3 Tips to Drive Your Data Strategy

In today’s world, gathering and analyzing data is more important than ever. But what many people fail to realize is that #DataAnalytics serves primarily as a tool. And though #data is capable of many great things in the industry, a tool is only as powerful as its user. 

All tools require the know-how and ability to wield the tool in the first place. For example, throughout the pandemic, many consumers started looking for ways to self-service, requiring them to explore and learn how to use the technology available to them.  

More and more consumers have expressed a desire to not only to be able to service their current policy online, but to #QuoteAndBind their policies independently. And insurers can use this data to their advantage. 

Of course, this involves a certain level of learning and adopting new processes but will ultimately allow carriers and agencies that adapt to this change in consumer behavior to solidify their position in the industry for years to come. 

Tracking the success of agents and claims filed are crucial in an industry that relies so heavily on documentation and communication. To truly benefit from this data, it’s necessary to incorporate it into every level to maximize the effectiveness and potential for your organization. 

Here are 3 ways you can get your data implementation strategy started: 

1. Have specific goals 
2. Invest in technology 
3. Commit to understanding data 

1. Have specific goals and questions you want to analyze 

You can’t begin collecting or analyzing data if you don’t know what you need. Having data may seem helpful, but if you don’t know why it’s important to your organization it’s meaningless.  

So ask yourself, what goals does your company have? What questions are you seeking answers for that data may help solve? Once you’ve established that, you can work within your agency to solidify what data points would be both useful and applicable.  

2. Invest in technology and data management tools 

It’s important for your organization to understand that perfection will not happen right away; an effective strategy requires iteration throughout the initial growing pains.  

To keep up with the introduction of data in your agency, you’ll need to invest in the right technology to help your team record and evaluate your data accurately. This should be your short-term goal to achieve before you begin to collect your data. 

In the long term, your organization should acquire a data management system. This will allow your company to organize and store your data effectively and create a database your employees can use for years. 

3. Commit to understanding and effectively communicating data – both internally and externally 

Data is storytelling. It’s not enough to simply have an excel sheet to portray what your team has collected. The easier it is to refer to and to use what you have collected, the better it is for everyone involved.  

Consider tools that offer data dashboards that make it easy to visually consume data and provide easy reporting.  

Collecting and using your data can seem like a daunting process, but it shouldn’t be! If you use data in the correct way, your company will see a variety of benefits.