Reports & Research

From Costly Water Losses to Millions in Savings

Non-weather water claims are a leading cause of property insurance losses, costing insurers over $20 billion annually. 

Join us for a FREE live webinar where our experts will discuss the latest trends, challenges, and insights to help you mitigate non-weather water risk.

What We'll Cover

Our experts Rob Silva, ACAS (Director of Customer Success) & Sam Fetchero (Head of Marketing) will present:

• Current Trends: Understand the rise in severity and total loss costs of non-weather water claims.
• Risk Assessment Challenges: Learn why traditional methods fall short in assessing non-weather water vulnerability.
• Key Risk Factors: Identify the main drivers of non-weather water damage.
• Strategic Insights: Discover strategies to improve your management of non-weather water claims.
• Z-WATER in Action: Experience our new AI-powered model that predicts non-weather water risk with unparalleled accuracy.
• Interactive Q&A: Get your questions answered by our experts.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is ideal for Executives, Product Managers, Actuaries, Underwriters, and CAT Modelers committed to enhancing their understanding and management of non-weather water risks. 

Bonus Content

As a bonus, you'll receive our exclusive infographic, "Below the Surface: Research Reveals Knowledge Gap in Homeowner Water Loss Prevention and Coverage."

This research gives key insights into water loss experiences, coverage details, homeowner protection measures, and information on water shutoff devices and heater conditions.

Register Now

It’s hard to overstate how important the roof is from an insurability standpoint. The roof represents significant risks and potential opportunities, making it a critical focus area for insurers. This has become even more important in recent years as the impact of severe convective storms is often reflected in roof losses. Understanding this, ZestyAI has released new research for property insurers called The Insurers Guide to Roof Risk.

Download The Insurers Guide to Roof Risk

In an era where the severity and frequency of roof-related claims are on the rise, particularly due to the increasing impact of severe convective storms, innovative tools and strategies are essential. The Insurers Guide to Roof Risk provides actionable insights to improve risk assessment, underwriting processes, and overall business strategy.

What’s Inside the Guide?

The Insurers Guide to Roof Risk includes:

• Roof Failure Factors: Learn the underlying contributing factors behind why older roofs fail more often.
• Beyond Roof Age: Discover why roof complexity, condition, and climate are more important than roof age alone.
• Identifying Missing Risk Factors: Understand the key factors to roof risk that most traditional models miss.
• Advanced Risk Segmentation: See how using machine learning and new data sources can split risk more than 60 times better than traditional models.
• Portfolio Optimization: Access a comprehensive toolbox to optimize your portfolio and new business selection to generate exponential lift versus traditional models.

Download Now

Annual Wildfire Season Overview provides insights to assist insurers in effectively managing wildfire risk.

ZestyAI has released its annual Wildfire Season Overview for 2024. This year’s guide provides critical insights carriers need to stay ahead of the rapidly evolving wildfire landscape. Offering more than just data, this year’s guide is designed to help insurers make informed risk decisions in some of the country’s most volatile states. 

Download ZestyAI's 2024 Wildfire Season Overview 

This year’s guide includes: 

• Countrywide Wildfire Impact Analysis: Understand how wildfires are affecting regions beyond traditional hotspots like CA, including significant events in TX & NM.
• Future Wildfire Trends: Explore predictions for the 2024 wildfire season and understand the long-term implications of current conditions on wildfire risks.
• Regulatory Insights: Stay updated on the latest regulations affecting wildfire risk assessment insurance practices.
• AI-driven Risk Models: Learn how ZestyAI's Z-FIRE model accurately predicts wildfire risks and assists insurers in making informed decisions.
• Property-Level Risk Assessments: Discover the importance of granular, property-specific risk evaluations to improve underwriting accuracy and transparency for consumers.

Download Now

Costing insurers approximately $19 billion every year, roof claims stand as the primary driver of property insurance losses.

Traditional methods of obtaining roof age information are deeply flawed. Most carriers depend on policyholder or agent-reported data, which is often inaccurate, leading to blind spots in assessing property risk. In a recent ZestyAI survey, 63 percent of homeowners reported not knowing the age of their roof if they were not in their homes the last time it was replaced.

Join our expert panel for a deep dive into leveraging roof age analytics for a cutting-edge underwriting process and gain insider knowledge on:

• The Leading Cause of Claims: unveil the hidden truths behind roof-related claims and the costly consequences of outdated assessment methods.
• A New Era of Data: Learn about ZestyAI’s pioneering approach to roof age analytics, incorporating building permits, historical imagery, and AI for a comprehensive view
• Precision at Scale: See how to apply precise, AI-driven roof age data across your entire portfolio for consistent and reliable underwriting and claims decisions
• Technical Decision Making: Empower your actuaries and underwriters with the insights needed to enhance risk selection and optimize pricing strategies
• Efficiency in Operations: Streamline inspections and operations, focusing resources where they’re needed most, improving time-to-quote, and enriching the customer experience
• Best Practices: Learn how leading carriers are using roof age, roof condition, and peril-specific models to improve risk selection and lower combined ratios 

This transformative session is available on demand. Learn how to enhance accuracy, efficiency, and profitability in property insurance.

Save Your Spot

In an ever-evolving regulatory environment, staying informed and adaptable is crucial. Our latest interactive guide, "When Innovation and Regulation Meet", offers a comprehensive toolkit for navigating the complexities of insurance compliance and the integration of AI technologies. 

What's Inside?

• Regulatory Landscape Map: Delve into a detailed state-by-state analysis, uncovering the intricacies of filing laws and approval speeds.
• Staying Ahead of Regulation Changes: Learn how to stay prepared and ensure your compliance strategies are future-proof, aligning with the latest regulatory expectations.
• Essential AI Partner Checklist: Choosing the right AI partner is crucial for success. Our guide offers a meticulous checklist for selecting a partner that is not only compliant but also transparent and supportive, ensuring you make an informed decision.
• Emerging Regulatory Concerns: What do you need to know about privacy, bias, and AI oversight?
• Real-World Applications: Discover how ZestyAI's collaborative approach with regulatory entities has led to successful model approvals across the United States. 

Why This Guide?

As the regulatory framework becomes increasingly complex, having a reliable and insightful resource is indispensable. Our guide is tailored for insurance professionals seeking to enhance their regulatory strategy, embrace AI innovation responsibly, and achieve a competitive edge in the market.

Ready to get up to speed on 2024's regulatory environment? Access the guide.

The landscape of hail risk management is undergoing a significant transformation. Our latest publication, "Hail Risk 2024: An Interactive Guide for Insurers," offers a critical examination, illustrated with compelling data, of the factors contributing to the alarming rise in hail-related losses over the last decade. Major changes to how hail is understood have changed how insurers should view the peril. This guide isn't just about understanding hail risk; it's about redefining how it is managed in the insurance industry.

Why This Guide is Indispensable:

• Losses Rising — Understand the key factors driving record-breaking hail losses, and why there's more to the story than just "climate change."
• Reinsurance  — Learn why insurance carriers now shoulder more of the burden due to changing risk transfer relations.
• The Right Tools  — Explore how AI-based climate risk models are supplementing stochastic and actuarial models for a full picture of climate risk.
• Actionable Steps  — See how leading carriers are applying granular, property-level insights and learn the proactive steps they're taking to mitigate risks and losses.

Ready to get up to speed on hail risk in 2024? Access the guide.

The Rising Threat of Severe Convective Storms

The past few decades have seen a dramatic rise in the frequency and intensity of severe convective storms, resulting in significant financial repercussions for the insurance industry. In the last year alone, insured losses from severe convective storms reached an astounding $60 billion, marking an average annual growth rate of over 11% over the past twenty years. This alarming trend means a new approach is needed to manage and mitigate the escalating risks associated with severe weather events.

In the last year alone, insured losses from severe convective storms reached an astounding $60B, marking an average annual growth rate of over 11% over the past twenty years.

The traditional methods of risk assessment and management are no longer sufficient to cope with the increasing unpredictability and severity of these weather events. As the risk evolves, so must the solutions. Changing risks call for innovative solutions that leverage advanced technology and data analytics to enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of risk modeling.

A New Approach

ZestyAI’s Z-HAIL and Z-WIND models are specifically designed to address the challenges posed by severe convective storms. In a new retroactive case study, we explore the performance of these models on a carrier’s book of business over the prior five years, highlighting their effectiveness in delivering comprehensive coverage and precise risk segmentation.

Key findings from the case study include:

Comprehensive Coverage with High Accuracy

One of the standout results from the case study is the exceptional hit rate of 99.7% achieved by Z-HAIL and Z-WIND. This shows the models were able to accurately identify and assess the risk of severe convective storms for nearly all the properties in the carrier's portfolio.

Strong Risk Segmentation

The models demonstrated remarkable capability in risk segmentation, with Z-HAIL generating a lift of 62X and Z-WIND achieving a lift of 9.7X. This means that the models were able to effectively differentiate between high-risk and low-risk properties, even within small geographic areas such as a single zip code. Accurate risk segmentation allows insurers to tailor their policies and pricing strategies more precisely, leading to better management of their risk exposure.

Improved Combined Ratio

Implementing Z-HAIL and Z-WIND would significantly enhance a carrier’s combined ratio, calculated to be approximately 4 points in the first year. This improvement can be attributed to the models’ ability to optimize underwriting, rating, and the application of deductibles and Actual Cash Value (ACV) endorsement strategies. By accurately assessing the risk and applying appropriate measures, insurers can reduce their loss ratios and improve overall profitability.

The Need for Innovative Solutions

As severe convective storms continue to pose significant challenges to the insurance industry, adopting innovative solutions like ZestyAI’s severe convective storm models can help insurers better manage this escalating risk.

These models provide comprehensive coverage, accurate risk segmentation, and improved financial performance. By embracing advanced technology and data-driven analytics, insurers can navigate the complexities of severe weather events and safeguard their portfolios against future losses.

To learn more about the detailed findings and benefits

Download the full case study.

As part of our relentless focus on helping property and casualty insurers make smart risk decisions, every month I travel across the country to meet with insurance executives. One of the first questions I am asked is what sets ZestyAI apart from our competitors. I love being asked this question because it allows me the opportunity to share our passion for building an impactful company amidst the rapid technological transformation of the more than 650-year-old Property & Casualty (P&C) industry.

In my previous blog post, we delved into the origins of ZestyAI.

Now, let's explore what makes us stand out.

1. We Are a Risk Analytics Platform. Not an Aerial Imagery Data Company.

A Distinct Information Advantage

At ZestyAI, our primary focus is delivering comprehensive insights on climate and property risk for every residential and commercial property in the US. We are not just a data vendor; we are a risk analytics platform.

Our models create a distinct information advantage through their ability to split risk "intra-territory," which can not only help avoid risky policies, but more importantly price to risk allowing companies to grow with quality risk. This provides our clients with actionable insights that go beyond mere data points. Think about ZestyAI products as the FICO score for property and casualty insurance. Just as the FICO score, a measure of consumer credit risk, has become a fixture of consumer lending in the United States, ZestyAI’s peril models aim to simplify climate and property risk assessment for insurance carriers and mortgage lenders.

We are not just a data vendor; we are a risk analytics platform.

Our team of data scientists, deep learning and machine learning experts, and climate scientists are constantly refining and expanding our capabilities. This dynamic approach ensures that we stay at the forefront of technological advancements and deliver unparalleled value to our clients. 

ZestyAI's Focus on Results

ZestyAI’s emphasis on data and artificial intelligence is not an end but a means to achieve the ultimate goal: improving risk management and pricing strategies for insurers. By focusing on the end results—better risk assessment and pricing—we ensure that our innovations translate into real-world benefits for our customers.

The powerful platform we have built provides, at an individual property level, a holistic view of the multitude of peril-specific risks that insurers face. This includes property intelligence for essential parcel, structure, and roof insights; climate models covering wildfire, wind, hail, and storms; and our most recent addition Z-WATER, tackling the challenge of interior water damage. This allows insurers to move from territory-based segmentation to a property-by-property risk assessment. In total, the ZestyAI platform covers over 85% of all peril-driven losses.  

2. Built by Data Junkies for Data Junkies

The Depth and Breadth of Our Data Is Unmatched

While high-resolution imagery is an important component of our models, it is by no means the only input. ZestyAI stands out by integrating 200 billion data points across more than a dozen unique data sources that are new to the P&C industry to maximize risk differentiation. We extract insights from non-imagery data, such as building permits, property sales databases, tax assessment data, and localized weather stations, among others. This comprehensive approach allows us to create a unified and federated database for every property. 

Unique Approach to Data

Our approach to imagery is also unique. ZestyAI products leverage satellite, aerial, and terrestrial imagery to create AI-generated 3D analysis of every structure. As for aerial imagery, we have been partnering with all leading providers and as such we have been training our models on multiple image sources for almost a decade. Having integrated with all major providers rather than relying on a single vendor also allows us to achieve a nearly 100% hit rate. This flexibility ensures that we have the most up-to-date and accurate data available, enhancing the precision of our models. 

As for aerial imagery, we have been partnering with all leading providers and as such we have been training our models on multiple image sources for almost a decade.

By combining these diverse data sources and applying proven artificial intelligence to identify risk, such as roof quality, lot debris, and driveway condition, we provide insurers with a holistic view of property risks. This enables them to make more informed decisions for underwriting, rating, and portfolio management. This multi-faceted data integration is a key differentiator that sets ZestyAI apart from other data vendors in the industry.

3. We Live and Die by ROI and We Know How to Deliver It.

Industry Expertise and Customer Success

One of our strongest assets is our deep understanding of the insurance business and the key value drivers for carriers. We have built a team that includes former executives from leading carriers like Farmers, MetLife, and Progressive, and data analytics providers like CoreLogic, RMS and Guidewire, who bring invaluable industry expertise to our company. 

“We have walked a mile in your shoes” is a phrase we often use when partnering with our customers. Because of this, we don't just throw data over the fence. Rather, we align our models and risk scores to key use cases, ensuring that they are relevant and actionable for our clients. Through our customer success program, we operationalize what each customer needs. We engage closely with our partners, working side-by-side to implement our models and monitor value capture. ZestyAI’s commitment to delivering 10X ROI is a cornerstone of our philosophy and sets us apart from those with a more transactional approach. 

ZestyAI’s commitment to delivering 10X ROI is a cornerstone of our philosophy

Engagement with Regulators

Our deep engagement with regulators further underscores the company’s commitment to delivering value in the context of a highly regulated business. Despite initial skepticism from industry experts about the feasibility of getting an AI model approved, ZestyAI became the first to gain approval as part of a carrier rate filing from the California Department of Insurance (CDI). 

Since then, our model has been adopted for rating in all wildfire-prone markets across the US, providing our clients with the confidence that our solutions are innovative, effective, and compliant. Similarly, our severe convective storm suite of models, including Z-HAIL, Z-WIND, and Z-STORM, have been filed, reviewed, and approved by regulators in multiple states across the country, including Texas, Colorado, and Illinois.  

Protecting What Matters Most

At ZestyAI, our mission goes beyond just providing cutting-edge risk analytics—we are dedicated to protecting communities and livelihoods from the perils they face. By focusing on risk analytics, leveraging unique data sources, and drawing on deep industry expertise, we empower insurers to make smarter, more precise decisions that ultimately contribute to safer, more resilient communities.

Commitment to Transparency and Compliance

Our transparent approach, coupled with deep industry expertise, allows us to deliver unparalleled insights into property risk. We work closely with insurers to understand the factors driving risk at each property, enabling them to partner with homeowners to mitigate potential losses. Our commitment to transparency extends beyond our product. We maintain open communication with regulators to ensure our models align with evolving regulations. This rigorous approach guarantees that our solutions are not only innovative but also practical and effective in addressing real-world challenges.

Vision for the Future

As we continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in risk management, our vision remains clear: to harness the power of data and AI to help our clients safeguard the future. Together, we are setting new standards in the P&C industry—standards that prioritize resilience, innovation, and above all, the well-being of the communities we serve.

Our vision remains clear: to harness the power of data and AI to help our clients safeguard the future.

Ah, and there is one more differentiator, probably the one that I am most proud of: at ZestyAI we don’t hire B-players or jerks. You will know what I mean once you meet our Zesties.

In our next post, I will explore how ZestyAI's relentless focus on value creation is driving a 10X ROI for our customers and making a meaningful difference in the world.

Are rising storm costs and inaccurate roof assessments impacting your bottom line?

Now available to stream, The Science of Roof Risk master class will equip you with the latest strategies and techniques to master roof risk assessment.

• Enhance your roof risk assessment by 60X
• Improve your combined ratio
• Reduce storm-related roof claims
• Strengthen new business selection

What we cover:

Your presenters, Ross Martin (VP, Risk Analytics) and Sam Fetchero (Head of Marketing) will share with you:

• The Problem of the Roof:  Uncover the underlying factors driving rising storm losses and why traditional risk assessment methods fall short.
• The Science Behind Predicting Losses: Explore key factors impacting  roof risk and loss prediction, including roof age, condition, complexity, and peril-specific models.
• Accuracy-focused Risk Models: Discover advanced modeling techniques that enhance predictive accuracy.
• Understanding Storm Climatology: Learn how storm climatology impacts roof risk and how to integrate these insights into your risk assessment strategies.
• Real-World Results: Witness a comparative analysis of these predictive factors using actual carrier data. Understand the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
• Priorities of Leading P&C Insurers: 
  See what your peers asked with valuable insights to take back to your team.

Who Should Watch?

This video is ideal for Executives, Product Managers, Actuaries, Underwriters, and CAT Modelers committed to enhancing their roof risk assessment capabilities. 

Bonus Guide

As a bonus for watching, you'll receive a downloadable study on the latest roof risk assessment strategies: Preparing for the Storm: The Insurers Guide to Roof Risk.

Access Now

From Costly Water Losses to Millions in Savings

Non-weather water claims are a leading cause of property insurance losses, costing insurers over $20 billion annually. 

Join us for a FREE live webinar where our experts will discuss the latest trends, challenges, and insights to help you mitigate non-weather water risk.

What We'll Cover

Our experts Rob Silva, ACAS (Director of Customer Success) & Sam Fetchero (Head of Marketing) will present:

• Current Trends: Understand the rise in severity and total loss costs of non-weather water claims.
• Risk Assessment Challenges: Learn why traditional methods fall short in assessing non-weather water vulnerability.
• Key Risk Factors: Identify the main drivers of non-weather water damage.
• Strategic Insights: Discover strategies to improve your management of non-weather water claims.
• Z-WATER in Action: Experience our new AI-powered model that predicts non-weather water risk with unparalleled accuracy.
• Interactive Q&A: Get your questions answered by our experts.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is ideal for Executives, Product Managers, Actuaries, Underwriters, and CAT Modelers committed to enhancing their understanding and management of non-weather water risks. 

Bonus Content

As a bonus, you'll receive our exclusive infographic, "Below the Surface: Research Reveals Knowledge Gap in Homeowner Water Loss Prevention and Coverage."

This research gives key insights into water loss experiences, coverage details, homeowner protection measures, and information on water shutoff devices and heater conditions.

Register Now