ProSight Offers Suite of Fleet Management Tech Free to Policyholders

Following a trend among commercial insurers toward becoming more of a risk management partner to their policyholders, ProSight Specialty Insurance is offering a suite of technology from SmartDrive to many of its commercial vehicle customers with the goal of improving driver behavior.

Branded by the insurer as SecureFleet, the technology suite incorporates third-party GPS, in- and out-of-vehicle cameras and accelerometers with the on-board vehicle computer and back-end analytics to record and evaluate on-the-road incidents. The collection of technology is being offered to ProSight trucking, bussing, and taxi customers at no charge, though companies must pay for installation. However, the value proposition is that through driver coaching and monitoring can help customers reduce their deductible and maintenance costs, says Matt Rogers, director of partnerships and services for the carrier.

"As a fleet manager, you get a lot of soft benefits here with reduced claims, and you also get this better version of control and efficiency," Rogers says.

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The robustness of the technology suite was important to the selection of SmartDrive for this initiative, ProSight says. The carrier wanted to give fleet managers something that would not only benefit the insurer in terms of fewer claims, but also give fleet managers something that can help them as well.

"We've had some customers in beta for a few weeks, and when the fleet manager sees 90% of his drivers not wearing a seatbelt when he thought it was 0%, there's really low hanging fruit for them," Rogers says.

Despite the presence of two video recorders in the suite, drivers are not continuously under surveillance. When there is an incident, the recorder saves the 15 seconds before and after to see what happens.

"We'll trigger a video event, we'll capture that event and it will go to one of our driving experts who will score it for the driving skills of that operator," says SmartDrive president Jason Palmer.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio