Alberto Pignataro, currently Vice President of AR-Vida Seguros (www.ar-vida.com), CEO of Insurtech Point Design S.A.S. partner of Future Space, and President of Growth Stock S.A.S. gives his views on mobile device insurance and the benefits of using remote surveying technology.
After more than 40 years of experience in the insurance sector, holding positions as Director in different companies (such as Cigna Argentina, Johnson & Higgins, Liberty Argentina, Assurant Argentina, Chubb Argentina), Regional Vice President (in ACE LatAm), and General Director (in Combined Insurance Co), Alberto Pignataro points out that the great challenge today is to improve technology to improve insurance and thus reach more and better consumers.
Insight into mobile device insurance
The AR-Vida Seguros executive highlights in the interview that the digital transformation that has been underway for years has contributed to offering more timely solutions to consumers, thanks to the expansion of coverage and the reduction of sales costs and insurance premiums, creating greater profitability in operations.
"No device created to date has been as closely integrated with human beings as mobile devices. Since they have become part of our social life, crime is a constant in all societies and no one is exempt from suffering from it and, in many cases, accidents can shatter that friendly device (falling, getting wet, knocks, etc.)".
He also points out that protection against such events has become a necessity. Insurance has therefore come to contribute to this vital protection.
From an insurance point of view, Alberto argues that there should be a guarantee that the value of the device will be compensated at the time of the claim, thus giving peace of mind to counteract the concerns of the insured, as in some cases, the cost of some mobile phones is a significant investment. "There are insurance companies that do not dare to cross the threshold of covering this type of risk, because there is a high rate of fraud that scares them.
Remote expertise technology in mobile device insurance
Challenges
The Vice President comments that the most important challenges to be taken into account lie mainly in the operations, the type of mobile device and its conditions. "The most important challenges are: how to make the operation profitable, what kind of mobile phones we are insuring, how to know if the mobile phones are insurable, how to know if the mobile phone is the one being insured, what are the technical conditions of the device and how to know if the mobile phone is owned or stolen".
Benefits
On the other hand, Alberto Pignataro argues that the benefits are multiple and that if all these characteristics are met, we will know that we are dealing with a device that is insurable. "The benefits allow us to know, for example, if the glass and the screen are not damaged, if the camera is in perfect usability conditions, thanks to the accelerometer we can know if the mobile phone has suffered a blow, we can detect if it is not stolen or if each component of the device is in good condition".
Technology
Finally, he shared one more experience about the technology of remote forensics applied, in this case, to subscriptions. "This technology minimises the possibility that the owner of the mobile phone, at least for the moment, can perpetrate a fraud. This gives security that we are dealing with a fully insurable asset, as it allows us to know at the time, the risk and the insured value, as it is the market value".
Alberto is sure that the commitment to technology is key to the improvement and advancement of this field, in addition to solutions such as Future Space's Smart Diagnostic, among others. "By improving technology, we improve insurance, reduce claims, expand coverage, reduce sales costs, reduce insurance premiums, reach more and better consumers and thus make the operation much more profitable," he says.
