Big Data - Big Rewards
Weather data is just one segment of big data that's here to stay. That's a good thing; especially for insurance companies. Traditionally, the insurance industry has struggled to get a good handle on its data on both risk management and transaction sides. In recent years, big data's variety and diversity has opened new doors for insurance companies and other industries across the board.
The insurance industry's new interest in utilizing big data has the potential to improve financial and operational efficiency ten fold. As the insurance industry continues this trend as a key part of their analytics strategy, it's critical to explore all types of data. Weather data, customer data and auto telematics are three of the most important data sets that insurers can utilize to become more efficient.
Keep reading to explore just how these data sets can improve operations at your business.
1. Weather Data
The first data set that can really help insurance companies is weather data. Why would an insurance company need weather information? While an obvious benefit is claim validation, weather data has the potential to improve the full life cycle of customers from product design to claims. That means the data is assisting product, marketing and sales departments all at once. We've gathered a small list of the groundbreaking ways weather information can make your life as an insurer easier and more efficient:
Develop Market-Specific Product Offers
Understanding weather data for geographical areas of service can help you provide the right coverage at the right place
Target marketing activities to lower-risk prospects
Boost sales by making sure all target markets are covered; even lower-risk prospects
Optimize pricing
A steady stream of weather data helps insurers offer policy premiums that make a profit and fit the budget of their customers
Reduce Claims
Anticipate approaching severe weather
Accelerate Claims
Easily access weather information with an API to verify and accelerate claims
2. Customer Data
The next data set is customer data. You don't have to look far to find good data. Customer data, like on-boarding documentation and Customer Care information, can unlock a wealth of information if integrated into your data management system. Exploring this information can help insurers really learn who their real customers are. Knowing more about your customer is always a good thing. After you group your customer data together you can see what qualities they mostly share. This will help to assess risks in the future and help bucket customers together.
3. Auto Telematics
The last data set that can greatly impact insurance companies is auto telematics. Auto insurers can improve insurance functions across the board with auto telematics. Much like weather data monitors the weather, auto telematics monitor driver behavior. This helps optimize policy premiums with usage-based auto insurance. In the auto-insurance business, being able to set premiums based on such a fine-grained risk assessment is a definite plus.
What Did We Miss?
In conclusion, there are a lot of data sets that can help insurance companies. What data sets does your company use to optimize performance? Let us know in the comments below for a chance to be featured on a future blog post.
