Willis Towers Watson to sell its telematics solutions

Willis Towers Watson (WTW) will sell its proprietary usage-based insurance products to London, U.K.-based Octo Telematics, which provides telematics and data analytics solutions for the auto insurance industry.

The sale will include WTW’s DriveAbility solution and DriveAbility Marketplace. Geoff Werner, WTW’s global telematics leader, will leave the firm to join Octo as a part of the transaction.

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DriveAbility aggregates and analyzes granular telematics and insurance data to provide driving scores and to assist insurers to design, score, issue and bind telematics-based insurance policies.

The two companies plan to work together in a strategic alliance on other auto telematics opportunities that can enhance their products and services. The partnership will focus on further development of algorithms and other analytical tools to provide actionable intelligence based on accurate analysis of data, according to the announcement released Wednesday.

Both WTW and Octo are “looking to develop next generation solutions with our broad consulting, technology, product, and brokerage resources – solutions that enable our clients to be more successful,” said Alice Underwood, global leader, insurance consulting and technology, WTW, in a statement.

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“Analysing data for insurers and constantly improving our offer in this area will be the focus of our partnership with Octo. At the same time, the [internet of things] and big data are bringing ever more exciting opportunities for data analytics, and working with Octo puts us in a great position to stay at the forefront of this rapidly evolving global industry,” she added.

This effort will be led by Octo and guided by an advisory board that is to be chaired by Werner, who will report to Fabio Sbianchi, CEO of Octo. Duncan Anderson, global leader, insurance technology, and Tom Coughlin, national partner, WTW North America, will represent WTW on the advisory board.

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This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.