MSB Executive Seminar Touts Analytics, Best Practices To Improve Carrier Performance

MSB Executive Seminar Touts Analytics, Best Practices To Improve Carrier Performance

MISSISSAUGA, ON – JANUARY 25, 2006 – Marshall & Swift / Boeckh (MSB), an MDA company, and the leader in building cost information, estimating technologies and management strategies, hosted a meeting today where 50 key thought leaders from across the Canadian insurance industry participated in an executive forum entitled “Applying Best Practices.” Klaas Westera, Business Manager of MSB’s Canadian operations, Peter M. Wells, President, and several other executives from MSB moderated the event. The half-day seminar focused on the role of data analytics in identifying Best Practices in underwriting and claims processes that can be strategically managed for greater profitability and policyholder protection.

“Best practices in property insurance are of growing interest globally because of the increase in natural catastrophic losses,” says Westera. “For instance, the series of hurricanes in the States, the Kelowna wildfires, and last year’s Ontario storms uncovered a number of undervaluation issues, and homeowners are concerned about it happening to them.” Westera explained how underwriting processes that include gathering unique home characteristics, communicating with the homeowners to verify home features and coverage amounts, electronically archiving the home data, and re-valuing homes at renewal are already recognized as Best Practices by a growing number of jurisdictions.

In the claims area, data analytics is identifying the individual drivers of claims severity, down to the level of individual materials and adjuster practices, and helping carriers to develop strategic actions to duplicate Best Practices and change inefficient or unnecessarily costly claims choices.

“Today’s analytics experts have taken Best Practices even further,” Westera explains, “closing the knowledge gap between underwriting and claims.” By analyzing claims by cause of loss and matching them up with archived underwriting files, carriers are now able to identify home characteristics, such as type and year of siding installation, that lead to an a-typical spike in loss frequency.

For more information about the topics presented and discussed, contact Klaas Westera at (800) 661-3619 ext 234 or MAILTO:[email protected].

About MS/B

Marshall & Swift / Boeckh (MS/B), an MDA company, is the leading supplier of local building cost information, residential and commercial property valuation technology and services for the property and casualty insurance sector in the United States and Canada. MS/B has five offices throughout the U.S. and Canada. For information, please contact Marsha Berenson, Media Coordinator, at 800-285-1288, Ext. 2828, MAILTO:[email protected], or visit MS/B’s Web site at http://www.msbinfo.com.

About MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA)

MDA provides advanced information solutions that capture and process vast amounts of data, produce essential information, and improve the decision making and operational performance in business and government organizations worldwide.

MDA employs more than 2,500 people in locations across the United States, Europe, and Canada. The company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TSX:MDA.