When you profess to be the lowest loss-cost provider, you had better deliver on that claim. Zurich NA is carrying out that value proposition by providing Web-based business intelligence to its large account customers-to help those customers proactively manage their risk and lower their loss costs.Launched in 1998, the extranet, called RiskIntelligence, provides approximately 6,000 Zurich NA's customers-primarily those with a high frequency of workers' compensation claims-with more than 100 standard reports, including data by customer location, type of injury, product line, and size.
"They can see each claim they have with Zurich, they can drill down to adjusters' notes, and they can view their financials," says Marcia Engel, manager of customer information services at the Schaumburg, Ill.-based insurance company.
The Web-based tool also provides Zurich NA's customers with trend data, such as slips and falls that occurred with Zurich as their insurance provider as well as with previous carriers. Benchmarking data is also available, which compares Zurich customers to industry averages for specific losses.
"Right now, we're developing data visualization, which will enable us to take a full 30-page report and bring the most serious loss trends up to a single page so customers can drill into the report from there," says Frank Colletti, director of technology services at Zurich NA.
The system, powered by WebIntelligence from San Jose, Calif.-based Business Objects Inc., accesses claims data in Zurich's data warehouse. "Our data warehouse was being used by our claims offices to track trends at the office level, and we took that same data and built a sister database that is secured for our customers to access through the extranet," says Colletti.
But RiskIntelligence is far more than a data dump, he adds. "We've had cases where they've identified loss trends that have prompted risk engineering to be done," he notes. Before implementing RiskIntelligence, it could take months before a loss trend would become evident. "Now, the data is updated daily, so customers can apply risk engineering and save money over time."
