Analytics

The mere mention of a data warehouse has often caused even the most unflappable insurance carrier executive to break out into a cold sweat.In recent years, the failure rate of data warehousing projects in the insurance industry has been a dubious distinction, owed in no small part to insurers' inability to effectively plan and execute such projects. Considered "data rich yet information poor," insurers have struggled to create data warehouses that can truly tap into the power of their customer data.

When insurers examine business intelligence systems, industry observers say, data warehousing capabilities sit at the forefront of the effort."When it came to data warehousing, most insurers saw it as massive projects driven by IT and not business," says Matthew Josefowicz, senior analyst at Celent Communications Inc., Boston.

The task of turning data into an operational asset rather than a liability can be a complicated process. Sometimes it's the simple and common themes that resonate best in times of uncertainty.The concept "less is more" is regarded as a driving principle to developing a data warehouse for the purpose of enhancing a business intelligence strategy. "Building a huge data warehouse does not work if the idea is to obtain an enterprise-wide, 360-degree view of customers," says Bill Sinn, vice president, insurance healthcare marketing for Dayton, Ohio-based Teradata Corp., a provider of enterprise data warehouse solutions. "The question of 'how do you eat an elephant' certainly applies in this instance. The way you eat an elephant is, of course, one bite at a time."

We are living in interesting times. The U.S. insurance industry is in a state of transformation as the competitive landscape changes. This transformation presents a significant upside market opportunity for insurance companies.The industry is very mature, has rich customer information, established distribution channels, favorable product positioning, and years of sound business practices and solid investment reputation.

At Cincinnati Equitable, Web services have opened up new avenues of connectivity. Agents can now access rating applications housed within the Cincinnati-based carrier's Windows-based servers to look up territory and verify policy status.This is not remarkable news, since agent portal Web sites have been around for years. What is remarkable is the fact that this new application took two hours to set up and deploy-a process that usually took several weeks, according to Terry Brown, vice president of information systems for Cincinnati Equitable Insurance Co.

With a $900 million annual IT budget spread across 14 business units, Nationwide Financial Services cannot afford a lot of duplication and misguided spending. However, the Columbus, Ohio-based insurance giant also needs to encourage and fund cutting-edge technology deployments to maintain its market leadership.Over the years, insurance companies have made many attempts to rein in the growth of their information systems. To promote standardized architectures, IT executives have attempted to centralize purchasing, restrict hardware purchases, or prevent "rogue" software purchases and installations that don't fit in with the master plan.

Last February, PwC Consulting unveiled an intriguing concept known as the Virtual Insurance Community (VIC), an end-to-end component-based e-business solution designed for property and casualty insurance carriers.One major distinction that set VIC apart was its vast array of services, including Web portal development, application hosting and front- and back-office components.

Still in its infancy, knowledge management technology has the potential to help carriers deliver a consistent brand image and high-impact advertising to target audiences.Advocates of knowledge management systems have long pointed to the many benefits insurance carriers could derive from the technology, but one area frequently overlooked is brand image.

As a result of switching to document scanning, and eventually upgrading its equipment, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia has seen what its describes as a significant increase in efficiency and cost savings.The paperless office could be compared to the Loch Ness monster: People swear it exists, but no one has ever seen it. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, however, is one of the few companies that can say it has achieved this elusive goal, with the results to prove it.

This year, the U.S. insurance industry will spend an estimated $6.3 billion on new information technology projects. Of that amount, the industry could save $250 million or 23% of the $1.45 billion portion it spends on staff and consultants to integrate internal and external information technology systems.The magic bullet to these dramatic savings is ACORD XML, according to a report by Boston-based Celent Communications Inc. Carriers surveyed by Celent either expected to or had actually achieved integration efficiencies of 20% to 30% when using ACORD XML standards. A few reported efficiencies on some projects of as much as 80%.