I’m not suggesting it will happen tomorrow, but the convergence of advanced analytics and voice-controlled consumer devices, such as Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana, is really exciting. Based on the consumerization of IT and evolving customer expectations, I think this is more an inevitability than a possibility and presents fascinating opportunities for insurers.
Those voice-activated devices, which sport a price tag rapidly approaching $150, are becoming ever cheaper, more sophisticated and ubiquitous. Consumers are snatching them up, all for the convenience of no longer visiting Google.com to start a search, a financial page to check stock prices, or Amazon or iTunes to buy or listen to a song. In fact, these appliances now provide the interface to a growing multitude of applications.
Insurers: Interrogate Data for Insights
Meanwhile, back in the insurance industry, the profusion of new data sources continues to expand, and insurtechs and other startups are pushing into the analytics space. All with good reasons: The ability to manage and understand data separates the fast from the slow, and the profitable from the unprofitable.
But imagine if you could sit at your desk and, using something like Alexa, have the ability to talk with a computer that could bring together internal data assets, external purchased data assets, and everything publicly available on the web. That could–in real time–offer meaningful responses that help you “connect the dots” and make better-informed decisions.
Statisticians and actuaries would need only to learn how to ask questions appropriately to get the answers they were looking for. And, because answers beget more questions, all they would need to do is to ask – no additional set up required. Imagine offering that ability to claims professionals, brokers or agents.
Data experts could focus on managing internal data to ensure that information assets are intelligible and readily available to analytics applications. Then they could train applications to understand how and when to connect to external data sources.
Today companies that spend on implementing analytics software are gaining advantage in the insurance marketplace. Tomorrow, the competitive advantage may be more closely tied to the inquisitiveness of your human resources. As a side benefit, these kinds of capabilities may even make the insurance industry more attractive to millennials and beyond.
Duck Creek understands that data quality and availability is a hugely important consideration for digital insurers, and that your ability to conform and validate data can lay a foundation for your future predictive analytics strategies, now and into the future.
Once you begin to capitalize on business intelligence, your desire to use it in support of marketing, underwriting, claims, actuarial, and analytics activities will only increase, as will your desire and ability to use it creatively.
