Zenith Insurance Expands SAS Implementation

Using technology from analytics company SAS, Zenith Insurance, a personal lines specialty insurer, said it now is able to support the reporting and analytics needs of 300 claims handlers, salespeople and managers with a team of just 12. Previously, a team of eight employees supported reporting and analytical needs 80 claims handlers, salespeople and management.

“As we expanded our business, it was important for management to have a good overview of how the different lines of business were performing at a group level,” said Jason Cabral, group head of pricing and management information at Zenith Insurance. “A siloed structure with disparate data sources slowed decision making and did not allow us to analyze data at a granular level. SAS has been instrumental in helping us achieve a more accurate view of our data, allowing us to move faster and be more competitive.”

Improved data quality helped streamline reporting and, most importantly, offered management a clearer view of the business, giving it the confidence to make decisions knowing the information was accurate, the company said. Zenith recently was acquired by Markerstudy and was tasked with bringing together more than five disparate data systems into a single, user-friendly platform. A strategy and auditable structure also was necessary to address Solvency II regulations, the company said. Working with Achieve Intelligence and SAS, Zenith brought all the company’s data into a SAS enterprise data warehouse, which SAS describes as a unified platform designed with IT and business collaboration in mind.

“Not only is the process more efficient but improvements in reporting mean the business is able to make better decisions about how it handles claims, such quick approval to improve customer experience or further investigation of possible fraudulent behavior,” SAS said. “Users across the business quickly recognized the benefits of the new, easy-to-use system, which is now part of their day-to-day activities. The team initially used SAS to build their own reports without the help of management information, but now the same documents are built automatically, saving time and resources.”

Zenith Insurance deployed: SAS Data Management, a unified platform designed to improve data quality and offer access from a single point of control to improve productivity; SAS Enterprise BI Server, which is used to integrates SAS, role-based interfaces and Microsoft Office, intended to enable staff to make fact-based decisions; SAS Enterprise Guide, is a point-and-click, menu- and wizard-driven tool intended to help users analyze data and publish results.

“In a sector as competitive as insurance, it’s crucial that companies have access to up-to-date and accurate customer and pricing information in order to make better and quicker decisions, and help push into new markets,” said Mike Pell, executive director of SAS UK and Ireland. “It’s encouraging to see companies like Zenith nurturing a data driven culture that empowers teams, drives efficiency and supports business growth.”

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Analytics Data and information management Core systems
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