Of all the trends identified by the Insurance 2023 Group, Data and Analytics were the two that permeated most of the discussion. It is clear the insurance engine is fueled by data and guided by analytics. On this basis, the results of any insurance organization is only as powerful as its data are rich; and only as targeted as its analytics are calibrated.
Two experts from the group will be presenting examples of current best practices at the Insurance 2023 Forum on October 2, 2013. In the meantime, we’d like to share a couple of tidbits that you might think about in advance:
- Even when you have a powerful car, with a tank full of gas, and a precise GPS, you still need to know where you want to go; and
- There is no single point of truth without context.
Nice ride, bro. Where you gonna take it?
In a recent blog, Michelle Goetz, Senior Analyst with Forrester discusses the starting point for any development of a customer master data management initiative. If you are contemplating the step as creating data definitions for data elements, her advice is: “STOP”.
According to Goetz, “The first step is to articulate the story that customer MDM will support. This is the customer MDM blueprint.”
In the US, CUNA Mutual wanted to rethink how data would support its business. In the past, the focus was on the products and lines of business. As reported in Insurance&Technology, CUNA Mutual wanted to move to a more holistic client view. Rick Roy, CUNA Mutual’s CIO said, “We’re starting to map how we arrive at a clear identification of the customer that can be shared across the various delivery and communication channels so that marketing, service and claims are coordinated — and feel like a coordinated effort to the consumer.”
Context is everything …
Forrester’s Goetz makes the point that the customer’s story, not the technology, needs to be the foundation for the data and the use of analytics. “Demands for complete, relevant, and timely are not grounded in the databases, data dictionaries, and integration/transformation processes of your warehouses and applications; they are grounded in the story.”
Roy provides an example of how context and judgement needs to be used. CUNA Mutual has a smartphone app that helps with loans. With the phone’s GIS capabilities, the app could know when the customer is at a car dealership.
However, there is a wider context that needs to be considered. Roy says, “The question is whether we push a message when we know they’re on the lot. It’s legal, it’s kosher from a compliance standpoint, it doesn’t cross any ethical lines — but is there a creep factor?”
Tricky stuff, which is why ….
In the world of data, good guides are indispensable ….
The Insurance 2023 group spent a good proportion of its time relating to one another with stories. At the Insurance 2023 Forum, two of the best storytellers will be presenting:
- Greg Purdy, Managing Partner, Pathway Partners, Ltd., will be presenting “Hitchhiker’s Guide to Big Data” – practical challenges and opportunities associated with data as the industry strives to achieve the promised benefits
- Colin Smith, Senior Vice President of Operations, OPTA Information Intelligence, will be presenting “Information: Measuring, Monitoring and Predicting ” – The shape of insurance will change as the advanced application of analytics becomes mainstream.
Hope to see you there!
