Cutting-edge Geographic Information System (GIS) technology can reduce the thousands of hours Australian insurers spend ‘guesstimating’ losses from recent natural disasters to just minutes, according to an international georisk expert.
Rob Osment, the Global GeoRisk Director at RSA Group, has been invited to Australia to advise the nation’s top insurers on how modern mapping technology can help them better respond to large-scale catastrophes.
His visit comes as Australian insurers face some of their darkest days after being hit with more than 59,010 claims worth $661.3 million following recent ex-tropical cyclone Oswald alone.
In the aftermath of the United Kingdom’s biggest peacetime blaze, the 2005 Buncefield fuel depot explosions, Mr Osment oversaw a widespread deployment of GIS technology at RSA that completely revolutionised the organisation’s operations.
“The Buncefield disaster saw us use GIS technology to identify with precision likely claims based on individual circumstances,” Mr Osment said.
“The technology increased accuracy and reduced what has traditionally been a three week process to just a couple of minutes.”