Attaining the Competitive Edge with Insurance Analytics
When you hear the words “big data,” what comes to mind? Disruption … imperatives … value? Whatever your choice, the power of big data revolves around its potential. But how can one harness big data to deliver on that in a way that impacts your business positively and gives you a competitive edge?
The question isn’t one of availability, but application. “Insurers are not wanting for data,” said Insurance Nexus, a London-based analysis firm. “The volumes of deeply personal information that are available to them through public social media profiles, governmental open data sources, as well as first-party information, both historical and fresh, give them an abundance of choice.”
In short, the advantage lies in how insurers select and analyze data – how wisely and cost-effectively they put it to work for them. Today, let’s talk about two areas where analytics can bring the edge: efficiency and customer experience.
Efficiency: the pursuit of elegance
If you think about efficiency as a superficial thing – cutting excess off the edges – analytics will challenge that. Its potential lies in creating a system that supports smarter decisions, mitigates risks more effectively, merges third-party data with in-house insights and brings all of these business functions together in a way that can only be described as elegant.
For example, it can help you improve conversions on target clients, leading in turn to marketing savings. It can make your client flow more efficient with better-targeted sales. It can save on claims and improve pricing.
In this game, small gains add up. “Any small margin better than your competitors’ is a significant benefit to your profitability,” Insurance Nexus said. “You want the right price for the right risk.” That’s intelligence.
Experience: a vital piece of the pie
In a comparison-shopping era, in a low-contact industry, getting a customer to notice you is a win. Getting them to feel personally valued and heard is a triumph.
The goal here is to make sure your touchpoints deliver an “efficient and personal digital experience,” one that gets the job done while creating an emotional connection. “To be able to connect on an emotional level, the insurer has to show the customer they understand their needs intimately and are able to respond to them intelligently and rapidly,” Insurance Nexus said.
To that end, analytics can make the entire claims process easier through a better transfer of data. It can also be leveraged to pick up on what a customer wants, respond to that preemptively and, in so doing, make them feel that you know them and care.
It can be used, too, to identify opportunities to improve customer experience. According to Insurance Nexus, RSA Group is a case in point: based on analytics insights, they initiate a high volume of updates in lightning-fast iterations, improving click-rates within days, sometimes even hours.
Bringing it all together
IBM had six suggestions for insurers serving today’s most demanding, data-savvy customers:
- Fast: Use analytics to fast-track legitimate claims
- Easy: A complete view of the customer, plus insights from analytics, give customers the right answer first time, every time
- Relevant: Determine policyholders’ needs and personalize offers
- Consistent: Online, mobile, call centers and agents all have the same
- Value: Able to assess and accurately tailor premiums based on personalized risk profiles
- Secure: Promote and practice good data management internally and to customers
For many, that’s a daunting prospect. Insurance Nexus said, “It can be argued that many of these companies are decades if not hundreds of years old, and the build-up of legacy systems – a common complaint of organizations from many differing sectors – prevents a smooth integration of data from an increasingly diverse (and never-ending) set of sources.”
We can help with that. Silvervine’s management console provides access to on-demand analytics and heightens awareness of key performance indicators within your organization. Download our “Losing Your Legacy” report to learn more.