Wawanesa Mutual Insurance has opened a new facility in Kitchener, Ontario that could help develop new digital innovations for the company’s broker partners.
The new Innovation Outpost lab – Wawanesa’s second – is part of the Communitech Hub – a public-private entrepreneurial group based in the Waterloo Region that supports a community of over 1,400 companies based in the area.
According to a release, Wawanesa’s new lab will partner with “key players” – which includes start-ups, global-brand brokers, broker associations, government agencies, academic institutions, tech incubators, and accelerators – in order to create digital solutions for the company’s broker partners.
The lab is already at work on an upcoming project – an interactive voice technology leveraging Amazon’s Alexa device that would help connect Wawanesa’s customers with brokers during the quoting process for auto and home insurance. A release said that the insurer is currently working with Kitchener-based ProNavigator and the Excalibur Insurance Group to develop the chatbot.
“It’s exciting to be a part of this dynamic ecosystem and to be working with ProNavigator, a bright new start-up, while also furthering our enduring relationship with Excalibur Insurance, one of Ontario’s leading digital brokers,” commented Wawanesa vice-president of innovation Al McLeod. “By investing in new and innovative technology to improve the customer experience we are helping our brokers to make their businesses stronger as they compete against new channels and digital players.”
“The way that we communicate with businesses is changing rapidly while customers are looking for speed and convenience,” added ProNavigator founder and CEO Joseph D’Souza. “We are excited to collaborate with Wawanesa and Excalibur Insurance to power their Alexa integration, allowing their customers to receive quotes and answer questions through voice commands anytime.”
Wawanesa had previously established an Innovation Lab in Winnipeg, which opened in January 2017.
