Visualising the next level for marine insurance

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Marine Bind is leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline quoting and survey requirement processes, focusing on innovative tools that save time and improve efficiency for insurance brokers placing marine risks

WHEN A new technology emerges that has the potential for paradigm change, there is a tendency for the initial applications to be bound by concepts and thought processes that defined the old framework. Henry Ford referred to this as the ‘faster horses’ problem. Ford lamented that many people saw the automobile merely as a faster horse-drawn carriage. They used it on existing paths and with the same mindset, missing out on the broader potential of the new technology. Today’s paradigm-changing technology that insurance is yet to leverage the true potential of is, of course, artificial intelligence. But Hiller Marine is one firm that, through its Marine Bind online quotation and bind system, perhaps offers a glimpse of an AI-powered future that goes far beyond the limits of faster horses. In the niche area of marine insurance, the underwriting agency has recently introduced a number of industry-first tools that fully leverage the latent power of AI in a way that pushes the boundaries of what insurers can do to help brokers.

Hiller Marine is an underwriting agency that offers marine insurance products and specialist risk advice to brokers and their clients. Brokers can access our exclusive products, which are backed by first-class local security, via Marine Bind – a simple, easy-to-use online quotation and bind system. With over 100 years of expert underwriting and claims experience in the team, the company excels in risk assessment and management, ensuring robust coverage for a wide range of marine and transport-related risks. Hiller Marine specialises in providing recreational marine, commercial marine and logistics industry insurance products, delivering exceptional service and support to clients.

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“A lot of insurance companies talk the talk, but it never actually materialises into something of tangible benefit to the broker”

Michael Hiller, Marine BIND

“We’re a true, hybrid insurance/insurtech business,” says Michael Hiller, co-founder, underwriter and chief architect of the underwriting agency’s Marine Bind platform. “We’re not trying to replicate old processes through technology.” Typical fare touted as the next big thing by less imaginative firms might include taking a printed proposal and application form and putting it online. Another tried and tested ‘innovation’ is the call centre chatbot, where the focus is squarely on reducing the insurer’s costs. “A lot of insurance companies talk the talk, but it never actually materialises into something of tangible benefit to the broker,” says Hiller.

A key reason Marine Bind can walk the walk lies with Hiller himself. Alongside his role as an underwriter, he is also software engineer – he completely designed and built the company’s automated online distribution back-office platform, writing several million lines of code in the process. The combination of underwriter and software expert in one person is highly unusual. It means that for Marine Bind, all IT functions can be developed and managed in-house. When a new product or tool is conceptualised, the underwriter and developer viewpoints are already shared as systems are created for pricing, quotation, documentation issuing and binding processes. Hiller is a one-stop development team, which seems appropriate given that the Marine Bind platform is a one-stop quoting tool for all kinds of marine insurance.

A prime focus for Marine Bind is using technology to benefit brokers and make their lives easier. “The user experience is something that we really focus on, and a lot of that [derives from] the tech,” says Hiller. One time-consuming task that brokers are burdened with is keying in the same information across various platforms when generating quotes. Hiller has built an AI scraper that can take last year’s policy schedule, or even a handwritten proposal form, and pre-populate forms with client data. “This is an example of how we’re using technology to make it easier for the brokers and make it easier for the end user. It’s definitely an industry first in marine.”

The system will scan, read, review and automatically rate the risks, producing an instant quote – with the broker typing very little, if at all. Brokers seem to love its convenience and often approach Marine Bind staff at conferences simply to praise its ease of use and the efficiency it brings to their work. While the tool has been rolled out for boat insurance as the first cab off the rank, the plan is to expand the application much more broadly. “We’ve launched it now with the cargo cover, and we’ll roll it out probably over the next couple of months to all the other products,” says Hiller.

“The user experience is something that we really focus on, and a lot of that [derives from] the tech”

Michael Hiller, Marine bind

Another of the company’s new tools uses AI to solve the common problem brokers have with survey reports required for boat insurance. Some boats can be difficult to quote because of their age, or the materials used in their construction. These outlier cases require an assessment that can involve lifting the boat out of the water and using a professional marine surveyor to inspect the vessel. The process costs money and can take a considerable amount of time to arrange. “What we’ve developed to assist with this common disconnect in the boat insurance process is a self-assessment survey.” The tool uses a phone app that the boatowner can use to scan the boat themselves. AI will then use the imagery and data and produce a self-assessment survey report. “Brokers like it because it reduces the back and forth with the client and the underwriter. [It makes] the process of getting a quote as efficient and as quick as possible, without the manual process of the insured having to go and spend resources and time on getting a survey report.” This powerful application goes far beyond the limited imagination that seems to pen in many insurers when they first start considering what’s possible with AI. “As soon as you finish scanning the boat and hit submit, the report is attached to the quote, and the underwriter at Marine Bind will have access to that and be able to quote based on that document,” says Hiller. “No one else is doing it in Australia or globally, as far as I’m aware.” While these reports are currently reviewed by underwriters, the goal is to eventually be able to create an automatically generated quote immediately after the scan is assessed by the new software.

Both products have only just launched in the market, but business is already increasing as word-of-mouth spreads. “We track everything data-wise, so we can see the boat self-assessment survey app is getting really good traction,” says Hiller. Around 60% of quotes use AI to streamline the process, which has helped produce very fast turnaround times – up to 70% of quotes are issued within 10 minutes on the Marine Bind platform.

A one-stop shop with a one-stop development team

Innovations that make a difference to brokers

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Innovations that make a difference to brokers

Published 09 Sep 2024

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Marine Bind insurance products

Annual Marine Cargo International and domestic coverage for Australian companies and their overseas subsidiaries Single Transit One-off cargo cover for imports, exports or inland transits Pleasure Craft Commercial Hull Hull and machinery and P&I cover for smaller vessels used for commercial purposes Carriers Load ‘Goodwill’ and legal liability cover options for transport companies carrying customers’ goods

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Supply Chain Risk International and local transit and intermediate storage coverage, combined with delay, consequential loss, liability and legal expense extensions Portable Property Annual transit and storage cover for assets, tools, equipment and other items belonging to clients Caravan Trailer

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History of Hiller Marine

Hiller Marine was originally established as Austbrokers Hiller Marine, a specialist marine insurance business, in 2016. It was a joint venture between Michael and Neil Hiller and the AUB Group. Hiller Group Holdings purchased the equity of Hiller Marine in 2023, and this subsidiary now operates independently under its own Australian Financial Services Licence. Marine Bind is Hiller Marine's online quotation and bind system.

While there are built-in cost savings with these products, perhaps the greatest intangible benefit to brokers is the time dividend gained from using them. Rather than spending hours keying in the same information on a screen or waiting a month for a surveyor report, brokers can use the extra time to boost service to existing customers or develop new leads. In an uncertain economy, the value of such dividends increases. “We can reduce the administrative side, which is effectively wasting the broker’s time,” says Hiller. Hiller believes that systems are there to make life simpler for everyone involved in the insurance supply chain process. Having a team of specialist underwriters and claims handlers who know their products well and strive to be helpful to brokers is the other important part of the Marine Bind equation. It’s easy to tell that the explosion of powerful AI models into the market over the last two years has opened the doors of perception for Hiller. He admits that considering all the possibilities has become something of a full-time activity – but he isn’t thinking about faster horses. “I’ve become a bit obsessed with data now – any data I can get, I’m thinking, how can I use this to plug into some sort of AI model and improve some process? It’s really exciting.”

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