Hood Group has begun testing a new connected home pilot programme designed to evaluate escape of water sensor technology and inform the development of new home insurance propositions.
Working in partnership with smart home provider, Lightwave, Hood Group will be running the pilot over the next two months.
Hood Group Head of Marketing and Innovation, Gavin Dobson, explains: “The insurance industry needs to find better ways of insuring people’s homes and delivering a better experience for the customer. We believe the Internet of Things can have a hugely positive impact in the household market and as water damage is a huge area of claims for home insurers, we felt where better to start than piloting water flow sensing technology. We want to use this test programme to prove its effectiveness, understand the costs involved and ensure resulting actions to reduce escape of water risk won’t negatively impact the customer’s lifestyle. At the end of the day, any new proposition has to be practical and affordable for the customer or it’s a non-starter as far as they’re concerned.”
The test is being conducted in three different domestic properties running various household scenarios and simulating escape of water to determine the different uses of the technology, prove that sensors will report reliably and that systems can be shut down reliably and practically without interfering with the homeowners’ lifestyles.
Dobson continues: “We’re committed to being at the forefront of using the latest technologies to develop new types of insurance cover that will add value to both our partners and their customers. Combining our own tech expertise with other third parties such as Lightwave can provide forward thinking insurers with the ability to effectively test new concepts. We’re really excited to get this pilot off the ground and look forward to taking the findings forward to help deliver insurance products that truly serve today’s customers.”
