Insurance has long relied on a reactive operating model built around assessing exposure, pricing risk and responding once damage has already occurred. Although underwriting techniques have grown more sophisticated over time, the core process has stayed largely the same: an incident happens first, followed by a claim. Today, that approach is coming under sustained strain as insurers face mounting pressures across their portfolios, according to Quensus.
Claims inflation, ageing building stock, climate volatility and escalating repair costs are eroding margins while increasing operational complexity.
In property insurance in particular, loss ratios are becoming harder to stabilise, with preventable incidents continuing to drive claim frequency. Against this backdrop, insurers are increasingly accepting that reacting after the fact is no longer sufficient.
Prevention-first
The industry is therefore moving towards prevention-first risk management. This approach prioritises continuous monitoring, early intervention and stronger infrastructure resilience, with the aim of reducing losses before they materialise rather than simply paying out once damage is done.
One area that highlights the limitations of reactive risk models is escape of water (EOW). EOW remains one of the most common and expensive causes of property insurance claims across both commercial and residential assets.
Many events begin as slow, hidden leaks that worsen over time before becoming visible. Under traditional insurance arrangements, engagement typically starts only after damage has occurred, shifting the focus to remediation rather than recurrence prevention.
For insurers managing large property portfolios, this results in repeated claims from similar root causes, increasing severity due to delayed detection, rising remediation costs and greater volatility in underwriting performance. Prevention-first strategies address these issues directly by reducing both the frequency and severity of loss events.
Prevention-first risk also reframes the insurer’s role. Rather than acting purely as a financial backstop, insurers become partners in risk reduction throughout the policy lifecycle. This shift delivers tangible benefits, including lower claims volumes, more predictable underwriting outcomes, reduced strain on claims teams and improved customer retention. Crucially, prevention enhances insurance rather than replacing it, helping stabilise risk exposure and increase confidence in insured assets.
Technology has made this transition viable at scale. Advances in connected building systems now allow continuous monitoring of infrastructure behaviour, early identification of abnormal patterns and automated intervention.
In water risk management, this includes real-time monitoring of flow and consumption, early anomaly detection and automated isolation to prevent escalation, even when buildings are unoccupied. Quensus has built its solutions around this proactive model, combining connected infrastructure with cloud-based intelligence to provide visibility and control across property portfolios.
Data is also reshaping insurer-policyholder relationships. Instead of interactions being concentrated around renewals or claims, continuous operational data enables ongoing insight into asset performance. Platforms such as FlowReporter give insurers real-time visibility into usage patterns, anomalies and intervention outcomes, supporting earlier action, refined underwriting assumptions and more accurate pricing over time.
Working with Aviva
This shift is already being put into practice. Quensus is working with Aviva to support proactive water risk mitigation using connected monitoring and prevention technology.
The partnership focuses on improving real-world risk visibility, reducing EOW incidents and strengthening portfolio resilience, reflecting a broader industry recognition that prevention infrastructure and reliable data are becoming core components of modern insurance strategy.
Experience is also showing that prevention requires more than devices alone. Effective risk reduction depends on robust infrastructure, including standardised installation, continuous monitoring, performance reporting, workflow integration and skilled installer networks. Quensus has invested in this ecosystem through initiatives such as the Quensus Installer Network to ensure systems are deployed consistently and perform reliably over time.
Water risk provides a natural starting point for prevention-first insurance. It combines high claim frequency with strong preventability, clear measurable outcomes and alignment with sustainability goals. As insurers continue to evolve, prevention-first risk represents a structural shift from reactive claims handling to continuous risk insight, redefining what effective insurance looks like in a more dynamic risk environment.
Read the full blog from Quensus here.
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