Willis Re, technology company Measure announce strategic partnership to advance drone usage for insurance industry

Willis Re, the reinsurance business of global advisory, broking and solutions company Willis Towers Watson, has announced a strategic partnership with technology company Measure to advance the use of drones within the insurance industry.

Integrating drone technology into the insurance process has huge potential to improve risk assessment and claims response times, Willis Re said in a press release issued last week.

As outlined in the American Red Cross study, titled Drones for Disaster Response and Relief Operations and released last April, drones can more easily identify properties and infrastructure that have been flooded or are in the path of rising water. That study was sponsored by Willis Towers Watson and other private sector partners.

Willis Re said in the release that aerial data can also be used to better understand the factors leading to property damage and make recommendations for mitigating losses. In addition, drones provide access to real-time data, allowing insurers to collect more timely and accurate data to support the claims process.

Alice Underwood, executive vice president and director of analytics at Willis Re North America, said that the “new partnership opens the door for Willis Re clients to efficiently integrate the latest drone technology into their operations.”

“Drone technology has the potential to completely transform the insurance industry,” Underwood said. “There is a huge opportunity for the use of drones to improve public safety and enhance damage estimates, and incorporating drone usage into the insurance process is the next big step.”

Kat Swain, vice president of Measure’s insurance practice, added that “the future of the drone industry is not in the hardware, it is in a service model.”