WTW has announced the launch of a new Data Science Consultancy unit to “help insurers unlock huge untapped value from their data.”
The new consultancy, which will exist within WTW’s Insurance Consulting and Technology (ICT) business, will specialise in helping insurers extract greater value from data science to drive better business decisions, remain competitive and facilitate growth.
WTW suggests that this launch accelerates its efforts in data science, complementing progress made in its wider business to support clients appropriately using advanced analytics.
In a written statement, the firm said, “The launch of the Data Science Consultancy unit formalises capability that WTW has been using to help insurers for some years, and further enhances WTW’s market-leading risk and analytics capabilities.
“Insurers will benefit from 25 years of WTW in-house software development and decades of insurance expertise.”
Mani Heer, UK Head of Data Science, ICT, at WTW, commented, “More insurers are using data science to unlock the value of their data to support decision making and to generate value, but thus far with varying degrees of success.
“Insurance is different from other industries with low frequency and long-tailed events, a highly regulated environment, and outcome asymmetries created by price transparency and intense competition.
“In our work to review and improve data science capabilities for insurers, we have found that extracting real business value from data science requires the right combination of technology, culture and insurance domain expertise.”
Pardeep Bassi, Global Proposition Leader for Data Science, ICT, at WTW, added, “Looking at some recent financial results, it’s clear to see that those insurers who are leveraging machine learning successfully at real scale, across all decision points, have achieved a significant competitive advantage.
“Insurers can no longer thrive without fully embracing data science and, if you want to compete and to win, you need a best-in-class data science approach.
“WTW has invested significantly in machine learning and data science capabilities to enhance existing – as well as create new – propositions to help insurers maintain their competitive edge, enhance their business operations and improve customer satisfaction levels.”
