APOLLO Insurance is revolutionizing how Canadians buy renters insurance, transforming what used to be a days-long process of PDFs and broker back-and-forth into a seamless 2-minute digital experience. By automatically processing thousands of uploaded proof of insurance and policy documents monthly with Sensible, they've become the only Canadian insurer offering real-time price matching for renters and automated compliance verification for large property managers.
Leading this technical transformation is Klaus Salchner, CTO of APOLLO, whose mission is to bring modern technology to the insurance industry. "A lot of our customers are used to going on Netflix or Amazon and clicking three buttons to get what they need," Klaus explains. "They're looking for the same thing with insurance—how can this be simplified?"
The challenge: building trust through technology
APOLLO identified two critical challenges in the Canadian insurance market that traditional insurers weren't addressing:
1. Price Transparency: Consumers shopping for renters insurance often receive quotes from multiple carriers but struggle to compare apples to apples. Different coverage limits, deductibles, and policy terms make it nearly impossible to determine who's actually offering the best value.
2. Compliance Management: Large property managers with thousands of units face a constant headache ensuring every tenant maintains adequate insurance coverage. Without proper verification systems, they're exposed to significant liability and pay higher premiums on their building insurance.
These use cases highlight the need for intelligent document processing that can handle the wide variety of legitimate insurance documents while filtering out the rest.
Why Sensible: from homegrown to best-in-class
APOLLO initially built their own document parsing proof-of-concept using AWS Textract, which validated the viability of automated policy checking but quickly revealed the complexity of the challenge. "Each major insurance provider doesn't have just one policy format—they have ten different ones," Klaus notes. "We realized that we don't want to do all of [the data structuring] ourselves. We want to focus on the value our platform can provide."
When evaluating solutions, APOLLO had three critical criteria:
- Breadth: Ability to parse the long tail of Canadian insurance formats
- Depth: Extracting comprehensive information from each document
- Speed: Real-time processing to maintain their 2-minute experience
"I like that Sensible provides both options," Klaus explains. "You can do structured parsing for high-volume carriers where you know exactly what to look for, and then use LLMs for the 80% of carriers that represent 20% of volume."
The engineering team's hands-on evaluation sealed the deal. "The feedback was pretty positive when the engineers started to play with [Sensible’s] platform," Klaus reports. "The API was really easy to work with."
The implementation: two innovative use cases
APOLLO implemented Sensible for two distinct but equally innovative use cases. First, they became the only Canadian insurer to guarantee they'll match and beat any competitor's price, in real time. When customers upload their insurance documentation, Sensible instantly extracts coverage details, enabling APOLLO to either show why their quote offers better value or automatically apply a discount.
Second, for large landlords managing thousands of units, APOLLO built an automated compliance system that:
- Validates uploaded insurance policies in seconds
- Confirms coverage meets minimum requirements (e.g., a $2M liability limit)
- Flags expired or inadequate policies
- Maintains a compliance dashboard for property managers
"Every landlord has slightly different requirements," Klaus explains. "Some require $2MM liability, others are fine with $1MM. Our platform is designed to meet what each landlord is looking for."
The results: speed, scale, and customer satisfaction
The impact of implementing Sensible has been transformative for APOLLO. Processing thousands of documents monthly with minimal human intervention has become their new normal, enabling them to maintain their promise of insurance in two minutes even as they scale. This real-time price matching capability has created a unique competitive advantage in the Canadian market, setting APOLLO apart from traditional insurers who still operate on multi-day turnaround times.
For property managers, APOLLO's automated compliance tracking has eliminated the manual burden of verifying tenant insurance. The system seamlessly processes uploads, validates coverage levels, and maintains comprehensive compliance records.
The dual approach of structured parsing for high-volume carriers and AI-powered extraction for the long tail has proven particularly effective.
Looking forward: the future of digital insurance in Canada
APOLLO's innovative use of document intelligence demonstrates how modern technology can transform even the most traditional industries. By focusing on the customer experience while leveraging sophisticated backend automation, they've created a model for what insurance should look like in the digital age.
"We're the only one in Canada doing this," Klaus states confidently about their real-time price matching. And with Sensible powering their document processing, APOLLO can focus on what they do best: making insurance simple, fast, and accessible for all Canadians.
The combination of APOLLO's customer-first approach and Sensible's document intelligence proves that buying insurance doesn't have to feel like a chore. It can be as simple as ordering from your favorite online retailer.
Ready to transform your insurance operations with intelligent document processing? Book a demo with Sensible to see how we can help you build innovative customer experiences, or explore our managed services for a customized implementation.
