Year: 2018

Meet Matt Holland, Ansvar Risk – Technical Lead, who has been pioneering reality capture as a better way to capture data and information to help organisations identify and reduce property risks.   

As a weekend gamer, Matt could see the benefits of drone and camera technology on changing the way that insurers conduct traditional site surveys to capture information. His hobby, together with 20 years’ experience in insurance and risk management, seeing first-hand what happens when risks are unidentified or poorly managed led him to explore reality and data capture opportunities.

“One of the most exciting advances in site surveys is the evolution to reality capture and modelling. The use of drones together with lasers and photogrammetry, has truly evolved the service. It enables identification of targeted and specific information that supports good risk management decision making,” Mr Holland said.

 “Risk management, and specifically completing risk quality surveys enables our customers to seize opportunities or avoid unnecessary interruptions or impacts on their business. The process provides environmental information that helps organisations understand what may impact them or their assets, and actions they can take to help build their organisational resilience.

Ansvar started using drones for site surveys about three years ago, to address the ongoing issue faced by many of their clients from damaged roofs – faith-based buildings traditionally have high roofs which were hard and expensive to access.

Overtime, Ansvar has built robust modelling as well as developed their peoples’ skills to analyse information and provide greater context and understanding of the consequence to customers. Now, under Ansvar Risk, they offer Risk Quality Surveys that are completed in about an hour on site which is far more efficient and cost effective than traditional survey methods. 

Mr Holland commented: “What I find exciting about the technology is that it allows us to access roofs and hard to reach places so that we can fully understand what’s happening at a site. It provides an unparalleled level of detailed information about the current state of assets. This supports customers with informed decision making, and the ability to address risks as they emerge. It therefore results in fewer insurance claims, and lower insurance premiums as the property is better maintained and issues addressed before they cause damage.

 “While, flying a drone is a little like a real-life video game, there’s also lots of complexity and responsibilities to balance. The biggest challenge is being fully aware of your surroundings at all times. That means being aware of people, weather, line of site to the drone, site instructions, birds, other aircraft, power lines and vegetation. And you need to do all this while trying to get camera and drone in the right spot, so you can capture the required images and information.

“While risk quality surveys provide vital information, fundamentally risk management is about small incremental changes, it’s a step change process. When organisations make small ongoing and consistent changes they create a lasting impact. So, creating a culture that embraces risk management concepts and incorporates this into decision making is key,” he said.

What are Ansvar Risk Quality Surveys?

Risk Quality Surveys is the collection of data and information on assets such as buildings, vegetation or grounds. It often uses a combination of drones, laser technology and photogrammetry, or 360-degree cameras to quickly and effortlessly capture images from all aspects of a building or large area.

Risk identification is then performed using a series of customised tools to help determine what can happen and how it may happen. For example, the process may identify potential property and liability risks such as uneven floor surfaces, chemical storage or even people risks such as the employee screening procedure.

The data can also be geo-referenced enabling flood and storm path modelling which can be factored into the sums insured evaluation.

Real-time digital capture is responsive. Risk Advisors can immediately see current issues or potential risk exposures while they are completing the survey and can show this this to customers.

For more Risk Quality Survey details and drone footage click here

Meet Diana Borgmeyer, General Manager, Risk Solutions at Ansvar – the woman leading the evolution of risk management services for the faith, community, care, heritage and education sectors in Australia.

Diana has built a 20-year career in risk management by keeping her sense of humour and believing in the business and personal value that comes from knowing, understanding and managing risks. She likes to challenge the norms and is forever a change agent.

It is this attitude that led her and her team at Ansvar to evolve standard risk approaches and develop a new, robust and relevant risk management solution. The new solution, to be delivered under Ansvar Risk, includes Enterprise Risk Management, Risk Quality Surveys and Online Risk Tools that support customers in managing sector specific risks.

“Speciality sectors have limited access to relevant risk management services. Risk modelling currently available is often driven out of the finance sector, and while financial risk is important, our sectors face considerable human and social risks which need to be managed and modelled differently,” Ms Borgmeyer said.

“Using relevant information, data, frameworks and tools, organisations can learn to effectively manage risk, and therefore are more likely to prevent harm. When risk is understood and managed well it provides greater certainty and enables people to act with confidence.  

“Identifying and managing risks supports organisations to deliver on their purpose and objectives, so it’s actually a very positive thing to do. It ensures they address the things that could get in the way of them achieving their purpose.

At Ansvar, the team believes that keeping organisations resilient and people safe isn’t just about providing insurance cover and compensation. It’s also about supporting customers to be proactive through education and the provision of specific risk management tools.

Ms Borgmeyer also commented that: “Ansvar Risk services are about looking forward, making sense of incomplete information, projecting and assessing scenarios and being solutions focused. Risk management helps customers use information and data to enable robust decision making, and helps organisations live with the uncertainty and constant change that exists in today’s world.

Ansvar will partner with brokers to deliver enterprise risk management and risk quality surveys to our customers.

“Our brokers want to deepen their relationships with customers and supporting customers to think through both their risk and insurance solutions as part of an integrated proposition will help this.

“It will demonstrate greater value and ultimately good risk management can lead to reduced incidents that cause harm and therefore reduced premiums for our customers” she said.

Ansvar announced it will provide new contemporary and robust risk management solutions including Enterprise Risk Management, Risk Quality Surveys and Online Risk Tools, under the banner of Ansvar Risk.

Warren Hutcheon, Ansvar CEO, said: “We understand that helping keep organisations resilient and people safe isn’t only about providing insurance cover and compensation. It’s also about supporting, educating and providing specific risk management tools so organisations are fully equipped to manage risks.

“This philosophy, a growing customer need and advances in technology lead to the creation of Ansvar Risk,” Mr Hutcheon said.

Customers from across faith, community, care, heritage and education are seeking enterprise risk management as well as simpler, faster and more cost-effective site quality surveys that provide comprehensive evaluation reports. These services support customers in managing the rapidly changing risks occurring in service delivery and funding environments.

Diana Borgmeyer, General Manager Risk Solutions, said: “Speciality sectors have limited access to relevant risk management services. Risk modelling currently available is often driven out of the finance sector, and while financial risk is important, our sectors face considerable human and social risks which need to be managed and modelled differently.

“Ansvar Risk has been developed to deliver its risk services from the human and social perspective first, and then a financial perspective. Our solution provides customers with a balanced risk approach.” Ms Borgmeyer said.

Ansvar Risk will provide:

1) Enterprise Risk Management: the practice of identifying, managing and prioritising organisational risks. It encompasses strategic workshops, frameworks, tools and e-learning modules to embed sound risk management practices.

2) Risk Quality Surveys: the fast and accurate way to undertake site inspections, collect data and evaluate sum insured calculations to enable informed risk management and insurance decision making. Risk quality surveys often use drone technology to effortlessly capture images from all aspects of a building or large area.

3) Online risk tools and resources: the fact sheets, checklists and incident reporting tools that help customers better understand and manage their risks.

Ms Borgmeyer commented that: “Ansvar Risk have invested in both building our people expertise and acquiring the latest drone and camera technology to ensure our risk management solutions meet the needs of our customers both now and in the future.

“Our people will work with our brokers and customers, using the latest frameworks and technologies to capture data that helps identify risks that can be addressed through risk management interventions. Ultimately this will lead to reduced incidents that cause harm and therefore reduced premiums for our customers.”

Ansvar Risk strongly believe that these robust risk management solutions complement the insurance services we provide via our brokers, and the solutions will provide additional value and relevancy for our partners.

For more information on Ansvar Risk visit ansvarrisk.com.au