With the launch of Aktuaris 2.0, HandsOn Systems CEO Geoffrey Farrugia believes that insurance companies now have an end-to-end solution backed by all the expertise necessary to customise a usage-based insurance product, launch it and provide all the back-up needed to ensure complete success.

Motor insurance is slowly but surely gravitating towards the usage-based model. Connected vehicles enable insurance providers to receive real-time data on their clients’ motoring behaviour and, in turn, share it with them – with a view to reward safe drivers and promote safety.

Leading local telematics company HandsOn Systems has just launched the second-generation usage-based insurance (UBI) platform, Aktuaris, which has been well received by clients worldwide. According to HandsOn Systems CEO Geoffrey Farrugia, the main objectives of this technology is to:

• educate drivers, both private and commercial;
• increase user engagement; and
• reduce traffic, pollution, and wear-and-tear in the vehicles.

“Thanks to the Aktuaris solution, costs will be reduced, both for the insurance company because it is going to have fewer claims, and for private drivers and fleet operators, because they are more aware of how much they are driving and the way they are driving,” Mr Farrugia said.

Aktuaris uses the latest technology that capitalises on business intelligence (BI) to enable insurance companies to collect data, process it and analyse it so that they can take informed decisions – and, in turn, encourage drivers to improve their driving behaviour.

“With real-time, dynamic data, with all the GDPR and IVC security safeguards, insurance companies are not relying on static, historical information to assess risk. They also have the possibility to reward better driving and improved safety habits among the drivers in its fleet,” Mr Farrugia said.

The Aktuaris solution consists of three elements:

• a portal that collects the real-time dynamic data for the insurance company (this can be integrated with its current back office solutions);
• a mobile app, that can be customised and branded for the insurance company, that can offer behaviour and driving style feedback to the insurance company’s clients; and
• a device that can either be plug-and-play or hard-wired – usually used for fleets.

 “We are offering an end-to-end solution whereby we not only offer the device and attendant software, but we also help the client from a productisation aspect,” Mr Farrugia said. “Clients, even large insurance companies, sometimes lack the resources in terms of time to implement a new product of this scale. So, we have a team of consultants and experts, including an actuary, to enable them to take a phased approach to implementing Aktuaris.”

In the first phase, the insurance company evaluates the technology and sees a demo of the product; in the second phase, HandsOn Systems assists the company to create a product from this concept and the entire marketing and product support needed to create this UBI product; and in the third phase, the company launches its UBI product and goes live.

“We have placed a lot of importance to ensure the device installed in the vehicle is not invasive – not to affect the vehicle’s warranty. So, we are offering an OBD device or installing one through the fuse box. We don’t have to tear any wires,” Mr Farrugia said.

“In the next five years, the adoption of UBI will be the norm, rather than the exception. This model will not only be applied to motor insurance but potentially to other forms of insurance, like health” he concluded.

Aktuaris 2.0 was launched during a webinar that was livestreamed on Facebook. Full details are available at www.aktuaris.com.