Collecting data is one thing, but monetising it is quite another. So says analytics specialist INGRITY, which wants to help underwriting agencies make the most of this critical asset.
The company, led by CEO, founder and former Suncorp and EY executive Sanan Thamo, has deep insurance expertise and a strong track record of delivering major transformation programs for Australian organisations of all sizes.
INGRITY’s company name comes from the combination of “intelligence” and “grit”, the two things Sanan saw as pivotal to delivering transformational value from data.
Despite only being founded in 2018 the company has already built strong partnerships with a range of leading general insurers, underwriting agencies, insurance law firms, third party administrators and banks.
Now it’s on a mission to help agencies embed data in every decision, interaction and process. By 2025 companies that aren’t truly data driven risk getting left behind as smart workflows and seamless interactions between humans and machines become “as standard as corporate balance sheets”.
INGRITY say most insurers in the US and Europe are already investing heavily in data and analytics, leading to better operating results and performance.
So how can Australia’s underwriting agencies gain an edge?
It starts with a clearly defined data strategy and data capability development roadmap. Other important elements are a scalable cloud data platform, executive, management and team member level operational reporting, structured data to support ad-hoc analysis, and data science and data engineering capabilities.
“Success demands a commitment to building new infrastructure, investing in and managing external data, developing and continually refining new models, and organising and developing the necessary talent,”
Sanan Thamo
Common challenges faced by underwriting agencies attempting to leverage value from data include not having a clear data strategy and roadmap, the absence of single source of truth, a reliance on insurers, brokers and third parties for data. Availability of data technology and tools is crucial, as is building internal data and analytics skills with an insurance background.
INGRITY highlights five areas where data analytics can improve business performance:
- Risk selection – the ability to analyse multiple risk factors
- Pricing – risk-based dynamic pricing
- Workflow – improved productivity and efficiency from quote to bind
- Claims – insights into claims costs drivers
- Portfolio – prospective profitability and performance optimisation
“Leading insurance carriers use data and advanced analytics to reimagine risk evaluation, improve the customer experience, and enhance efficiency and decision-making throughout the underwriting process,” says Sanan.
“The same insights can often be used in loss prevention. Leading carriers regularly tap once unimaginable volumes of third party data from diverse domains, including environmental data, industry-specific data, location data, government data, and more.”
“They have built agile capabilities to obtain, test, maintain, use, and reuse the data in their models.”
INGRITY’s proven track record in delivering data analytics, technology, finance, risk, audit, consulting, business transformation and leadership can help underwriting agencies get the best out of one of their most precious commodities.
Those that commit to investing in data stand to gain an invaluable advantage in a challenging sector.
