A new AI tool could transform the home contents insurance journey and give insurers a valuable connection with their customers.
AI vision tool Invntry, which automatically catalogues and indicatively values products from images, aims to solve several challenges faced by insurers and policyholders alike.
“We have worked for over a decade helping insurers and brokers with their websites, apps and quote & buy journeys, which has given us insight into the processes, challenges and opportunities within the industry,” says Andy Nicol, MD of Sputnik Digital, the development agency which built Invntry.
“These include underinsurance; the cumbersome nature of traditional home contents calculators; and a lack of opportunity to build long-term loyalty: very often customers don’t need to – and don’t want to – engage with their insurer at any point in the 12 months between purchase and renewal.
“Invntry solves for all of these – an easy-to-use contents inventory tool, and an opportunity for insurers to provide it as a value-add to their home contents insurance products. It also provides insurers another option to adopt leading best practice to help meet the still relatively new FCA Consumer Duty Principle that requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.”
Work started on Invntry in Q4 2024 and it is already at the MVP (minimum viable product) stage.
“Turnaround has been reasonably quick, but, as is often the case with these things, it grew and grew, and we have a backlog of features we’d still love to build,” says Nicol.
“However there’s a fully functioning product which we can demo to potential insurance partners.”
Although Invntry is a consumer-focused tool, Nicol sees it as a B2B proposition initially.
“It is an opportunity for insurers to build brand equity by demonstrating their alignment with their customers by making sure they are adequately covered,” he clarifies.
The reference data for the tool comes from a variety of sources, and can be fine-tuned over time.
“There will always be cases where Invntry won’t get things right – for example, it’s very hard to differentiate one flatscreen TV from another, and an Xbox sitting under the TV cabinet won’t be in the photo,” explains Nicol.
“Invntry does the legwork in itemising and valuing the bulk of the home owners’ contents, but the responsibility will always lie with the customer to verify, edit and add to the inventory to maintain a list that’s as detailed and accurate as they want.”
Sputnik Digital has added features to help customers maintain as accurate an inventory as possible: for example, identifying the type of room and suggesting any items that we would expect to see that haven’t been identified in the photos.
“Invntry lets you edit the value for any item at any time. It is simply an easy way for people to maintain a log of their possessions: the value of the home contents cover they choose to buy is up to them,” Nicol says.
The product is one of several being developed by Sputnik Digital, with personalised AI video tool Hollr also at the private beta stage.