big data

Life insurance is undergoing a renaissance of sorts. The industry is slowly transforming from one entrenched in the old-age archaism of paper and manual processes to one embracing digital technology and artificial intelligence, which benefits consumers via a more enjoyable sales experience and better product pricing.

ANZ bank's insurance arm OnePath Life Insurance today revealed some early wins for its project with researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) which uses machine learning models and advanced analytics to improve the insurance underwriting process.

Congress may have forced Mark Zuckerberg to reveal more about personal data gathered on Facebook (FB). But consider this: Your insurance company likely knows a lot more about you. 

It is well understood that increased physical activity levels are linked with a reduced risk of certain illnesses, leading to improved healthy life expectancy. Wearable devices have also been championed as a way to not only help people track physical activity, but with the right incentives, increase overall activity levels in the short term.

Recently, blockchain has emerged as a technology that will potentially transform industries in a similar way that the Internet did a couple of decades ago. Still a nascent technology, many of its uses have not yet been discovered or explored.

The controversy surrounding the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica’s use of personal data harvested from social media accounts without the users’ permission is among the first of what likely will be a long series of public debates about how the use of “big data” can shape our lives. And one of the most obvious battlegrounds where we should expect such fights to play out soon is in the insurance industry.

In theory, it is the depersonalization of the consumer experience and process in search of the cheapest and easiest alternative in doing business.  Life insurance is unfortunately one of those entities subject to these forces, whether by Amazon or by other methods insurers are now using to amalgamate the process.

Why “We have always done it this way” is not an ideal approach for insurers today.

Sears Merritt says the company has already learned interesting things about how people age.