Data, and the way data is used, is arguably the most critical factor in how well a carrier meets customer expectations and improves overall process. In order to make the most of all data resources, carriers need a robust system that organizes, consolidates, cleans, and processes data into actionable and understandable insights.
While there are countless data analytics programs out there — each touting their own benefits and capabilities — all of these systems fall under one comprehensive data umbrella that all organizations should know about and utilize. This is business intelligence.
What is Business Intelligence?
Business intelligence, also referred to as BI, is the “procedural and technical infrastructure that collects, stores, and analyzes the data produced by a company’s activities.” Included in that infrastructure are things like data mining, data analytics, performance benchmarking, and more. With business intelligence, all organizational data is translated into reports, metrics, and trends that are used to inform all facets of business decision making.
How Business Intelligence Is Transforming Insurance
There’s so much more to BI than just generating reports and processing data. In insurance business intelligence, there are industry-specific functions that are being transformed, giving carriers a new leg-up in an ever-crowded market.
- Risk Management: Arguably, the most important role that busines intelligence plays today is in influencing the underwriting process and risk assessment and management. Insurance BI gives carriers more visualized and actionable information to inform policy underwriting and premiums, helping to improve accuracy and customer service. Using both personal and environmental data, carriers can utilize all functions of business intelligence to create a holistic picture of customers and decide who the best customers will be.
- Fraud Detection: According to the FBI, the total cost of insurance fraud is more than $40 billion per year, meaning carriers are doing everything they can to combat the latest fraud schemes. Thankfully, data is a powerful weapon in the fight against fraud. Business intelligence, by way of insurance fraud analytics, is helping insurers identify suspicious behavior more quickly and accurately, so they can proactively protect themselves and their assets.
- Claims Handling: Business intelligence is particularly good at identifying trends and patterns across a number of operational functions, especially claims handling. Claims handling is one of the most critical insurance functions when it comes to meeting customer expectations, as the last thing they want to deal with in their time of need is delayed payment or communication. With insurance business intelligence claims handlers are given a comprehensive view of processes and performance as they relate to claims. They can then use this information to review essential information faster and deliver the fastest service possible.
- Sales: Insurance sales professionals have a number of products and territories that they are responsible for, leaving carriers with many performance factors to monitor and analyze. With insurance BI, carriers have access to real-time reports that cover the most important metrics, such as individual performance, product sales, and more. With these insights, insurers can better identify which products and territories are most successful and make the necessary decisions and changes to improve business performance.
- New Business Opportunities: Insurers are constantly competing to get products to market as fast as possible, and a critical tool that helps them do that is a centralized data resource. Business intelligence creates just that, as analytics software creates actionable visualizations that gives insurers the information they need to act. This data can also help insurers monitor the overall insurance space and see where the market is headed.
- Customer Insights: The information leveraged from business intelligence is also helping insurers improve their customer insights and make better decisions that will please their target demographics. With insurance BI, carriers can do things like roll out new products that will attract a certain customer. It can also help carriers create more personalized offerings and delight the customer they already have, improving customer loyalty.
- Centralized Data Resource: Most insurers are dealing with siloed data resources for all of their customer and business insights. These disparate systems can make creating accurate reports and actionable analytics nearly impossible, as these systems don’t communicate correctly and sometimes don’t work together at all. This is where business intelligence comes in — BI creates a unified data resource that consolidates the carrier’s most valuable resources and gives them the information they need to compete.
- Cybersecurity: Aside from fraud, cybersecurity is one of the costliest outside threats that insurance carriers face. According to Insurance Journal, insurance cybercrimes costs have jumped 40% in a three-year span. But with the tools and insights associated with business intelligence, insurers are cracking down on cyber criminals. Using analytics, insurers can more quickly and accurately flag weak areas within their infrastructure and make the necessary fixes.
Tools for Business Intelligence
There are a number of innovative tools and solutions on the market today that are helping insurers leverage all facets of business intelligence. Here are some of our favorites:
Claims Modeling
- FRISS: AI-powered risk and fraud detection for underwriting, claims, and SIU that mitigates risks, lowers loss ratios, and improves customer experiences.
- Gradient AI: Predictive and prescriptive analytics designed specifically for the insurance industry and risk management professionals that enable automation and provide decision support to allow organizations to price policies more accurately, better predict risk and manage claims more effectively.
- SafeKeep: Leverages machine learning models, search capable Natural Language Processing, Entity Resolution, and statutory rules-based automation to ingest claims files and drive profitability.
Data Analytics and Management
- CoreLogic: A property insurance-focused data analytics and platform company that helps insurers better assess risk and make data-informed underwriting and claims decisions.
- LexisNexis Risk Solutions: Delivers actionable insights to help insurance companies automate and improve critical business processes, combat fraud and create meaningful customer relationships.
- Precisely: Delivers analytical tools and curated datasets that are easily incorporated into scalable business processes to inform risk assessment and streamline underwriting and claims processing.
- Verisk: A leading global data analytics provider, offering solutions that can help insurers increase efficiency and precision across underwriting and claims.
Personalization and Customer Service
- Glia: Delivers enhanced digital customer service on web, mobile, or phone calls by giving customers communication choices (from messaging to OnScreen voice and video), CoBrowsing, and AI-enabled personalized experiences.
- Precisely: Creates a 360-degree, connected customer information resource that allows carriers to identify relationships, uncover opportunities, and meaningfully engage policyholders.
- Quadient: Their omnichannel communication platform allows insurers to build, deliver, and optimize every interaction throughout the entire customer lifecycle, improving business outcomes and customer experiences.
