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Vallum: breaking down barriers in the insurance industry towards a more sustainable, customer centric future

The insurance industry is a fundamental and critical cornerstone of a stable economy. And yet the industry is mired in outdated legacy systems and thinking and the customer is increasingly disenfranchised through lack of transparent communication and personalised, relevant value. This leads to heavy rates of underinsurance in the SME segment, which in turn creates very high risk of a business failure, jeopardising employees and the communities that they serve.

Research tells us that:
25% of all SME’s in NZ have no business insurance (Vero Insurance Report, April 2018)
Cost of insurance is the biggest driver
47% claim cost as the biggest barrier to entry
33% claim a perceived lack of benefit
And yet….
24% are worried about cyber attacks
23% are concerned about natural disasters
31% claim their businesses might shut down if a negative incident occurred
60% of consumers in NZ are concerned about the cost of insurance but find it hard to compare and switch (Consumer New Zealand 2018)
90% of insurance executives claim that at least a part of their business will be lost to insurtech (PwC)

Vallum is a business intelligence and data analytics platform that enables insurance providers to build stronger, value-driven relationships with their customers without the capital cost of infrastructure or time it takes to transform layered corporate thinking & decision making.

Our ambition is to enable fundamental change in the insurance industry by eliminating costly layers of intermediation, restoring balance in favour of the customer and providing insurance businesses with an additional high-value channel to market.

Vallum sees the following as key growth dimensions:
New Channels. Vallum will distribute insurance via ecosystems (such as worksites) and community environments. Vallum will also offer a digital direct (broker) capability.
New Products. Vallum will offer new forms of product, designed to fit a customers’ unique needs and circumstances according to their situation. IoT, Telematics, consumer wearables etc will allow us to quickly design and test new product ideas in controlled environments. Research shows us also that customers find concepts such as Spot (or disposable) insurance products are appealing. Opportunities also arise through improved depth and understanding of underlying risk data allowing underwriters to conceive of new product with alternative forms of risk funding (e.g. Peer to Peer type models protected for frequency and severity, for example).
New Markets. Vallum’s core capabilities as a customer experience and data management platform are designed to work in all product and geographic markets. New market entry will only need to be shaped by regulatory compliance and adaptation of the user experience to the nuances of the local customer environment.
Existing Product Expansion. Vallum will create savings for Small Businesses for their existing protection levels which will free up funds to invest in additional protection (e.g. Employee Benefits, Income Replacement, Cyber Protection, Business Interruption, etc).
This differs from the old insurance model which is determined by a price sensitive placement model managed by intermediaries and which often fosters churn and sudden shifts in strategy and direction by providers.
Summary
In summary Vallum offers many benefits, the most important amongst these being:

Strategic Agility An extensive range of opportunities to apply the delivery platform functionality and data management capability of Vallum into a variety of geographic and product domains

Nimble customer interface technology. A modern and sophisticated front-end systems environment that is agile and flexible to bring new products and services to market at exceptional speed, minimising the encumbrances of legacy backend technology.
Efficiency. The ability to compress the excessive intermediation of insurance and eliminate the friction that is created. Our strategic goal is for these costs of manufacture and distribution to be reduced by at least 50%.
Customer Proximity. An intimate customer-centric customer experience model that increases satisfaction rates and builds lifetime value.
Social Relevance. In doing so we will visibly help to solve the challenges of underinsurance which is a result of poor transparency in the customer experience, as well as high costs which arise out of the inefficiencies highlighted above.
People First. Assurance of best practice in security and privacy based on respect for the customer and their ownership of their data.

Vallum is incorporated in New Zealand with global intent. Our roadmap is as follows:

Phase 1 - proof of concept - September 2018
Targeting with a commercial user group of 300 tradespeople & tech contractors along with a white label offering from one existing insurer partner.
Offering tradespeople a packaged product that includes liability insurance//equipment insurance and motor vehicle insurance.
Tech contractors will be targeted with a package which includes professional indemnity/cyber/laptop and phone insurance.
Both packages will be available to partners as a white label product.

Platform features include:
simple, fast digital sign up and user experience;
lower transparent fees;
data transparency and industry-level insights.

Phase 2 - scaled up SME - March 2019
Directly Targeting 10% of SME NZ along with a white product SME offering to multiple channel partners & availability of black label product to insurer partners
Offering tradespeople package: personal indemnity/cyber/tools/vehicle; Tech contractor package: indemnity/cyber/laptop & phone
Platform features include personalised product based on customer need/profile; transparent dashboard risk profile; robo- advice; comparable value via multiple insurers

Phase 3 - direct to consumer & channel partners targeting consumers
Directly targeting 3% of 4 Nielsen segments who index higher for insurance predisposition (459,000/3%) & full suite of insurer channel partners
Offering personalised fire & general
Platform features include personalised product recommendation based on customer need/profile; Robo-advice; comparable value dashboard; predictive behavioural analytics

Vallum founders/resources have impeccable pedigree in start-up success; tech smarts and category experience. The business is supported by a highly experienced board of advisors.

Contact: Kai Dwyer, CEO. kai@vallum.insure +64 29 770 1571