Approved Group International wins AR/VR award in Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards

Its Remote Forensic Investigation project introduced an innovation in the insurance industry.

In recent years, the insurance industry has been faced with problems on how to prove claims. With travel being restricted, insurer personnel around the globe found it difficult to move forward with insurance claims.

At the forefront of forensic investigation is Approved Group International which has been in the business of investigating fires, failures, and vehicle accidents, amongst other investigations for 35 years.

Amongst the problems brought before it were difficulties in visiting sites, not being able to inspect cars in real life, and undergoing inspection for fires or failures and how they occurred.

To solve this, the company brought the site and vehicle investigation to the clients. It introduced virtual reality (VR) sets to clients involved, 3D-scanned fire sites, failure sites, and vehicles, and simulated incidents of fire, failures, and accidents. As a result, clients gained access to seeing the incidents from various angles through this new format.

The company shared how it did this for vehicle accidents, fire investigations, and failure investigations.

For vehicle accidents, it placed the user inside the car, by the side of the road, and on top of the car to simulate how the accident occurred.

This allowed users to be immersed completely in the investigation and saw how it all unfolded.

From the comfort of their homes, insurers were able to decide whether to reject or pay claims set before them.

On the other hand, the fire investigations differed by a few steps. The company sent VR sets to all parties involved. Clients were allowed to have a walkthrough around the fire scene and saw how the investigation unfolded.

The company integrated key data points such as fire migration, fuel loads, and other details to help the client understand more about the fire.

In effect, this allowed insurers to speed up the claims process.

Through this method, according to the company, it managed to repudiate more than 52 false and exaggerated claims on fire, failure, and vehicle investigations in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and other countries in 2021 alone. 

For this innovative project, the company received the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality - General Insurance award in the recently concluded Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards hosted by Singapore Business Review.

The annual awards programme recognises exceptional companies who are riding the disruption wave and are leading the technological revolution and digital journeys of their respective industries to boost Malaysia’s fast-growing economy.

In granting this award, the judging panel took into consideration multiple achievements of the company.

The first is that AGI was hailed as one of the Top Malaysian Consulting Companies of 2021 by Best Startup Asia, and the second is that it was included as one of the 10 Most Inspiring CMOs of 2022.

Lastly, the panel noted that this project was regarded as having been developed at a time when it was particularly difficult for insurers. As flights were not available during the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers could not personally inspect sites and objects that were the subject of insurance claims during this period.