“ Purchasing excess flood insurance is a prudent move for homeowners with asset values that far exceed the parameters of primary flood coverage , which limits coverage at $ 250,000 , especially if you are in a high-risk flood zone ,” Rivera adds .
3 . EXPLAIN THE NEW “ TECH ” EXPERIENCE
Technologies , including artificial intelligence ( AI ) and 3D property data , are becoming dominant features in the underwriting process . The use of drones to create aerial images of risk areas can help carriers and agents identify and manage risks .
“ Many insurers are using aerial imagery in their underwriting process to look for surrounding hazards and , more importantly as it relates to flood insurance , be able to identify ground elevations and foundation types , which will likely impact the rate or cost of a flood insurance policy ,” Brum says .
“ Climate change may be out of an insurance company ’ s control ; however , utilizing technology and AI to develop accurate catastrophe and flood modeling may be invaluable to an insurer as it will assist carriers in creating new products , increased limits but most importantly , predicting the probability of risks before they occur and mitigating those risks to avoid and reduce the number of casualties ,” Brum explains .
With technological advances ,
“ carriers are able to remove the unnecessary steps from the underwriting process by streamlining the submission to quote process ,” says John Stammen , CEO , Convr , an AI company serving commercial insurance organizations . “ Whether you ’ re writing flood insurance or any other type of insurance , it ’ s about data — and there ’ s more data out there than we can consume .”
Speed and efficiency are key to supporting the underwriting process and AI is emerging as the game-changing technology of the insurance sector . As the use of AI expands , agents and carriers have the ability “ to take a submission and pull out the critical elements of data , look at the publicly available data sources in real-time , fuse all that together , and then present to the underwriter answers that pre-qualify a submission ,” Stammen says .
Olivia Overman is a content editor for Independent Agent magazine . She has a Masters Degree in Journalism from American University . She has worked in the insurance industry in both the U . K . and U . S ., including the Department of Insurance , Securities and Banking in Washington , D . C ., and the Financial Services Authority in London . She lives with her family in Virginia .
Bremen Farmers Mutual Insurance Company
Serving Kansas since 1888
• Homeowners
• Agri – Pak ( Farmowners )
• Preferred Homeowners • Inland Marine
• Dwelling Fire
• Business Owners
• Online quoting , application submission , and document view available
Curtis Holle • President
Becky Scheele • Claims Mgr .
Bryce Peters • Underwriting Mgr .
201 Brenneke St . | Bremen , KS 66412 T : 800.562.5712 | F : 785.337.2414 www . bfmic . com Email : bremen @ bfmic . com
34 KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER