Moves to Milton Keynes. Collision Management Systems (CMS), a British tech company that’s pioneering the use of connected car data to reduce vehicle insurance risk and claims costs, has relocated its headquarters to Milton Keynes.
This moves to Milton Keynes is as it rapidly expands its software business.
The move follows the company’s securing of £1.25 Million in funding from BGF, one of the UK’s most active and influential investors in small and mid-sized businesses.
CMS has built up a strong team of industry and technical experts, many of whom will be based at its new offices in Witan Studios, Central Milton Keynes, and is currently recruiting additional staff to help it achieve its growth prospects.
Founder and CEO, Charles Smith talking about the moves to Milton Keynes, confirms, “These are exciting times for CMS. In the past 12 months we have created a multi-million-pound sales pipeline with international insurance, technology and telematics businesses; and successfully delivered our software to multiple global organisations in the UK and abroad, including reinsurance giant Swiss Re.
Our moves to Milton Keynes gives us the space to grow and to scale up our operations for 2019 and beyond.”
CMS’s success is down to its unique software platform that aggregates data from connected vehicles to deliver accurate real-time collision alerts and risk data.
Its system allows motor insurers to access data from the growing number of connected cars on the road and to action claims instantly without waiting for customer notification, so they can offer roadside support immediately.
By doing this, CMS is proven to deliver significant savings, in excess of £1,600 per claim.
Explaining why CMS chose its new location, Charles says “Milton Keynes has highly-skilled people and outstanding facilities as well as an established mix of high performance technology and transport and logistics businesses.
It’s ideally placed to become a centre for the development of vehicle IoT.
At CMS, we are helping to establish Britain’s role centre-stage in this burgeoning new market. We are already seeing new opportunities for our software and consultancy from overseas organisations in South America, Japan and the Middle East.”
BGF backs. Rapidly-growing data aggregation specialists, Collision Management Systems (CMS) has received a £1.25m investment from BGF, following the launch of its ground-breaking telematics data aggregation, risk management and crash detection software for Telematics and Insurance businesses.
The funding will help accelerate CMS’s market expansion following a year of strategic licensing deals with insurers, such as global giant Swiss Re; and leading telematics vendors who are eager to exploit CMS’s technology-agnostic solution to deliver field-proven benefits.
Founded in 2012 by Charles Smith, CEO and the architect behind CMS’s software platform, the company is set to take advantage of the growing use of connected vehicle technology and an industry wide desire for greater accuracy, efficiency and cost reduction when managing risk and processing insurance claims.
Following independent assessment, CMS has been shown deliver an average savings of £1,600 per collision claim and to reduce false reporting from Telematics devices by 99%.
CMS’s unique ability to aggregate and standardise data from multiple sources and systems, is proving increasingly attractive to businesses abroad, with CMS now engaged in projects in the USA, South America, Middle East and Japan.
Its highly-flexible platform is also opening up vertical opportunities at home, including recent consultations with Heathrow’s Innovation Technologists.
CMS will use BGF’s investment to build upon the sales-traction gained in the last 12 months, assisted by the hiring of more senior product and sales staff in the UK and US.
Charles Smith, CMS CEO says, “As our reputation grows at home and abroad, we are eager to build on the momentum, scaling our software and services even further.
We have moved to new premises in Milton Keynes, to accommodate our growing team and to position us at the heart of the UK connected vehicle market.
We wanted an investment partner who could follow our long-term growth ambitions and contribute additional support and connections.
BGF fits that bill exactly and we’re looking forward to working with its team to accelerate our commercial success.”
James Syrotiuk, of BGF, who will sit on the CMS board commented, “CMS stands out in the national and international market as an ambitious business that has developed proven, market-leading and future-focused technology.
We are partnering with an exciting management team that has successfully steered the company from an initial concept to winning contracts with notable global brands.
They have developed an excellent reputation among earlier investors, peers and customers and we’re delighted to be supporting them through their planned and sustainable growth.”
It’s now down to the last few companies competing for the top spot in the T&I Awards, from Insurance Times
Collision Management Systems is a finalist in these three categories:
(1) The Best Use of Technology for Customer Experience
(2) Internet of Things Breakthrough
(3) Technology Partner of the Year categories.
Charles Smith, CEO and founder of Collision Management Systems said, “This result speaks for itself.
In the world of InsureTech, CMS is clearly becoming a force to be reckoned with.
It’s fantastic to see our outstanding data aggregation, risk management and real-time crash notification solution receive the recognition it deserves.
The fact that we’re ticking so many boxes for the judges reflects the importance now placed on innovative tools that exploit IoT and bring the insurance industry into the 21st century.”
Charles will present CMS’ final presentation to the judges of the Insurance Times T&I Awards at the finals on 26 July.
The winners of the Insurance Times T&I Awards will be announced at a special Awards Dinner in London in September.
All of us at Collision Management Systems are looking forward to the final event in September. And we are very proud to have come this far.
Collision Management Systems, based at the Caswell science park in Northants, has already provided consultancy to Heathrow – one of the world’s busiest airports.
And said Heathrow’s Innovation Technologist Robin Gissing said: “We’re in the early stages of working with a cluster company on one of our wider business challenges at the moment, so the relationship with the cluster is already paying off through innovation partnership efforts.
“However, Collision Management Systems has assisted us as we look to increase the number of dash-cams on more vehicles on site.
“From a research point of view they have been incredibly helpful and, without the link to the STC, it would have been incredibly difficult to get that done – it has saved us a lot of time and given us a very interesting overview of the market so we can now make more informed recommendations.”
Charles Smith, CEO of Collision Management Systems, said: “One of the hardest tasks for any young tech-business is opening up dialogue with potential customers and partners. There are many organisations you know you can help; all you need is an initial connection.
“The Silverstone Technology Cluster is a great example of how bringing people and ideas together can spark discussion and pave the way for greater commercial opportunity.”
Meanwhile Robin has repeated his call for more Cluster companies to come forward as Heathrow looks to overcome a variety of technical and logistical challenges.
He added: “For example at the moment we are focusing a lot on automation and job augmentation where ‘cobotics’ can make people’s work zones safer and easier.
“There are lots of companies around Silverstone within the Cluster that are in automotive and/or emerging tech so the region is unique in that respect.
“We would ask its companies to put their names in the hat as things are forever evolving.”
These latest developments follow comments from Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye at February’s Oxford Major Programme Management Conference.
There he explained that the airport’s innovation team receives “exciting input” from cutting edge start-ups and SMEs within the STC to solve specific business challenges.
Global reinsurer Swiss Re, has purchased a global licence from Collision Management Systems (CMS) to embed the company’s software into its telematics based reinsurance proposition.
With its platform now enriched with CMS Crash Detection Software, Swiss Re can process vehicle data from any telematics system and deliver a reliable crash alert to its insurance clients without having to deal with large volumes of false alerts generated by telematics devices.
Charles Smith, CEO, CMS comments: “The crash filtering and data aggregation software licence taken by Swiss Re demonstrates the value and reach of our solution.
We are proud that an established and well-regarded organisation such as Swiss Re is embedding us into the unique proposition being offered to their global customer base.
“Data protection and the impending GDPR regulations are a critical part of any global telematics platform being delivered today.
We are pleased that we have been able to satisfy a number of stringent requirements set by Swiss Re.
Including the requirement to host our software and process and store the data in any data centre required by the customer.
Smith adds, “It’s now widely recognised, that early intervention following a vehicle accident saves significant operational and claims costs.
Insurers are all striving to provide added excellence and cost benefit to their customer service, especially around First Notice of Loss (FNOL).
Our crash detection solution enables this to be realised in an automated way.”
Sebastiaan Bongers, global reinsurer Swiss Re Head of Products & Technology highlights: “We noticed that insurers across the globe are interested in telematics as a means to turn around the recent trend of increasing number in motor claims.
However, costs, lack of customer appeal, and doubts as to whether telematics factors are a good proxy for risk have hindered insurers seriously entering the market with telematics products.”
Therefore, Swiss Re decided to offer white-label telematics solutions to its clients and launched a completely new IoT and telematics platform in 2017 which leverages Swiss Re’s insurance know how and focusses on accuracy.
Bongers adds, that “we want to create a product that customers love and one that enriches the entire value chain of an insurer – from marketing appeal to underwriting to claims. Insurers can expect one of the most – if not the most – accurate solutions available on the market.
Accuracy goes from the product properly identifying risky driving manoeuvres to properly identifying an accident.
Regarding the latter, insurers have experienced many false positives – telematics devices detecting accidents that did not happen in reality.
With our partnership with CMS, we are able to provide a reliable crash alert to ensure the insurer can immediately act and help its customer in need.”
CMS launches a new data aggregation solution for commercial and personal motor insurers that allows them to access data from multiple retrofit or embedded third party telematics systems in order to reduce claims frequency and severity.
Proven to deliver up to a 10-point combined operating ratio improvement, it enables insurance carriers to access telematics data to make better decisions, enhance services and improve bottom line.
Unlike other solutions on the market, CMS is technology-agnostic and can aggregate and standardise data from multiple telematics systems, delivering comparable and consistent information instantly via easy-to-use dashboards or raw data feeds.
This provides underwriters with the real-time, accurate intelligence data they need to manage risk, build commercial pricing models and more profitable services.
At the same time, CMS’s market leading crash filtering software is automatically applied to all data streams, minimising false alerts and data noise and providing insurers’ claims functions with a reliable, real time crash alert capability.
Charles Smith CEO of CMS explains, “Commercial insurance customers have a wide range of third party telematics solutions installed.
Meanwhile personal lines insurers increasingly have to deal with large amounts of data from a range of connected cars. Up until now there has been no simple solution to help them cope with the scale and diversity of devices, data formats and information streams.
With our software, they can now instantly collect and analyse data, from any source using a single platform and with minimal effort.
“It also makes it easier to handle big data and boosts efficiency by reducing data-noise.
Importantly, it allows insurers to futureproof their business by accommodating new devices as they become available. With CMS, they don’t have to opt-in to one technology, they can keep their options open, and reap the benefit of new connected vehicle innovations as they arise.”
Supplied as a Software as a Service (SaaS), the CMS solution can be integrated and deployed in weeks. All data is secure and compliant, is processed and hosted in country of origin and in conformance with GDPR.
CMS software is already proven in field with leading international insurance organisations.
Its filtering software is also extensively licenced as a white-label solution by multiple global telematics companies to provide high-performance, resource-light crash detection for their fleet customers, including some of the UK’s largest household brands.
Trimble is taking a worldwide licence for innovative software from Collision Management Systems (CMS) to enhance its global vehicle fleet management proposition.
Headquartered in California, USA, Trimble is one of the leading providers of advanced location based services. It will use CMS to power a new ‘value-layer’, supporting the introduction a specialist First Notice of Loss (FNOL) and crash detection service designed to significantly reduce its customers vehicle insurance and claims costs.
CMS’s unique and proven software alerts fleet managers of an ‘actionable’ collision, the instant it happens. Insurance claim decisions can then be made faster and easier, with the liability much clearer. By screening out non-crash alerts from the overwhelming amount of vehicle telematics data, CMS’ software is proven to reduce claims costs by at least £1,600* per collision.
Clare Klug, Product Marketing Manager at Trimble Field Service Management UK, comments: “There are a host of camera-based crash detection solutions in the market and several of our customers have already recognised the sizable advantages of using the agnostic CMS software.
We will be offering the CMS package as a stand-alone up-sell to our popular and highly successful vehicle fleet management service.
“Ideal for large van fleets, such as field service businesses, major utilities or telecom providers, this new Trimble/CMS combination will deliver significant direct cost and time savings for fleet owners and insurance claims handlers.”
CMS CEO and founder, Charles Smith comments: “We are delighted that a brand with the global strength and reputation of Trimble has realised the potential of ‘real-time’ crash detection for its customers.
As insurance claims cost continue to rise, organisations often have to rely on drivers to report an incident and then retrospectively analyse their data. This delay incurs substantial costs.
“Using the CMS software, users can cut through telematics and video data noise, to action insurance claims instantly and reap significant cost reductions as a result.
This Trimble announcement is part of our plan to become the worldwide de facto provider for FNOL and crash detection solutions.”
The Claims Technology Solution of the Year (Service Providers), part of the Insurance Times Excellence Awards, recognises companies that are leading the way in supplying technology-focused claims solutions to Insurance Service Providers.
CMS was selected for its ability to deliver ‘real-time’ crash detection, that enables companies such as sopp+sopp to deliver a pro-active rather than reactive FNOL and Intervention service, helping them to achieve significant claim savings.
CMS is the only Software-as-a-Service provider to deliver a reliable crash filtering solution from multiple third-party telematics providers. This, combined with the highly skilled team from sopp+sopp, delivers a powerful FNOL and accident management proposition with proven claims cost savings.
The Insurance Times Excellence Awards Awards are designed to recognise and reward excellence across claims – from those on the frontline who have direct contact with customers in their hour of need, to the nimble and entrepreneurial who are changing the world around us.
The 2018 winners will be revealed at a glittering awards ceremony in central London on the evening of 10 May, bringing together senior decision makers, influencers and the cream of the sector.
Swiss Re, the leading reinsurance provider, has purchased a global licence from Collision Management Systems (CMS) to embed the company’s software into its telematics based Reinsurance proposition.
With its platform enriched with CMS’ Crash Detection Software.
Swiss Re can now process vehicle data from any telematics system and deliver a reliable crash alert to its insurance clients.
Without having to deal with large volumes of false alerts generated by telematics devices.
Charles Smith, CEO, CMS commented:
“The crash filtering and data aggregation software licence taken by Swiss Re demonstrates the value and reach of our solution.
We are proud that an established and well-regarded organisation such as Swiss Re is embedding us into the unique proposition being offered to their global customer base.
“Data protection and the impending GDPR regulations are a critical part of any global telematics platform being delivered today.
We are pleased that we have been able to satisfy a number of stringent requirements set by Swiss Re.
Including the requirement to host our software and process and store the data in any data centre required by the customer.“
Smith added:
“It’s now widely recognised, that early intervention following a vehicle accident saves significant operational and claims costs.
Insurers are all striving to provide added excellence and cost benefit to their customer service, especially around First Notice of Loss (FNOL).
Our crash detection solution enables this to be realised in an automated way.”
Sebastiaan Bongers, Swiss Re’s Head of Products and Technology highlighted:
“After a thorough evaluation, Swiss Re concluded that the sector needed a telematics provider with much more insurance know-how and accuracy.
So, we decided to offer white-label telematics solutions to our clients.
We launched a completely new IoT and telematics platform in 2017.
We wanted to create a product that customers love and one that enriches the entire value chain of an insurer – from marketing appeal to underwriting to claims.
With our partnership with CMS, we are able to include a reliable crash alert capability to ensure the insurer can immediately act and help its customer in need.”
As Sales Director, Maher will play a key role in promoting CMS’s software as a service (SaaS) platform to insurers and fleet operators.
Which are two key markets for Collision Management Systems.
The platform turns real-time collision data, taken from telematics devices, into significant insurance savings.
It does this by providing insurers with actionable information, in less than one hour of an incident happening, and free from the data noise often associated with telematics.
This capability allows them to more rapidly respond to the incident and FNOL (First Notification of Loss).
And with this increase in speed, they can take ownership of the management of the incident. Thereby providing a better service to their customers and keeping costs under control.
That cost control element has recently been proved.
With Collision Management Systems’ solution proven to cut the cost of each claim by at least £1,600 (independently validated by Plexus Law).
Which it turn can dramatically boost the return on investment both insurers and fleet operators get from investing in telematics.
Formerly sales director at Trimble. Maher led the sale and delivery of telematics and field service management solutions for four of the five largest fleets in the UK.
He brings considerable market experience from this and previous senior sales positions at Vodafone and C&W.
Commenting on his new role, Maher said
“CMS offers Telematics businesses a unique value-add for their customers.
Its ability to cut claims costs, future-proof technology and reduce the time and effort of handling vehicle generated big-data gives it a significant competitive edge.
And, because it’s agnostic, seamless, and easy to integrate, it can be deployed swiftly, effortlessly and to scale.
CMS is already partnering with many of the UK’s leading telematics providers and is anticipating several major announcements in the months to come.”
