Managing risk the cognitive computing way

This story is sponsored by IBM

The insurance sector is known to be cautious and conservative. It has never been at the forefront of technology innovation, but in the modern context it finds itself faced with a dilemma. Today’s customer demands speed, transparency and personal interaction. Without investments in some future forward technology, these demands might prove impossible for insurance companies to fulfil, and eventually will find themselves redundant in a world that is being changed constantly by digital disruptions.

The advent of cognitive computing is bringing in a variety of innovations that can be potentially game changing for this industry. Usage-based insurance (UBI) for the automotive sector, for example, has created an ongoing interactive relationship between customers and insurers, rather than limiting interactions to just sales, claims and renewals. UBI has the potential to transform the automotive insurance industry by monitoring driver performance, tracking driving habits and road conditions, tweaking insurance premia in real time.

Cognitive computing can drive transformational engagement for the Indian insurance sector. Insurers can get ahead of the game by effectively engaging with their digitally-empowered consumers and effectively managing all their personalisation demands. Cognitive computing systems can discover actionable insights from customer behaviour by sifting through vast amounts of information, both structured and unstructured, analysing patterns and behaviour and translating these findings into insights about customers, markets, opportunities and risks. Advanced cognitive computing systems like IBM Watson™ can even learn from past experiences. By reconciling ambiguous, unstructured and legacy data, it can provide evidence-based recommendations, to make smarter decisions.

Globally, insurers are increasingly moving to cognitive systems to modernise their services and reap innumerable benefits. For example, Swiss Re has partnered with IBM Watson™ to provide decision support for its underwriters. By applying Watson’s capabilities, the new platform enables Swiss Re employees to make more-informed decisions and evaluate price risk more accurately.

The Indian insurance industry has already started infusing newer technology into its operations to remain relevant in the modern context. IBM is closely working with insurers in India to begin embedding Watson in their businesses, to make sense of not only the structured data that insurance companies are adept at using but also newer, unstructured data to make more informed decisions on behalf of customers, for their benefit.

To know how cognitive computing can transform your insurance practice, visit the IBM website or hear from customers on how they applied IBM’s Insurance solutions.