💎 AIB - Executive Series - From Claims Payouts to Prevention: How Onics Is Rethinking Home Insurance

Hey it’s Fabio here,

In today’s Executive Series, we’re joined by Karsten Ries, CEO of Onics.

Across the market, home insurance is still largely reactive: insurers pay after the damage is done, margins stay under pressure, and better risk data is becoming more important.

So we focused on a practical question - how can insurers move from paying for losses to preventing them?

Karsten broke down what Onics helps home insurers do better, why the Nordic market matters, why the UK is the right market now, and how connected-home data can help reduce risk, improve retention, and add more value for policyholders.

We help insurance companies to give their customers more value and reduce cost of claims. That is the core that we can deliver. We can deliver services to the insurance companies so they can add more value to their end users, to their customers, and at the same time reduce the claims payout.

If they can reduce the claims payout, they can be more competitive.

We’ve been working with the Internet of Things, IoT, since the start. Eight years ago, the focus at conferences was IoT. Today, it’s AI.

Over the last three, four years, things on the technology side have matured, become scalable; ready to deploy. So now is the time that we can actually really scale that. And we have already delivered millions of devices, having worked over the last three, four years with some of the biggest insurance companies in the Nordics, including If Insurance.

And we have a good understanding of the value it creates to both the end users and also the calculations on how much they can reduce and change payout.

We are trying to take the experiences from what we have learned over the last three, four years in the Nordics and bring them to other insurance companies in Europe. Now we are active in the UK and see good traction and great prospects.

The competition in the UK is very high - insurers have not been profitable for quite some years in the property insurance sector. We can help them with that.

The biggest payout for the claims is water leakage. It accounts for about 30% in the Nordics. Yesterday, we heard from one of the biggest insurers here in the UK; for them it is around 25%.

25% is a lot, potentially the difference between a profit and another loss year. 

We were asked, can you reduce that?

It’s really big numbers. 

At Onics, we have proof from the Nordics regarding how much we can reduce losses by, by installing our IoT sensors for monitoring escape of water.

And, the answer is yes.

If you own your own apartment or house or summer house, that is probably your biggest investment in your life. I believe that you would really wish to be a little bit in control of your biggest investment. And with the equipment that we are installing, you can monitor and get in control of your property.

So adding different kinds of services to monitor your property is really value adding for the end user. Adding value to reduce costs for the insurance company and adding more value to their end users is a win-win.

By adding value to the end user, customer retention for the insurance company is also increased. If you can extend the customer lifetime for the insurance company, that is also a huge value add.

We have defined a kind of demo evaluation setup and we have defined a pilot and the equipment to use to test it. It is relatively easy for them to make a decision, test it, and see how it works.

Yesterday, we delivered this to a C-level of one of the biggest Insurance companies in the UK, and he said this is exactly what I needed for my team to discuss in 2 weeks time.

Once a C-level tests it at home, they become an avid end user. So we have a relatively clear sales process and how to attract leads to demonstrate the value we have been creating for years for both insurance companies and end users.

What’s more, insurers in today’s competitive markets are looking for a competitive edge and ways to return to profit. Moving from paying claims to preventing them has to be a strong start.

For Karsten, the point is clear: home insurance can no longer be only a reactive product. By using connected-home data, proven IoT sensors and the Nordic playbook, insurers can reduce escape-of-water losses, improve retention, add value for policyholders and start shifting from paying claims to preventing them altogether at scale.

Fabio Caravita — say hi on Linkedin
Founder, AI Insurer Brief

AI Insurer Brief is 100% FREE for the AI Insurance Community.
If this issue was useful, help us grow by sharing it with 2 people who would genuinely read it. Click below:

Reach insurance execs and decision makers weekly.
72% Exec / C-level / Decision-makers.
Limited number of partner spots open each quarter.
→ Reply “Partner” for details and we’ll get in touch.

For Insurers, Brokers, MGA, consultancies and tech providers, exploring AI or with a live AI mandate but limited clarity on governance, processes, operating model design and execution.
Built on 17 years of hands-on insurance transformation and operating model delivery.
→ Reply “Advisory” for details and we’ll get in touch.