The Accenture Business Intelligence Solution for Insurance

Real-time enterprise metrics management, reporting and what-if analysis to support faster and better decision making in insurance

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Accenture Information Management Services

Every day, senior executives in the insurance industry must make complex, business-critical decisions that take into account a wide array of performance metrics and market intelligence. Facing rigorous regulation and complex information-rich value chains, insurance companies have an absolute need for detailed, granular knowledge of what is happening in their operations, together with an ability to analyze this information in real time to investigate specific events, emerging trends and future what-if scenarios.

In many cases, the difficulty of achieving world-class business intelligence (BI) in insurance is compounded by insurers legacy information assets. At the same time, ongoing change in consumers, competition and capabilities means insurance businesses face growing pressure to break down their traditional, rigid information silos. According to Accenture research on information management in Europe and North America, 75 percent of CIOs plan to have a full enterprise-wide information management strategy in place within three years while nearly 60 percent see BI as core to competitive differentiation.

The Accenture Business Intelligence (BI) Solution for Insurance

To help insurers meet these pressures and move toward high performance, Accenture Information Management Services has developed the Accenture Business Intelligence (BI) Solution for Insurancean integrated suite of applications that meets insurers need for business intelligence all the way from raw data metrics to detailed what-if analytics. The solution integrates fully with industry-standard systemsit is built on the Business Objects platform, and will be made available for other platforms such as SAS, Cognos and Microsoft. The Accenture BI Solution for Insurance consists of three parts: Enterprise Metrics Management (EMM). A unique offering encompassing the strategy, process and technology components needed to ensure quick access to appropriate and consistent performance metrics

via tailored, rules-based executive dashboards. Comprised of 200 data metrics coupled with a data connector and a virtually preconfigured portal, EMM can be implemented swiftly and efficiently in any insurer. By leveraging Accentures pre-configured tool, insurance industry knowledge and experience in determining the right metrics to include, insurance companies can avoid reinventing the wheel and save millions on their technology investment. Reporting. Comprehensive reporting capabilities based on Web intelligence reports that drill down to the enterprise metrics and provide detailed and flexible real-time intelligence on the companys performance against any chosen indicators. The reporting is structured in a logical and hierarchical way, enabling executives to conduct root cause investigations to the most granular level at the click of a button.

What-if analytics and scenario planning. Sophisticated modeling capabilities, enabling performance data drawn from the EMM and reporting modules to be tested and trailed against changes in any chosen combination of variables. This enables executives to model in advance the impact and interdependencies that would arise from any given management action. Insurers using the Accenture BI Solution for Insurance find that this capability rapidly establishes itself as an invaluable and indispensable tool for decision support across all areas of the business.

How it works
The Accenture BI Solution for Insurance operates through an accessible, userfriendly graphical interface, with clear and consistent use of dashboards, charts and colors. All three of the core elementsEMM, reporting and analyticsare integrated in a single solution, with seamless and interlinked use of the same performance data across each application.

The EMM application

A typical screenshot from the EMM application is shown in Figure 1. The key performance metrics are displayed on the rules-based dashboard in easy-to-read dials. These can cover any time period chosen by the user, with the ability to drill down to lower levels of granularity and access trend information on-screen. For example, clicking on the loss ratio dial enables the user to drill down to the product class level, showing the loss ratio on specific classes such as auto, commercial multi-peril or business owners coverage, depending on the insurers precise business mix.

Fig. 1

The reporting application

The EMM system feeds directly into the reporting application. Typical reports that users require include loss ratio summary and detailed loss ratio reports, each of which provide a tabular view of the performance data, and which can be configured flexibly by choosing specific values for elements such as coverage, product, time period and customer state. Figure 2 shows another widely used report, a loss-development triangle analyzing the year in which premiums were earned and the subsequent loss profile over time.

The analytics application

Figure 3 shows a typical screenshot from the analytics application. By moving the various levers on the dashboard, the user can investigate the impact of a proposed change in one element on the other inter-related components. This provides an excellent tool for what-if analyses, conducted interactively and in real-time. For example, when reviewing business owners policies, what would be the impact of a change in base rates or territory modifiers on exposure? The user needs only to move the relevant levers to find out. Fig. 2

The benefits in action

By combining Enterprise Metrics Management, reporting and what-if analytics, insurance companies have a cost-effective and easy-to-implement solution encompassing all the elements needed to support better decision making and achieve high performance. Fig. 3

About Accenture Information Management Services

Accenture Information Management Services is a global cross-industry organization focused on bringing clients solutions to better manage their business, interact with customers and make strategic, financial and operational decisions. Working across Accentures service lines and industry groups, this network of 13,000 professionals* specializes in information management services including business intelligence, portals and content management and data management and architecture. For more information about Accenture Information Management Services, visit www.accenture.com/ informationmanagement.
*as of August 1, 2007.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the worlds most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With more than 175,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$19.70 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2007. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Copyright 2008 Accenture All rights reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.

Contacts
The best way to appreciate the power of the Accenture BI Solution for Insurance is to see it in action. To arrange a live demonstration and a discussion about the benefits it could deliver to your business, please contact: Omer Sohail Senior Director, Accenture Information Management Services - Financial Services Market Development omer.sohail@accenture.com Doug Winter Partner, Accenture Insurance Industry doug.winter@accenture.com