10 Insurers Taking Big Data's Reins
May 26, 2015 11:56 AM
Progressive
Progressive's big data leader Pawan Divakarla says data is integral to the insurers mission: Big data, small, it doesnt really matter: We want it to be in our fabric. The company's Business Information Garage is just one place where big data innovation is happening.
Allstate
Allstate has always had a lot of data, but says chief data officer Floyd Yager, "it does exactly what it was designed to do: make us transactionally efficient on a product basis." Now, the company is using big data to be more customer-centric. We want it to be well-governed, high-quality, so we can make better insights about our customers, Yager says.
MassMutual
MassMutual is adding big data talent to its team each year in partnership with several local colleges. "Its so hard to find to seasoned talent, but this has proven itself to be valuable and we are scaling up," says SVP of analytics and research Gareth Ross.
John Hancock
The life insurer is taking the lead on leveraging wearables to improve the onboarding experience. The ability of this data, and predictive modeling, to offer the client a more streamlined and more personalized underwriting process, is crucial, says Brooks Tingle, SVP of insurance marketing and strategy.
American Family Insurance
American Family Insurance has several initiatives around big data, including programs for more intensive testing and efforts to leverage unstructured data from claims notes. Weve always been focused on providing value to the customer, but we are zeroing in on doing that in a more rigorous fashion," says Justin Cruz, strategic data and analytics VP.
Swiss Re
The insurer is using more public data to improve underwriting results and decrease the number of questions the insurer has to ask consumers to underwrite them. Riccardo Baron, big data and smart analytics lead for Americas at Swiss Re says currently available data opportunities were "inconceivable" only a few years ago.
CNA
Among its many data-oriented initiatives, CNA is applying big data technology to workers compensation claims and adjusters notes. By examining the unstructured data, CNA has developed a hundred different variables that can predict a propensity for a claim to become serious, and then assign a nurse case manager to help the insured get necessary treatments for a better patient outcome, get them back to work and lower the overall cost of coverage.
Nationwide
Like MassMutual, Nationwide has partnered with a local college Ohio State University -- to develop The Nationwide Center for Advanced Customer Insights (NCACI), giving OSU students in advanced degree programs the ability to work with real-world data. "Students cant believe the diversity and complexity of the problems we get to work on, says Chris Nicholas, VP of customer analytics.
Zurich
Zurich has been investing in predictive analytics for commercial insurance over the past six or seven years, says Peter Hahn, head of predictive analytics for the insurer, and its investment has accelerated over the last 18 months. We see it as a critical capability, Hahn says.
QBE North America
Business owners demand faster service, says Gina Papush, chief data and analytics officer for commercial insurer QBE North America, and thats where big data comes in access to as much data as possible helps get policies done faster. "Its very important that there is a strategic focus on leveraging analytics and data to drive business impact," she says.