Interview with Wang Xiaochun, Chairman of CE China

Since the reform and opening up in 1978, a large number of foreign companies have swarmed into China, bringing the world's most advanced technologies and services to the Chinese market. Among them, many multinational companies have made tremendous contributions to the rapid development in various industries in China. ControlExpert (CE), a global leader in smart auto insurance claim, entered China in 2012, and since then has promoted a more mature domestic auto insurance claim in China by virtue of advanced insurance claim technologies and professional services.

CE - a global leader in smart auto insurance claims services

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany, ControlExpert, a tech company, is dedicated to providing fast, targeted and smart auto insurance claim services. It operates subsidiaries in 16 countries and regions and boasts a market share of 90% in Germany, enabling it to be a leader in the global auto smart-insurance claims industry.

Over the past 16 years, CE has been at the forefront of the insurance claim technology field. At present, it has established the partnership with more than 130 customers, such as Allianz Insurance Group, France AXA Group, Italy Generali Group. In 2012, CE established ControlExpert China Co., Ltd. (CE China) in Beijing. It is the first third-party technology company to provide auto smart-insurance claim services for auto insurance companies and now has developed the cooperation with 12 domestic auto insurance companies. To further learn CE China's development and achievements, the journalist interviewed with Mr. Wang Xiaochun, chairman of CE China.

Journalist: As a leader in the global smart auto insurance claims field, what services does CE provide to customers in the Chinese market?

Mr. Wang: As risk control has always been the core topic of the auto insurance industry, and the mainstream will lie in self-innovation and self-development of insurance companies and in-depth cooperation with third-party technology service companies from the development trend, CE China is engaged in providing auto insurance companies with integrated auto insurance claim service schemes.

CE Smart Claim Service

Smart loss assessment: for quick settlement cases, CE offers self-survey app "Constant Claim" (Yi Miao Pei), through which the insured can claim by uploading relevant documents and vehicle damage pictures. CE applies targeted loss assessment on the cases by "AI Intelligent System + Claims Expert".

Smart loss audit: for non-quick settlement cases, CE conducts smart check on the loss assessment invoices issued by auto insurance companies. Authorized by an insurance company, CE claims expert negotiates with the repair shop to prepare and implement reasonable repair and price schemes.

Smart verification: CE conducts smart verification on the authenticity of the settled cases and the rationality of their repair / price schemes, and CE claims experts focus on verifying risk cases, preparing relationship maps and issuing verification reports. In case of any fraud, CE takes recovery measures.

As China’ first technology company dedicated to providing smart claims services to auto insurance companies, while helping auto insurance companies to detect risks, shorten the time for claims and reduce the cost of claims, CE China facilitates a standardized and reasonable repair / price schemes and a normalized market of auto parts and auto services, and entourages more insurance companies to cooperate with professional third-party service companies in business with poor competitive advantage. CE’s professional third-party services have been recognized by the market. Its business model promotes the specialized division of labor in the insurance industry and help insurance companies to focus on product innovation and business pricing, improving their service quality and bridging the gap with international first-class insurance companies.

Journalist: As a technology company, what cutting-edge technologies has CE applied to the auto insurance claims process?

Mr. Wang: A technology company needs to continuously improve its R&D level and keep its technologies on the forefront if it wants to maintain its industrial leadership in the world. CE is the first insurance technology company to apply image recognition technology in the field of auto insurance claims. Presently, this technology has become the most widely used one in the field of auto insurance worldwide. Since established in 2015, CE Germany AI R&D Center, with 20 AI experts, has been engaged in image recognition technology for over 4 years. It achieved an accuracy rate of up to 90% in AI image recognition. In 2018, CE China established its AI laboratory with 6 AI experts. The German mobile claim App "EasyClaim" and the Chinese smart claim App "Constant Claim" are integrated with CE's latest image recognition technology, enabling to generate a loss assessment report within one second by recognizing the uploaded documents and vehicle damage pictures. EasyClaim has been widely used in 13 countries and regions and has gained recognition in the international market. With CE image recognition technology, the user needs not take pictures in the specified order, and the damage pictures can be automatically classified and recognized. This greatly reduces the threshold for obtaining image data, and makes it easy for the insureds without automotive expertise. With this App, the insured can claim by himself/herself immediately, so that it reduces the claim settlement time and helps auto insurance companies optimize their staffing.

Journalist: CE has served more than 130 customers worldwide in the past 16 years. What values have CE created for customers?

Mr. Wang: Since the world's first modern insurance policy was issued in Florence in 1384, covering a shipment of goods from France to Italy, the European insurance industry has developed rapidly for six centuries. The European insurance industry is superior to the domestic insurance industry in such aspects as division of labor based on specialization, insurance product innovation and premium rate marketization in the full industrial links. In addition, a perfect credit system has been established in Europe so that the credit cost is high. The European auto insurance companies have established a quite perfect management system at a high standardized level and kept pursuing for technological innovation in the intellectualization trend. Just in the first year of its establishment, CE make a contact with Allianz Insurance, the world's most famous century-old insurance company; till now, we have kept the partnership with Allianz for 16 years. In 2015, CE became a global partner of Allianz and embarked in-depth cooperation in 11 countries and regions including Germany, Poland, Austria and Switzerland. For almost 35% of cases accepted by Allianz, CE provides smart claims services and has saved 1.1 billion Euros for Allianz. CE China has cooperated with 12 domestic auto insurance companies to provide localized auto insurance claims services through the introduction of German advanced insurance technology and the management philosophy of international first-class insurance companies. Through 6 years of unremitting efforts, CE has promoted the specialized division of labor in the domestic auto insurance industry, shortened the time of auto insurance claims, improved the automation of the claims process, and significantly reduced the cost of claims.

Journalist: As a professional third-party technology service company, what other conditions do you need in addition to industry-leading technologies?

Mr. Wang: Technology and management are the two core capacities of CE. Germany, one of the founders to define the modern company management system, attaches great importance to the quality of products and services. Supported by technological talents and international management, CE is striving to build a technology-based company that integrates AI experts, IT experts, data analysts, auto insurance claims experts and senior managers. CE China’s management team members are from CE headquarters in Germany, the top five insurance companies in China, well-known domestic IT companies and internationally renowned insurance technology companies. These members have been working in the field of auto insurance claims for decades and have accumulated extensive professional knowledge and practical experience. Additionally, CE China regularly sends employees to the German headquarters for learning and exchange, so as to introduce the professional management and service experiences in customer services over 16 years.

"We should positively introduce first-class technology and service outside while keeping optimizing and involving inside. As the country's reform and opening up advances, CE has developed rapidly in China and been integrating world-class technologies and practice in smart auto insurance claims into domestic claim service, accelerating the specialized division of labor in the domestic auto insurance industry, shortening the time of auto insurance claims, and improving the automation of the claims process, and significantly reduces the cost of claims. We will make joint efforts with our customers to promote the development and progress of China's auto insurance industry and practice better for the great vision of reform and opening up," Mr. Wang says.