Insight Out Magazine | Brighter solutions

Most organisations have a vast array of often disparate information from which different reports are collated for multiple end users and committees. The speed and accuracy with which this is achieved can provide a significant competitive advantage. The challenge is how to get the right content to the right people at the right time.

For many organisations, the problem is not a lack of available data, it's the inability to derive quality information from it, according to Romy Comiter, Insurance Director at Mazars, “It is about integrating disparate information in an effective way so that the patterns, trends and warning signs can be easily identified and actioned. The insurance industry, for example, is one of the most data rich sectors, but the challenge is getting the right content to the right people at the right time,” she explains.

Dashboards are one way of achieving this. Developed to provide senior management with a snap-shot view of performance metrics, a dashboard is a sophisticated online business management tool that can be used to drill down and analyse vast amounts of internal and external data in a graphic and user friendly way. The system can also be applied to a wide range of business sectors.

Dashboards have moved on significantly in terms of what they can offer. In the early days, compiling dashboards was a manual process and the absence of any drill down feature generated more questions than it answered. “The increasing amount of effort spent in producing further reports rather than meeting the original business objectives was counterproductive to the aim of empowering an organisation’s decision making,” recalls Comiter.

Now, as dashboard technology has advanced systems can be implemented without an overhaul of the IT infrastructure. The ability to work in real time makes reporting instantaneous, allowing managers to conduct drill down analysis into the raw data behind any report to provide a view of the company’s health against key performance indicators. In addition, a well implemented dashboard improves the governance of the data sources, which is becoming a standard regulatory requirement.

As dashboards have become more sophisticated and easier to implement, they are increasingly used as a strategic and tactical tool at operational level. “Each department must be able to view and manipulate their own metrics and so dashboards must be deployed within a framework of relevance, roles, privilege and privacy,” explains Comiter.

For a dashboard to work effectively, a number of careful considerations are required including defining the data required.

In addition, success in the long term is dependent on the three As – Appropriate, Actionable and Accurate.

Appropriate – Information which is directly relevant to the responsibilities of the user.

Actionable – Enables drill down functionality to allow the user to explore the triggers and define actions that need to be taken on issues identified.

Accurate – Information collected and consolidated to promote confidence in the integrity of the data and the consistency with originating source data.

Comiter points out that for dashboards to work effectively, they need to be based on clearly defined business requirements and deliver outputs which not only inform their audience, but which drive action. “They endorse the actions taken because the data is accurate, timely and well governed,” she concludes.

Dashboards in action for insurance underwriters

To effectively manage their business in the current economy, insurers are looking to merge their many data sources. Under Solvency II, data governance takes centre stage. However, competitive advantage will only be gained through merging both internal and external data into one central point and making it available throughout the organisation.

There are several areas that insurance organisations need to manage for continual improvement in productivity. These include Policy Count, Claim Count, Written Premium, Policy Incurred Loss, Mean Insurance Score, and Total Claim Count. Using appropriate measures and real time data to create appropriate metrics that are aligned with the organisation's objectives is key to establishing an effective monitoring system.

In an insurance organisation the need for seamless and streamlined underwriting is paramount, particularly ensuring uniform underwriting standards across the different platforms and locations. Current market pressure on pricing has created a greater reliance on the quality and risk selection of Assureds.

Whilst a great deal of data is currently available in multiple sources, access is limited by factors including time, technology and knowing where to look. This means decisions are often based on traditional sources of data, typically historic loss ratios and risk profiles, supplemented with industry knowledge and gut feel. Consequently standards fall as decisions are, at best, sluggish and, at worst, inconsistent and non-competitive. On the other hand, a properly implemented dashboard improves the information available to the underwriter, enhancing decision making.

Increasingly, the dashboard is also a powerful risk management tool. The ability to see multi-dimensional views of enterprise gap analysis in order to manage compliance and regulatory challenges can provide an enterprise-wide diagnostic of governance and compliance requirements for both stakeholders and regulators.