Developments are moving fast in Big Data and insurance companies cannot afford to wait as digital disruption grows. Taking action can start at Asia Insurance Review's Big Data conference in February 2019 which will showcase how the insurance industry can make the real move from being a passive data collector to becoming an intelligent big data user.
Big data is about using data to make informed sales and marketing and product innovation decisions, said Mr Sivam Subramaniam, editor-in-chief of AIR.
Big data and analytics have opened a whole new world of opportunities for the insurance industry, providing endless potential if used with data science, analytics and artificial intelligence. Big data investments in the insurance industry are estimated to have exceeded $2.4bn in 2018, according to SNS Telecom & IT’s report in August 2018.
Data sets can be internal or external, ranging from claims history to third-party data like those gathered from sensors and location-based sources, demographics and media sentiments. Owing to the use of telematics and IoT-enabled tracking devices, insurers can now gather more real time data regarding their customers’ behavioural patterns and preferences. As such, a massive opportunity exists for insurers to harness valuable data assets that can offer critical insights to drive business impact, said MSIG Insurance Singapore senior vice president (technical services) Jeremy Lian in an Asia Insurance Review article earlier this year.
Gleaning insights from data, together with analytic capabilities and AI could help insurers draw further insights to enhance customer user experience as well as their own distribution, risk selection, pricing and claims management, said Mr Lian.
What distinguishes big data from mere ‘data’ are the frequently mentioned Vs – big data has more Volume, Variety, Velocity and Veracity, but this is where organisations get overwhelmed, said Mr Subramaniam.
“Data is the new oil, but many organisations are still struggling to harness it effectively. They are looking into smaller volumes of traditional data, but are unable to make that leap to the massive insights that can be distilled from big data, where treasure troves of information can be effectively applied to streamline their processes.
“Our conference on big data and analytics has been one of our best attended thematic conferences for some three years now, reflecting the eagerness of the insurance industry to tap on big data opportunities,” he said. “From SMEs to traditional insurers, there will be interesting lessons to be shared at our 4th conference. I urge you to stop sitting on the data you have and move to being a master of big data to be a winner in this data age.”
The 4th Asia Conference on Big Data and Analytics will take place on 18-19 February 2019, with ReMark as lead sponsor. Register for the conference here. Early bird rates end 18 January.