific Property and Casualty insurance industry has evaluated the platform with a view to establishing commercial relationships with RiskAdvisor. It is being used for capturing risk control information for underwriting purposes, initiating risk management strategies, raising client awareness and enhancing insurance coverage and knowledge.

Specifically:
1) Many of the world’s leading insurers, including some of the largest in Asia, are evaluating how best to utilise the platform to improve their business

2) World Broker Network (WBN) have endorsed RiskAdvisor as a provider to their 107 brokerage members worldwide following due diligence

3) A major Asia-Pacific brokerage group have endorsed the platform for use with their client facing teams

4) Insurance Thought Leadership (ITL) have selected RiskAdvisor as one of just four strategic partners for distribution into the North American market

5) A major Australian insurer has tested the platform, purchased a number of licences and engaged with it in a number of ways including direct to their customer base and via their risk management team

6) All of our staff are invested in the business
a. All of our executive team are investors in the business
b. “Having worked in the insurance industry across Asia and for A.M. Best, I’ve found RiskAdvisor to be the most innovative use of risk data I have ever come across.” Susana Lam RiskAdvisor Asia.

 
Further detail on RiskAdvisor system

The RiskAdvisor platform currently has three modules:
1) Hazard Risk - risk areas such as property, business interruption, cyber, machinery breakdown etc.
2) Business Risks - physical and trading risks such as financial, political, supply chain etc.
3) Work Health and Safety - regulatory compliance, training & induction, contractor management, injury prevention etc.

See RiskAdvisor in action - https://vimeo.com/160863886

Each module is industry specific and provides contextual exposures and controls as well as benchmark records associated with each risk. The data set includes over 600 industries, 60 risk classes and 160,000 exposures and controls.
The data comes from sources including global credit ratings and services company A. M. Best. (http://www.ambest.com/sales/buglosscenter/).

The platform operates in two modes:

QuickRisk
For time constrained client engagements, client self-serve, industry vertical sales campaigns and where capturing client controls is the focus.

DeepRisk
For clients who are more mature in their approach to risk including consulting engagements, customers who appreciate a more holistic approach to risk containing Business Risk and/or Work Health and Safety and customers who want to benchmark their risk profile against those contained in our industry-wide database.