Can you distinguish between isolated facts (aka “data”) and actionable information?

If you find out Jack and Jill Smith live at 123 Elm Street, that’s an isolated data item and doesn’t prompt any action on your part. On the other hand, if your prospecting system tells you Jack and Jill Smith have just moved into 123 Elm Street from out of state, they both work and they have two children and two cars, that’s another story altogether.

Past research and your experience have both shown that moving homes often triggers insurance shopping behavior. That should prompt an action on your part—you should probably introduce yourself to the Smiths.

Equally important, when did you learn about these useful nuggets? The best answer would be just at the opportune time—as you are logging into your prospecting system and you’re ready to act on it. That’s an actionable insight.

If you’re like most people, you’re drowning in data, but actionable insights are few. Why? It’s a relatively simple technical exercise to collect, store and distribute data. But that alone won’t help you gain a competitive edge or make better, actionable decisions.

Here are four ways to stop dumping data and start taking effective action on it instead:

• Governance: In order to manage data, not merely collect and store it, companies should designate a person or group to be responsible for marshaling the required resources. Then staff must evaluate the usefulness of corporate data assets and identify gaps in the data resources.
• Integration: Gather data from multiple sources, both internal and external to the company, and then link it in a meaningful way to analysis.
• Analysis: Figure out the best means of breaking down data, transforming and recombining it in new ways that yield fresh knowledge.
• Reporting: The best analysis in the world is useless if the insights don’t get into the hands of the decision-makers when they need them, in a format they can understand.

What makes the process so challenging is matching the technical know-how to the business need. For many companies, technical people can create amazing things if you tell them what amazing things you want them to create. But they typically aren’t going to have your business knowledge—and they certainly won’t know your needs.

On the flip side, the business people often don’t have the deep technical or data experience to know what’s possible or adequately describe what they’re seeking—which means they end up making vague requests.

Likewise, carriers collect a vast amount of data but often don’t know what to do with it. Many would appreciate specific requirements for information that will help their agents. For personal lines, that might include any of the following:

• “I’d like a daily prospect list of personal lines prospects in my market area to appear in my prospecting database when I log in.”
• “I want a score indicating the prospect’s likelihood of being current active insurance shoppers.”
• “I want any additional information about the prospect’s house, autos, family and geodemographic information that will help me understand their insurance needs and make a connection with them.”

Will you get what you ask for? Perhaps not all of it and perhaps not all the time. But you may be surprised at what actionable information can be created once you begin the dialogue.

Phil Hatfield, J.D., CPCU, leads the modeling data services group for ISO Insurance Products and Analytic Services (IPAS), a unit of Verisk Analytics. This insurance solutions business unit specializes in applying advanced analytic techniques and data management skills to the challenge of accurately assessing risk in the property/casualty insurance industry.