Clearspeed Partners with 1st Central to Transform Its Insurance Claims Experience

Voice-based risk assessment yields accelerated payments and enhances customer experience

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clearspeed, the leader in voice-based risk assessment technology, today announced a new partnership with 1st Central, one of the UK's fastest-growing insurance providers. The collaboration integrates Clearspeed's innovative voice-based risk assessment into 1st Central's claims processing workflow to accelerate the settlement of legitimate claims while also boosting fraud detection.

1st Central has implemented Clearspeed's technology across some of its motor claims processes. The implementation aligns with 1st Central's customer-centric approach to claims handling, which prioritizes rapid resolution for genuine claims.

"At 1st Central we have a proactive approach to fraud prevention and the use of this technology reinforces our stances in protecting honest customers. We must constantly innovate and re-invent how we work for efficiency and tackle this massive fraud challenge–but without disrupting the customer experience,” said Paul Priestley, Counter Fraud Director at 1st Central. "Clearspeed is delivering really positive outcomes for our customers. We're seeing great benefits internally because we want to efficiently screen as many claims as possible without impacting on genuine customers, and this is an excellent tool to achieve that balance."

The Clearspeed technology seamlessly integrates into customer interactions or workflows. It is part of an existing journey with a customer where they are invited (online, text, email, call center transfer) to respond to a short set of automated yes or no questions by phone. Clearspeed's proprietary voice technology analyzes and scores the responses to identify the presence of vocal characteristics associated with risk, allowing 1st Central to effectively triage claims at scale. Where risk is low, individuals can be accelerated through the process, freeing up resources to focus on the cases alerted as high risk.

"This partnership with 1st Central demonstrates how our technology can simultaneously improve customer experience and strengthen fraud prevention," said Alex Martin, CEO of Clearspeed. "It reflects a shifting paradigm in insurance fraud prevention, moving away from universal delays toward a more targeted approach," explained Martin. "Clearspeed creates a more efficient process that allows our partner insurers a real opportunity to build trust, better serve their customers, and drive long-term retention and success.”

Unlike traditional risk assessment methods that rely on extensive documentation validation, subjective evaluations, and lengthy processing times, Clearspeed's approach is:

• Fast – provides in-the-moment insights to enable quicker settlements
• Bias-free – not dependent on historical data or predictive models
• Frictionless – removes cumbersome steps for genuine customers

“It has already yielded impressive results improving the customer journey and settlement times to ensure we protect customers," Priestley noted.

Clearspeed works closely with 9 of the top 10 UK insurers. On average, insurers experience a 50% reduction in average claims handling time and a 40% increase in immediate settlements to claimants, all without compromising customer experience ratings.

1st Central, a data-driven business with a successful growth rate, plans to further expand its use of Clearspeed's technology to household insurance claims, policy applications and renewals, and liability decision-making.

About 1st Central

1st Central is a car insurance broker that is a top five largest seller of new motor insurance policies in the UK and has over 1.4m customers. 1st Central acts as the intermediary and policy administrator between the insurer and customers and is ranked as ‘Excellent’ on TrustPilot. Policies provided via 1st Central are underwritten by 1st Central Underwriting.

Both 1st Central and 1st Central Underwriting are part of 1st Central Group, which delivers market-leading insurance, underwriting, and distribution services using technology and data to reduce risk, tackle fraud and deliver innovative products. The group has around 1,200 employees with offices in Guernsey, Gibraltar, West Sussex, and Manchester. 1st Central Group was recently named one of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ for Wellbeing (2023) by Great Place to Work® and ranked 9th in the UK's Best Workplaces for Women™ 2023. 1st Central Group was also ranked 22nd in Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in the UK for 2024. For more information, visit www.1stcentralinsurance.com.

About Clearspeed

Clearspeed is the market leader for assessing risk in speech. Global organizations trust our highly precise, accurate, and unbiased voice analytics to fast-track low risk while also alerting to possible fraud. Our clients and partners rely on the unique data we provide to improve their risk confidence, reduce their costs, and deliver an improved customer experience. For more information, visit www.clearspeed.com.