i-Wonder, one of the UK’s major comparison site solutions and service providers, has extended its range of comparison site offerings over the past 12 months. The business has introduced Fast Food, Classic Car, and Breakdown solutions, all of which have been adopted by one or more of the UK’s major comparison site providers. This brings the total number of comparison site solutions offered by i-Wonder to sixteen, with an additional three already in development. A full list is available on the company’s website (i-wonder.co.uk).

Alongside that the business has continued with its commitment to the deployment of AI in its core offerings. The first implementation was based on in-house development of an AI-powered service that transforms hours of audio into text within minutes. ‘What once consumed over 40 labour-intensive hours now takes just 40 seconds’, explains Danny Kingston, Infrastructure and Security Manager. ‘Our streamlined process uploads audio files using a custom application, and our AI handles the transcription. The transcribed files are displayed in the application and can be downloaded for human review. The cost-effectiveness of converting audio into text is self-evident, offering significant savings compared to manual transcription.’

‘However, whilst transcribing speech to text is impressive there is a lot more we can do,’ confirms Jonathan Speight, IT Support Analyst. ‘Contextual understanding is crucial and that can only be achieved through a deep understanding of language. We can already detect and redact personally identifiable information. For instance we can assess a speaker’s emotional state based on tone of voice and word choice. The AI can then highlight areas where confidence in transcription results may be lower, leaving only a subset requiring human interpretation. These workstreams will continue to gather momentum, cut costs, and improve customer experience’.

The current AI workstreams have been brought together by leveraging the power of the Azure cloud, and extensive use of cloud technologies throughout has allowed the business to offer a level of service that will be incrementally difficult to beat. The expanding partnerships with major brand names in the comparison market space attest to the success of this approach. i-Wonder’s commitment to responsible AI includes ensuring that the technology operates ethically, respects privacy and data protection laws, and is transparent in its decision-making process. All this is continuously monitored by industry bodies and i-Wonder’s internal governance team to ensure that everything is operating in alignment with high ethical standards and values.

Besides cementing its place as the UK’s leading niche comparison site provider, work has continued on the new ‘Broker Portal’ product line, launched at last years’ BIBA Conference. Having won a significant launch client for the product in late 2024, rollout of the first solutions for Adrian Flux Insurance Services is underway. To help develop the wider adoption of the new portal, Paul Hughes has joined the business and will be at BIBA on the i-Wonder stand. Paul has a great deal of experience in the space, having had operational management roles with the Broker Investment Group, Principal Insurance Brokers, Bollington Insurance Brokers, and Direct Line.

The broker Portal software provides a toolset and component driven application designed to provide a quote solution for any business class, personal or commercial. The ‘Quote & Buy’ solution effectively extends the reach of the portal and either stands alone, or works fully integrated with some or all i-Wonder solutions. The rationale behind both solutions is the clear need for ‘enabling’ software that can support both in-house and comparison site routes to market where perhaps no viable means to do so currently exists. ‘We want to do this so that brokers with great products can break into comparison site and direct sales trading at low risk’, says Ray Vincent, CEO. ‘This will assist with widening panel support for existing personal lines solutions, where we are already highly active. But crucially it will empower us and our partners to disrupt previously inaccessible markets and facilitate greater competition, particularly in the SME commercial market where little or no effective comparison site technology is currently available. In effect the Quote and Buy solution ‘closes the loop’ in our product range so that we are playing with a full deck whatever the challenge’.

For further information contact us and/or visit us on Stand F70 for conversation. See you at BIBA 2025!