Some of you may know from my appearances at industry conferences and events, or from my previous writing, that I have a major pet peeve: I don’t like when insurance companies are hectored by people inside or outside of the industry about how they aren’t innovative.
When I began covering insurance technology nearly five years ago, that refrain was common. And as an impressionable young reporter, I took it as the truth. But over the past few years, I’ve found that view to be outdated and, frankly, needlessly insulting. Many insurers are leading the way in gleaning real results from emerging technology disciplines, including big data, analytics, mobile technology, and telematics.
Insurance has always been a data-intensive business, and as long as insurers can lasso all the data within their systems, they are uniquely positioned to leverage advanced analytics in a big way. In this issue, we take a deep dive into the topic of data management. As Lenny Liebmann finds in our cover story,
[Insurance innovation in action:
Following that, Peggy Bresnick Kendler reports that underwriters may have the most to gain from effective data management. Representatives from complex lines of business
Yet it’s not just data where insurers are leading the way. Many industries have transactional mobile applications that allow customers to buy products and manage accounts. But insurers also lean heavily on field personnel for customer service at the time of potentially traumatic events. Chris McMahon talked to insurers who
Stereotypes and reputations are difficult to break, and it may be a while before insurance is recognized rightfully as an industry where innovation is a reality. But I’m confident that the day is coming when the most talented technology associates flock to insurance companies because they know that’s where they have the greatest opportunity to make an impact on the business.
