Culture Change Needed To Become A Data-Driven Organization

Legacy systems are often blamed for insurers' struggles to become data-driven organisations, but ingrained company cultures may be the real roadblock that keeps insurers from transforming their vast data caches into effective customer strategies.

As insurers grapple with how to convert data into customer insight, they often get bogged down in the costs and risks of replacing legacy systems. Instead, they should focus on culture change – as part of a journey to become data-driven organisations – to help their people and processes turn data into meaningful information.

The root of the problem

Insurers' struggle to employ data analytics is partly the result of their acquisitive nature, notes Gary Richardson, Insurance Analytics Lead, Data Insights Services with KPMG in the UK. "Insurers often grow by acquisition, resulting in a common brand with lots of individual companies and systems," says Richardson. "Integration of legacy systems is often postponed if