Suncorp has opened a high-tech facility that uses aerial imagery and AI-driven damage detection to help disaster response teams “virtually triage” customers.

The Disaster Management Centre, launched in Brisbane today, features a nine-metre control screen that displays Suncorp data, geospatial mapping, weather alerts, satellite images and emergency news feeds to guide how Suncorp deploys its resources across Australia and New Zealand.  

It is part of the insurer’s $25 million investment commitment to the Queensland government under the terms of its sale of Suncorp Bank.

“The DMC strengthens our capacity to proactively communicate and rapidly deploy our specialist customer support teams, builders and assessors with speed and urgency,” CEO Steve Johnston said. “It’s about getting people back in their homes quicker.”

Investment in new technology will strengthen Suncorp’s advocacy for more government action on disaster prevention, he says. The insurer has managed more than 700,000 natural disaster claims worth more than $9 billion in the past five years.  

“We understand the impact extreme weather has on communities and it is crucial to collaborate with governments to share our data and insights, and advocate for greater investment in disaster resilience,” Mr Johnston said.

He says the new centre “represents a major leap forward in the company’s ability to deliver best-in-class disaster management”.

Suncorp will share information with government, industry and emergency services, and says the centre’s design was shaped by feedback from Queensland State Emergency Service.

EGM of home claims customers Alli Smith says the idea for the centre was formed after a major event in Brisbane in 2020.  

“While we had excellent people on the ground, we knew we could do better by equipping them with better information, better insights into what had occurred,” she said.  

Suncorp added 150 permanent full-time employees last year and established an on-call lodgement response team it can quickly scale up during major events.

The insurer has also added five mobile disaster response hubs. A support team will be trained and the hubs will feature equipment such as solar-powered devices to help customers charge phones, contact loved ones and lodge claims.  

Mr Johnston says the new technology centre will be “extremely powerful in terms of not only how we prepare for natural disasters with our own customers, but also with local government and federal government to make homes more resilient before weather happens.

“We’ll be able to explain to all of the first responders where we’ve seen the water in a flood, what damage has been caused by hail.”