Q&A with Chris Cheatham, CEO of RiskGenius
We are focused on partnering with brokers that want to bring automation to back-office operations.
At InsureTech Connect 2018, we asked Chris Cheatham, CEO of insurtech firm RiskGenius, to take us through how they used AI to introduce efficiencies into the insurance value chain, as well as how his firm engendered partnerships with incumbents.
Q
RiskGenius uses artificial intelligence to allow brokers to better understand policy language and create more efficient underwriting workflows. Can you provide a brief case study on how RiskGenius’ technology aided the broker and ultimately created a better end experience for the client?
A
I was reviewing an example this morning. Imagine you have an insurance policy from Carrier A and a proposal (or quote) from the same carrier. Often times (too often) there are discrepancies between what was quoted, what gets negotiated and what ends up in the final policy (most carriers have this issue). With our GeniusCheck software, I was able to identify that a form that was included in the proposal never made it to the bound policy. Identifying these types of errors can reduce errors and omissions exposure.
Q
What is RiskGenius’ current strategy around forging partnerships with brokers? How important is raising capital vs. establishing broker relationships?
A
We are focused on partnering with brokers that want to bring automation to back-office operations. We have some amazing financial partners (like QBE Ventures) that have supported our mission to organize the world’s insurance policy information. We like to partner with brokers that are willing to work with us to find problems and solve them with machine learning technology. I believe the commercial insurance market, particularly on the broker side, has been vastly underserved by technology firms. It’s time that changed.
Q
What is the most important thing that you are working on right this moment and how are you making that happen?
A
At the moment, I am thinking a lot about how we standardize insurance data. When we first launched RiskGenius, we focused on categorizing insurance clauses (e.g. Exclusion – War). Now we are about to introduce a new Insurance Naming Taxonomy for labeling clauses; I think it’s groundbreaking and is a game changer for simplifying insurance language. We are also undertaking a similar categorization process for numerical values, like Limits, Deductibles, and Premiums. Once this categorization is in place, we will be able to automatically compare quotes across carriers.
