As cars become more connected, we can make more decisions using data. Automations are within reach for underwriting decisions, distribution, and claims, just to name a few. How can we create products that use data for global solutions? In this episode, Product Talk host and ALTR Product Lead, Neha Shah, interviews Roadzen CEO Rohan Malhotra who discusses how AI data bridges the gaps between insurance and mobility to make better decisions.
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On Empowering Consumers Through Data
After an experience with his friend in Dehli, Rohan realized that he could order a pizza or an Uber in the middle of the night, but not sort out an insurance claim. This drove him to build Roadzen, to not only give tools to companies making the decisions but empower consumers by utilizing data from the driving industry worldwide.
“I think one of the big factors in our building of products at Roadzen is to introduce transparency into the insurance process, is to make the consumer aware of what is possible, and to give them like clear tools to be able to address it. Let’s take the example of a claim. Today, you filed a claim, you literally have no idea on whether it’s going to be approved, what amounts are going to be approved, etc. What we’ve done is, you can take some basic photographs or a video of an insurance claim for an accident, and within a few seconds, we use computer vision and AI to estimate what that claim cost would be like. So within less than a minute now, you can have an idea of how much this thing is going to cost. Then we work with insurers to figure out can we make this payment immediately to the consumer, and they can get their car repaired wherever they want, or should they take it to a garage that is authorized by the insurer?
In every single situation, the goal is to make it very convenient for the user and, coming from that painful experience, is to give the user peace of mind when they’re dealing with insurance because it’s already a stressful situation when you’re in that kind of place. One of the key goals is to use technology to make the consumer’s life a lot easier. I really resonated with building products that are at the intersection of technology and consumer life. It’s really one of the key things, we focus on that Roadzen.”
On the Challenges of Privacy and Data Protection
This amount of data pieces a person’s life together, and consumers might become concerned about the privacy and protection of their data. Rohan explained how this protected data will not only help consumers in their wallets but also from a safety standpoint.
“There’s a clear understanding that this data has to be protected at all costs because it’s necessary for the privacy and protection of the consumer. You can still use this data to build better algorithms that give you better pricing, and, in many situations, improve road safety completely. We believe with connected car data, vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and video telematics, you could reduce accidents on the road by 40 percent. That’s an incredible consumer good.
People will be willing to share that data in an anonymized format to improve the algorithms that power these decision-making processes, which actually helps you improve road safety and gives you better pricing on your insurance policy. It has to be clearly linked to objectives that are identifiable and measurable by the consumer, and I think they will be happy to share.
That said, I think the innovation is going to start with commercial auto versus personal auto. There are millions of fleets around the world. They want compliance, they want safety. A car being off the road or a vehicle being off the road means a loss of livelihood, it means a loss of business objectives for them. They’re going to be the first ones to adopt this, and then it percolates down into consumer lives over the next five to seven years.”
On the Relationship Between Product Managers and CEOs
Pivoting in their conversation, host Neha Shah and Rohan discuss the relationship between product managers and CEOs and how they build out these ambitious visions to solve these challenges in insurance tech through data.
“The first thing we look for is the ability to say no to the CEO because the CEOs come up with ideas every day or every couple of days, and some of those ideas may be good, many of them may not be that good. They got to focus and say no. That’s a big trait.
We are actually built in a matrix that exists along product lines. Each product manager has to manage up and down, so you’re managing business, technology, AI, and design, even though some of these functions are independent, they come together in the form of delivering a product. When we are looking at business strategy, business goals, we’re looking for product managers to essentially define the product, coordinate the actions across these different workstreams, and work across the organization to deliver the product, scale it, and track its success for the business. Success could be in the form of business impact, it could be in the form of rolling out a feature that users love. It could be in the form of better reporting, it could be a new AI that we are introducing into the value chain. We see that as being a big part of the product management schema across Roadzen.
We expect the product manager to play a multidisciplinary role, bringing teams together. One of the big cultural things at Roadzen is the idea of a meritocracy … The best idea should always win, and that requires someone to bring the best ideas into the room and say, how do we move forward? The ability of a product manager to do that is critical to enabling the success of the organization itself.”
About the speaker
About the host
My experience covers the trifecta of B2B Product Management, Sales, and Marketing. I also co-founded a B2C startup focused on family and education technology. I believe technology can be a creative and powerful driving force for change, and am passionate about building products that improve every day experiences.