Case Study: Sentry Insurance and Cotality
This case study shows how Sentry Insurance partnered with Cotality to automate wildfire mitigation compliance across 8,000 properties, eliminating manual underwriting bottlenecks.
- Regulatory Ease: Met strict California CDI transparency mandates without intrusive customer questionnaires.
- Operational Efficiency: Saved thousands of hours by replacing manual inspections with advanced data.
- Scalable Co-Innovation: Established a flexible data partnership to solve complex commercial risk challenges.
Navigating regulatory complexity with a trusted data partner
The client: Sentry Insurance
Sentry Insurance is one of the largest and most financially secure mutual insurance groups in the United States. With a vast portfolio of properties across the country, including over 8,000 properties in California, Sentry is committed to providing comprehensive protection and expert underwriting for its policyholders.
The challenge
Regulatory shifts and operational hurdles
In 2022, new regulations from the California Department of Insurance (CDI) required insurers to be more transparent regarding wildfire risk and the impact of mitigation efforts on property premiums. For Sentry, this presented a monumental task; how to accurately assess 12 different building-hardening and mitigation measures across 8,000 properties without significant manual effort or intrusive customer questionnaires.
The Solution
A Collaborative approach to innovation
Sentry turned to CotalityTM to find a streamlined solution for assessing wildfire risk. Unlike other vendors who offered "off-the-shelf" products that only addressed a fraction of the regulatory requirements, Cotality took a partnership-driven approach.
Through six months of intense collaboration, Cotality's technical team worked alongside Sentry’s IT and underwriting departments to develop a customized API-driven solution. This tool not only answered the majority of the required regulatory questions but did so by leveraging advanced data and imagery, significantly reducing the need for on-site inspections.
The results
Speed, accuracy, and seamless underwriting
The partnership has transformed Sentry’s underwriting process in several key ways:
- Unmatched efficiency: What would have taken years of manual and on-site work was automated into a seamless, near-instant process via API.
- Operational excellence: Underwritings can now focus non complex "fringe" cases, while standard risks move through the system without additional manual steps.
- Enhanced customer experience: Sentry was able to comply with new regulations and provide premium credits without burdensome questionnaires for their policyholders.
- A growing partnership: Based on the success of the wildfire mitigation solution, Sentry and Cotality are now collaborating on new solutions for complex property valuations, such as greenhouse portfolios.
The Cotality value
For Sentry, the true value of Cotality lies in their willingness to act as a true partner rather than just a vendor. Their ability to listen, adapt, and co-innovate has made them an indispensable part of Sentry's risk assessment toolkit.
