The next generation of master data management in insurance

By Eric Weisburg February 11, 2019, 5:23 a.m. EST 1 Min Read

Insurance master data is critical to operations and frequently crosses functional and line-of-business areas. Because of the siloed nature of the insurer’s application environment, master data management (MDM) is necessary to ensure consistency across platforms wherever accuracy is paramount. Yet beyond operational data usage, MDM is growing in importance to keep up with a proliferation of analytics and external demands.

Analytics
Insurer investments in data and analytics are increasing. Novarica research shows that over 70% of insurance carriers have deployed or plan to deploy predictive analytics, and over 40% have deployed or plan to deploy AI. These initiatives, which improve the quality of business decisions, are dependent upon MDM for governed, quality data.

An employee inspects computer wiring at NEC Telecom Software Philippines Inc. office in the Cebu IT Park, operated by Cebu Holdings Inc., in Cebu, Philippines, on Monday, Aug. 3, 2015. The Philippine economy expanded 5.2 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the weakest pace since 2011, on slower public spending. Second-quarter data are due Aug. 27. Photographer: Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg

Digital Engagement
Beyond analytics, high data quality is imperative for digitization where data is being exposed to outside parties. According to recent Novarica research, budgets are starting to shift away from core applications and toward digital engagement which enable self-service. Redundant, incomplete, conflicting, and inaccurate data will come to light without master data management. This is especially true in areas like understanding producers and the products they sell, consumer preferences, and marketing automation.

Regulatory Change
Regulatory change is requiring that carriers take greater care in their use of data. Security regulations are expanding on a state-by-state basis and are sometimes insurance-specific, many of which require understanding where and how data is used. Personally identifiable information (PII) and healthcare data are of particular importance, as is knowledge of where data exists, what its permitted uses are, and access control.

The focus on data and mastering data is expanding, and with it comes challenges around ownership, process control, and infrastructure, among others. For more on master data management including best practices, challenges, and trends, see Novarica’s latest brief MDM in Insurance: Expansion and Key Issues.

This blog entry has been reposted with permission from Novarica.

Eric Weisburg

VP of Research & Consulting, Novarica