Indian IT service and consulting provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has launched an iOS and Android-optimised app that transforms users smartphones into mobile and cost-effective telematics devices. The app, TCS Insurance Telematics Solution, will be adopted as part of usage-based auto insurance policies to trim premiums and personalise service.
Drivers will be able to track their driving habits and, based on the feedback the app provides, modify them to reduce fuel consumption and risk of collision. Insurers will also leverage this data to determine which of their policy-holders pose the most risk for payouts, enabling them to segment customers into different policies with various premium levels based on risk score.
“Telematics is a game changer and will ultimately drive auto insurance premiums in the future. It provides insurer’s an opportunity to improve customer engagement and service, while having the potential to make our roads safer for all of us,” President of Insurance and Healthcare at TCS, Suresh Muthuswami, said.
“The TCS Insurance Telematics Solution leverages innovations around digital technologies like mobility, cloud and big data, as well as our proprietary algorithms to help create a new business model for auto insurance,” TCS’s Vinod Kachroo, Chief Technology Officer, Insurance and Healthcare, said. “The advanced analytics provides insurers better insights into driving patterns and mobile platform provides consumers new engagement models, creating a win-win for both.”
Recent reports have indicated that emerging economies, with their untold millions of newly minted and new affluent drivers, will drive demand for in-car technologies in the future. Car ownership in emerging and developing markets, including India and China, will increase by 1.9 billion by 2050, and smartphone usage is climbing even faster. Cell phone penetration in India is projected to reach 97% by 2014, producing a largely untapped market of smartphone-equipped drivers, eager to use in-car technologies to improve their driving experience and prune their costs. The TCS Insurance Telematics Solution mobile app is uniquely positioned to appeal to both booming markets.
The telematics app is the latest product innovation from TCS’ Insurance Innovation Lab, a high-tech environment that conceives, designs, develops, and tests new insurance solutions. Previous innovations to emerge from the lab include a mobile loss notification solution that enables customers to notify insurers instantly of accident or theft and upload photos of accident scenes with their smartphones. Other telematics products optimise smartphones to detect accidents, automatically notifying emergency services of collisions when drivers and passengers may not be able to.
