Gamification, the idea of adding game-like features to software or hardware not traditionally associated with games, is the big buzzword of technology development at the moment. It’s used in all sorts of areas, for example, your LinkedIn profile uses gamification to try and get you to complete all the boxes and make new connections.
You’ll find gamification slowly encroaching on enterprise applications at work too. Everything from compliance training to system use is slowly being given a thin coating of “fun” to try and increase usage and adherence to use patterns.
One of the biggest areas to benefit from gamification is training and development. People are often keener to learn when they can track their progress in “leaderboard” fashion. The more of a course they complete – the more badges and awards they win.
So How Could Gamification Cut Car Insurance Claims?
We have entered the age of telematics. The little black box that sits inside your car and tracks where you drive, how far you drive and more recently it also tracks how you drive.
Insurers are already adopting telematics as part of reduced cost policy strategies. If the driver agrees to install a telematics box; assuming the driver drives safely and within the requirements of their policy – they get a discount on the premiums they pay.
But could this go farther? What about using telematics to provide immediate feedback on the owner’s driving? And what about using that feedback to provide gamification style awards for drivers who improve their driving based on that feedback?
Is it possible that combining telematics and gamification could lead to a reduced number of car insurance claims? We doubt, of course, that you could ever eliminate such claims entirely, though the advent of driverless cars may one day mean that there’s no longer a need to insure drivers at all.
Challenges in Gamification Using Telematics
There’s no doubt that the data already exists. Whenever a driver has installed a black box, there’s data being generated on how that driver performs. The trick is to provide immediate feedback to the driver without distracting them from the business of driving.
This will probably require some form of software layer that allows the system to deliver that feedback without requiring the driver to look away from the road. Perhaps, the feedback could be projected (lightly) on to the windscreen?
It would also then be fairly easy to provide the driver’s leaderboard position, badges, etc. as a display on the windscreen once the journey was complete. Say, when the keys were removed from the ignition.
Of course, gamification doesn’t appeal to every driver but we think there’s a sound argument to be made that in the cases where people enjoy gamification – telematics combined with gamification could cut claims and more importantly, it might be able to save lives too by creating a safer driving experience.
