Increasingly, the insurance industry is turning its sights on big data and advanced analytics. Just four years ago, only 9% of insurers were investing in big data projects, which jumped to 25% in 2014, illustrating the industry’s burgeoning big data interests.
Today, big data is considered a “game-changer” by almost 40% of insurers. Additionally, a 2016 Accenture survey of 561 Chief Security Officers found that 94% of insurance CSOs believe big data and other emerging technologies—machine learning, automation, and cloud storage—will impact their business over the next five years. Yet a mere 20% of CSOs interviewed—and only 18% of insurance CSOs—consider their firms prepared to leverage these technologies. That is where Trifacta steps in.
Trifacta is working with several leading insurers on cutting edge big data wrangling and analytics work to improve offerings, speed consumer insights, and differentiate in the market.
Big Data Drivers: Why Insurers Care About Insur-Innovation
Along with declining profitability, regulatory changes, and the desire to maintain competitive advantage, there are several key drivers of big data innovation and implementation specific to the insurance industry.
- Actuarial/Underwriting
These represent the top two areas for big data applications, with 28% of P&C and 15% of L&A companies successfully leveraging big data by 2014. Actuaries can now use multi-variate analysis and predictive modeling to achieve better and more consistent results faster, making for happier regulators and consumers.
- Internet of Things
Recent Accenture research shows that 1/3rd of insurers now use data from wearable technologies, such as FitBits, to collect lifestyle data and behavioral insight. Insurers can pose new questions, better understand types of risk, and initiate new product offerings if they can track and manipulate this data easily with Trifacta. - Claims
Claims represent the biggest spend for insurers: 80% of premiums go toward pay-out and other expenses. Now both structured and unstructured historical data can be wrangled to cut down on decision-making time and reduce errors, ultimately lowering costs and increasing customer satisfaction. - Customer Acquisition & Retention
Acquisition is a fast-growing area, with over 2/3rds of insurers either using or planning to use big data to secure new customers by 2016. Similarly, a few firms are leveraging advanced wrangling and analytics techniques to extend new services to customers, deepening the customer relationship and getting around information asymmetry. - Fraud Detection
Nearly 10% of claims are fraudulent, and past methods of detection left insurers vulnerable to new, ever-changing forms of fraud. From text mining to social network and geospatial analytics, new sophisticated data analytics help firms increase detection, boost margins, and reduce costs.
Since 2012, Trifacta has driven change in all of these areas, working with top insurers to increase profitability, manage risk, and strengthen their market position.
How Zurich Insurance Group Makes It Rain with Trifacta
Zurich Insurance Group, a leading global insurer, sought to create more accurate risk models to improve their bottom line, provide better rates, and further their competitive advantage. Trifacta helped Zurich’s team quickly explore and transform new and complex external data sources, such as weather data, to refine how they calculate the risk of potential insurers. Trifacta allowed the firm to easily wrangle unstructured data, not immediately ready for analytic use, to more efficiently explore and distill datasets to be used in risk models.
Beyond Zurich, we’re seeing countless new insurance companies take new strides in analytics innovation and efficiency. Munich Re, one of the biggest re-insurers in the world, is building more comprehensive risk models by bringer more data features together and validating their assumptions at scale. Enstar, a large managing insurance, reinsurance company, are building reserving models, loss forecasting and claim analysis on a daily basis with help from an expert team and the right technologies.
Become an Insur-Innovator with Trifacta
Whether you need to meet higher consumer expectations, lower costs, or differentiate in the insurance market, Trifacta can help. We are proven innovators in insurance big data wrangling and analytics, and we will support you in achieving your next level of tech success.
To learn more about Trifacta, download our customer success story on The Royal Bank of Scotland.