Recently, our team attended the Silicon Valley Insurance Disruption symposium and were privileged to engage in a number of conversations with insurance industry leaders, and innovators in technology. One of the conversations I had with an individual revolved around social media and how it has changed our society; the way people communicate; and how people demand instant information and results. Think about digital disruption in marketing and selling insurance products, i.e., the millennial (on-demand) generation.
The term “social media” means a lot of different things in the insurance industry. I like the concept of using social media in two distinct methodologies; one, strategically; and two, tactically for the business of insurance. For strategic purposes, your company can use social media to communicate to customers and potential buyers of your products with a concise and cogent message. In addition, you can monitor and respond to what customers are saying about your company. For the tactical application, social media can be used for the underwriting and claims business processes. For example, tracking catastrophic events, like significant earthquakes, fire storms and hurricanes; monitoring what people are communicating while these events are occurring is invaluable for your response planning. For risk management in underwriting, the proper information can be obtained in a robust social media analytics solution that can be leveraged for better decision making.
See Also: Does Social Media Have a Place?
The key is to use next-generation analytics with dynamic modeling.
Privacy and the ability to obtain information from social media websites have been analyzed and debated by governments and business leaders around the globe. Actions have been taken to protect an individual’s privacy. So how do you correctly utilize social media analytics in your business process?
Dynamic modeling!
Dynamic modeling of social media data begins with identifying the proper source of information. Dynamic modeling provides answers to questions in the underwriting process and claims process while keeping in mind the insured’s interest and experience. Is the API (application programming interface) open to web crawls? Can you filter out the vast amount of noise in the data? (An open-end Google-type search is not the best way to begin). Can you control the overwhelming amount of information? How do you know what to look for? If your team knows the “why” and the actual focus of deterring the risk, you will be able to deliver to the customer a better product, with a competitive price in the marketplace.
Now is the time to start moving forward with next-generation analytics and start being innovative in the marketplace.
Dynamic modeling of social media data begins with identifying the proper source of information. Dynamic modeling provides answers to questions in the underwriting process and claims process while keeping in mind the insured’s interest and experience. Is the API (application programming interface) open to web crawls? Can you filter out the vast amount of noise in the data? (An open-end Google-type search is not the best way to begin). Can you control the overwhelming amount of information? How do you know what to look for? If your team knows the “why” and the actual focus of deterring the risk, you will be able to deliver to the customer a better product, with a competitive price in the marketplace.
Now is the time to start moving forward with next-generation analytics and start being innovative in the marketplace.
