The Hartford enhances Internet of Things Innovation Lab

Property and casualty insurer The Hartford has expanded its Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation lab and capabilities to improve workplace safety and help reduce property damage.

The company utilises network-connected devices in businesses and homes to reduce and mitigate hazards such as unsafe working conditions or water damage from broken pipes.

For example, the Internet of Things Innovation Lab works with businesses to monitor the pressure in water pipes using sensors, which can detect a leak before it causes extensive flooding.

The lab also collaborates with vendors to equip workers with wearable technology that generates data about workers lifting, bending, getting fatigued and their proximity to hazards as well as other factors that can be analysed to promote safer workplace practices improve efficiency.

In the past three months the lab has installed more than 1,000 devices in total, and The Hartford plans to grow the program significantly.

“Connected devices represent an opportunity for insurers to help their customers proactively prevent claims and also develop unique, real-time insights into risk,” said John Wilcox, head of Strategy and Ventures at The Hartford.

“The pace of change has never been faster and the need to innovate never more critical to sustained growth and profitability,” he explained.

“Companies that harness the collective power of digital data, cloud computing, predictive analytics, and digital technology to transform the way they do business, and deliver value to customers, will have a competitive advantage. We are, and intend to continue to be, one of them.”

Dan Campany, head of The Hartford’s Internet of Things Innovation Lab, also commented: “The Hartford sees significant opportunity to apply insights from IoT data to enhance our entire value chain from product and distribution, to underwriting, to risk management, to claims.

“These insights will change the way we think about mitigating and assessing risk, enabling new business models, products, and services.”

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