Our pioneering sensor pilot in customers’ homes has been shortlisted for two categories at this year’s Insurance Times Awards (Customer Champion of the Year and Insurer Innovation of the Year).

Earlier in the year, our Asset team worked with insurer Zurich Municipal and change organisation Ninety to trial emerging Internet of Things technologies (devices such as sensors that enable objects to collect and exchange data) to find out if they could make our homes safer, and reduce our maintenance costs and the number of insurance claims generated by issues within our properties (such as escape of water and condensation).

Kevin Hartshorn, Head of Assets said: “We jumped at the chance to be involved in this interesting and innovate pilot and trial solutions that have never been tested before.

“By fitting the sensors in our customers’ homes, we could remotely monitor to understand how they operate, allowing us to capture some really interesting information. The teams back in the office, could use the data to diagnose issues, meaning that they could send the right person to fix the problem.

“From the trial we could see that, if developed further, these technologies could bring huge operational savings by allowing us to better manage our properties and provide better and more cost-effective maintenance.

“The technologies could also bring benefits to our customers, such as better living conditions and less disruptive monitoring, and to insurers, who could benefit from a reduction in insurance claims as issues could be spotted and fixed before incidents occur.”

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the award ceremony is on 7 December.