Insurers welcome the availability of more information on their insureds, but the handling of so much data presents many challenges
Mo Data stashed this in Big Data in Insurance
http://www.insuranceinsight.com/insurance-insight/feature/2285850/how-big-data-is-changing-the-world
The availability of large quantities of data is good news for insurers, especially as traditional ways of assessing risk are under attack from legislation. From December insurers will no longer be able to use gender as a risk factor, and age is also seen as a potential target.
"Big data is here, but some insurers are still struggling with small data, they have Stone Age systems in place, where the structure of the data is poor and access is difficult. It's not the best starting point. Those that manage to get the core data storage correct will find it easier to build in more data."
Stashed in:
Gender and age were proxies for actual behavior - I think that the point of the new analytics is we now have enough data that we can see the risk of an individual rather than having to assess someone just because they are a woman or a teenager. There are low risk female drivers and there are also low risk teenagers - if each vehicle had a telematics box and the policy on the vehicle could be adjusted based on actuals. The availability of granular and adjacent data will counter the natural tendency to segment and tar everyone with the same brush. (There, I think I said the same thing about 3 times)
11:41 PM Aug 13 2013