Insurance IoT is a new way of thinking about the activity of assessing, managing and transferring risks that fits with a world that is going to be more and more hyperconnected.

Executive Summary

Mastering IoT and engaging policyholders in risk prevention is an achievable target for any insurance company, but it requires clear vision and a multiyear commitment. Wisconsin-based Church Mutual proved that when it built an IoT sensor program that has risk prevention at its core, scaling to achieve an ROI of over 300 percent in seven years. Here, Church Mutual AVP Guy Russ and CM Guest Editor Matteo Carbone describe the steps involved in alerting religious institutions and other policyholders to temperature changes and water leaks before they became insurance losses, as well as a new IoT innovation targeting risks of violent intruders. Photo from Church Mutual

Personal auto is the most mature area in terms of using IoT data (see related textbox, “Read More About Insurance IoT,” Reference 1).However, for each line of business and across all geographies, some successful IoT-based insurance pioneers are emerging. Their concrete experiences confirm the relevancy of the IoT opportunity for the insurance sector and demonstrate the feasibility of the IoT paradigm in any insurance domain.

One success story in using this approach in commercial insurance is Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I., the employer of one of the authors of this article (Russ). Church Mutual offers specialized insurance for religious organizations of all denominations, public and private K-12 schools, colleges and universities, senior living facilities, secular and non-secular camps and conference centers, and nonprofit and human services organizations throughout the United States. Through a multiyear innovation journey supported by strong C-level commitment, the company has proceeded step by step to build robust evidence about the ROI of its risk mitigation investment and entered into the scaling phase.