After successful trials earlier in the year, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) engaged BIRDI to assist with the post-disaster claims process following natural disasters. The Tathra Fires in April 2018 presented the first opportunity to for the ICA to dispatch drones to capture data of the devastated area through the BIRDI platform.
The ICA is the representative body of the general insurance industry in Australia. Their members represent approximately 95% of total premium income written by private sector general insurers.
"The Australian insurance industry is pursuing opportunities to speed up the insurance claims process in an effort to reduce the time it takes to rebuild communities following disasters. At the Insurance Council of Australia we see the need for an industry approach. BIRDI’s drone management platform is helping us to design, develop and integrate drone operations in a safe and scalable manner in post disaster recovery."
Nick Weisner, Insurance Council of Australia
The Australian insurance industry is pursuing opportunities to speed up the insurance claims process in an effort to reduce the time it takes to rebuild communities following disasters. At the Insurance Council of Australia we see the need for an industry approach. BIRDI’s drone management platform is helping us to design, develop and integrate drone operations in a safe and scalable manner in post disaster recovery.
Australian insurance industry is pursuing opportunities to speed up the post-disaster claims process in an effort to reduce the time that civilians are forced to wait before rebuilding their lives. Following natural disasters, access to the disaster zone is often prohibited for some time, preventing insurers from validating claims.Dispatching drones following natural disasters has the capability to cut claims-processing costs, accelerate customer service, and generate additional underwriting data. By combining drones with machine learning, insurance companies will be able to improve predictions of damage and set premiums more accurately.
In the case of the 2018 Tathra fires, the BIRDI platform received the ICA's request for drone footage and matched local drone pilots to capture aerial imagery of the Tathra areas devastated by fire within hours of the request.
The BIRDI platform was able to assist in:
