FROM THE PRESIDENT
INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO WRITING PL written by Kevin J . O ’ Brien , KAIA President , The Reilly Company
In an article I wrote for this column earlier this year , I described the fact that we , and our industry , have entered into a New Normal . We , as an industry , are having to innovate in order to build the roadmap of this new normal as we go , as this is completely uncharted territory . Our customers are depending on us for solutions so we must succeed .
As the insurance industry looks to find more effective ways to write personal insurance more profitably , in the most difficult marketplace in recent history , we ’ re seeing innovative changes at the carrier level and we ’ re making innovative strides in our own agencies . But the reality is that we ’ re just at the starting point of this journey , and innovation in the use of technology and in our own internal processes are truly the key to our combined success .
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but the reality is that we ’ re just at the starting point of this journey , and innovation in the use of technology and in our own internal processes are truly the key to our combined success .
Starting with our insurance companies , we ’ re beginning to see unique strategies initiated to have a more positive impact on the underwriting and pricing of insurance . We ’ ve seen this already begun with moderate success in auto insurance with the advent of telematics installed in vehicles to track , and ultimately price driving behavior . But to date , these efforts have been voluntary . Time will tell if this remains the case .
On the homeowners ’ front , achieving profitability has become a more difficult problem to tackle , with more variables impacting the potential for loss . But now , many insurance companies are turning to newer technologies to assist them in differentiating good risks from poor risks . A process that started several years ago that we all remember called “ predictive modeling ” is now transforming into a newer , and more futuristic process , described as “ geospatial analytics ”. Geospatial analytics is using computer
36 KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER