March 2020 – Canadian insurers are increasingly interested in leveraging third-party data for analytics augmentation and predictive modeling, as well as for validating and cleansing existing data.

This report reviews multiple insurance industry use cases for third-party data and examples of insurers that are investing in this area. It also includes profiles of 42 data providers that insurers use.

Topics

• Insurer data capabilities. Most insurers assess their data capabilities as relatively immature.
• Insurance use cases. This report focuses on marketing, underwriting, and claims.
• Established and emerging players. Profiles include types of data and typical use cases.

Key Points and Findings

• Drivers of third-party data usage include AI, customer experience, cost, and regulation. The need for large data sets to train AI and customer buying experience expectations set by online retailers both stand out as relatively new motivators.
• Privacy concerns have made data use transparency critical. Scandals such as Cambridge Analytica, along with GDPR and domestic concerns, have increased demand for transparency in how organizations use data and for what purposes.
• The hunger for data will increase as core systems incorporate more AI and analytics. The good news is that this should lead to greater efficiency and improved consumer experience.