Let’s Get Virtual at the CSIO Booth - #IBAO16

Michael Spiar, Broker Relations & Communications Specialist | IBAO Blog

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Riding a roller coaster. Walking with the dinosaurs. Watching Netflix in a mountain getaway. What do all of these things have in common? You can do them all at the CSIO booth at this year’s IBAO Convention thanks to the magic of Virtual Reality (VR)! Come by our booth on the trade show floor to try out the latest in VR headsets and to get a taste of what the future of customer interaction might look like. And while you’re there, enter our draw to win our grand prize – a Zeiss VR ONE Plus virtual reality headset!

Virtual reality may seem like a toy at the moment – used primarily for video games and home entertainment – but it has already made an impact in the world of insurance. In Alabama, one health insurance provider has embraced virtual reality as a key tool for providing telehealth services to its rural customers. With VR, more insureds have convenient access to medical consultations without the need to enter an expensive health-care setting – all while lowering overall costs for the insurer. VR can also apply to auto insurance, such as:

• Administering driving tests to accurately assess a drivers’ risk level instead of lumping them into statistical groups
• Providing claims adjusters with detailed, virtual tours of the inner workings of various makes and models of vehicles instead of sending only high-level field appraisers for similar in-person training

On the commercial side, Travelers has developed a worker training program with AppliedVR to reduce workplace accidents in warehouses and manufacturing plants by creating a virtual copy of the work environment where trainees must save colleagues from various risks.

VR is a rapidly evolving area of technology that will almost certainly become mainstream as it continues to develop. In the meantime, even in its relative infancy, VR is worth checking out for the novelty alone, as one CSIO staffer discovered:

So come visit the CSIO booth on the trade show floor and try out virtual reality yourself! Who knows – it might be part of your day-to-day service offering sooner than you think.