The team at NZI is celebrating 165 years of leading business insurance in New Zealand.
Established in 1859, NZI is one of New Zealand’s oldest brands.
In the beginning, the newly formed NZI team began granting insurance policies from a local office in Auckland’s Shortland Street – at the time, Auckland’s population was no greater than 10,000.[1]
“Today, we have a team of 500 and a network of 3,500 broker partners who all play an important role in providing 300,000 New Zealand customers with expert advice,” says Executive General Manager NZI Garry Taylor.
In business 39 years before the first car arrived in the country, 29 years before the first public supply of electricity and 19 years before the first telephone call was made in New Zealand, NZI has been there to support businesses.
“Over this time, the commercial landscape has evolved progressively, shaped by risks that have grown from advancing technologies, a changing climate, pandemics and geopolitical activity.
“It’s really important, now more than ever, to have a mix of both insurance and protection services to keep ahead of risk,” says Mr Taylor.
As New Zealand’s roads got busier, NZI also set out to enhance safety and risk management for fleets around the country, through its comprehensive Fleet Fit programme.
“Our market-leading Fleet Fit initiatives comprise of a broad range of tools such as onboard GPS data analytics, driver safety seminars, culture and leadership programs, real-time fatigue detection systems and more, to help drivers stay safer on the road,” adds Mr Taylor.
The Fleet Fit team has also supported over a thousand truckies to take breaks at NZI Truckie Rest Zone events, held around New Zealand. In collaboration with community organisations, these events raise awareness around driver fatigue which is a major cause of road accidents.
NZI didn’t stop at heavy vehicle fleets. They addressed pressing questions about EVs by releasing their EV Fleet Guide to help businesses overcome challenges faced by early adopters.
“We’ve learned a great deal through our very own EV Early Adopter Programme and working with our clients, so we were able to draw on this research when developing the guide.”
With businesses making the transition to an online environment, 24/7 online business protection became a critical necessity.
In 2020, NZI Partnered with international cyber security and risk identification leader UpGuard, to offer customers a pre-loss assessment, which shows the likelihood of a business suffering from a cyber event.
“Cyber incidents can be incredibly time sensitive and require expert engagement which is where our panel of breach coaches, legal and IT professionals stand ready to help,” says Mr Taylor.
Recently, NZI’s data revealed that electrical fires had become one of the biggest threats to commercial properties. As a result, its team of experts began providing free electrical inspections to NZI’s commercial property customers.
“Since then, we’ve identified and rectified 1,500 electrical defects that could have potentially caused considerable fire damage. Our team of electrical inspectors plan to visit at least 1,000 customers annually.”
“We’ll always be there when the unexpected happens, but prevention is equally important – because if we can help guard against cybercrime, prevent road accidents and help save businesses from being destroyed by fire, then everyone wins.”
[1] Hannan, M. (2000). The NZI Story.