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It’s a Big (Data) World Out There

Most of the buzz around big data focuses on marketing, for good reason. However, there are myriad additional applications for Big Data; separately, they are significant, and together, they can transform insurers’ external and internal activities.

Big Data and analytics will be important topics at the 2014 Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference next month. In advance, we’d like your questions and comments on the role of Big Data in your enterprise.

Marketing is the starting point for better customer service…

Writing in the Expert Forum of Insurance Networking News, Chander Ramamurthy, architect at  consultancy X by 2, notes that Big Data enabled  ‘personalization’ is the hot trend: “Gathering more information about customers helps insurance companies provide more-personalized products and services.”

But these services can be extended by using additional data.  Ramamurthy notes, “Analyzing social feeds can help insurance companies better target new customers and respond to existing customers. Using big data, they can pinpoint trends, especially of complaints or dissatisfaction with current products and services.”

Driving towards service excellence and increased product offerings …

Usage Based Insurance (UBI) relies on Telematics driven Big Data.  However, it also forms the basis of new offerings which could enhance the value of the data by extending its use.

Deloitte Consulting LLP recently issued its 2014 insurance industry report which comments on the challenges and opportunities of integrating numerous data sources.   As reported in Insurance & Technology, the report suggests that mobility can offer capabilities beyond Telematics.  The study anticipates that insurer apps  will “more routinely employ time and location data to issue customized safety alerts, vendor recommendations, and perhaps even loyalty program discounts.”

Looking internally ….

Big Data can also drive internal improvements.  Ramamurthy notes that organizations can improve productivity “by recording usage patterns of an organization’s internal tools and software.”    This can lead to:

  • Creation of more useful software that better fits the organization’s needs
  • Avoidance of tools that do not have a good return on investment
  • Identification of manual tasks that can be automated.

Scoping is critical …

By its very nature, Big Data is, well, big. Ramamurthy writes, “No piece of data, regardless of form, source or size, is insignificant.”  But that doesn’t mean starting with everything.

Neal Baumann, Deloitte’s global insurance sector leader suggests that, to be effective, implementations and implementers must be focused:  “insurers should be prepared to make the tradeoffs needed to develop capabilities that they believe will provide them with strategic advantages.”

What would you like to hear at #ICTC2014?

The Insurance-Canada.ca Technology Conference 2014 have a number of sessions devoted to Big Data, Analytics, and Telematics/UBI.  We’d like to give the presenters your thoughts in advance.

Let us know your expectations for Big Data in your company.  Have you started?  What results have you seen?  What are the challenges do you face?

It’s a Big Topic.