Commercial Lines Insurers Investing in Tech for Claims, Underwriting Data

Technology investments to support data initiatives are increasingly important as commercial lines insurers look to leverage data from a wider variety of sources. According to a new report released by Novarica, predictive analytics, third-party data and multidimensional data are being leveraged by carriers to improve claims handling and underwriting discipline.

“Drones, IoT, third party data providers and telematics are changing the landscape of underwriting in commercial lines,” notes Martina Conlon, senior vice president of Research and Consulting and lead author of the report. “Insurers have the opportunity to use the data from these sources to improve risk assessment and pricing and boost underwriting results.”

“The right capabilities are necessary in order to truly take advantage of these emerging technologies and the data available from them,” adds Chuck Ruzicka, vice president of Research and Consulting and co-author of the report. “To this end, commercial lines carriers are investing in core systems, advanced analytics, and self-service portals.”

The Business and Technology Trends report offers a market overview and over 50 examples of recent technology investments by commercial lines carriers.

Key findings of the report include:

• Drones, IoT, robots, and autonomous vehicles are poised to transform the industry. These technologies promise to reduce the need for on-site adjusters and investigators, while greatly improving underwriting, pricing and lowering claims frequency.
• Agent portals remain key to customer acquisition and retention, and direct sales capabilities will be increasingly important for more transactional products and program business. Agents and carriers should be spending their time on solving client problems, not order-taking or pushing products.
• Mobile devices continue to make inroads in commercial lines. Besides loss control, other functions include field underwriters, premium auditors, and claims adjusters.

The report is available at http://novarica.com/business-and-technology-trends-commercial-lines-2016/

Source: Novarica