There are some business situations where
the data you choose to capture or control forms the absolute heart of the
business. This is the realm of the secret sauce. If the recipe gets out, you're
sunk. But in many cases, the secret of the business
isn't the sauce. It's what you do with the sauce. The ingredients are well
known and easily found.
Insurance is the classic example. Carriers
can't compete on the nature of the data they hold on risks. But they can and do
compete on what they do with that data. “What they do” starts with data quality
and runs through communications, analytics, product development, and service
improvement.
It's not as if one insurer discovers that,
say, the height of a building will be a contributory factor to its stability,
and keeps the secret. That knowledge is out there. It's obvious. So – to telematics. I understand pioneers
in the field wanting to protect their first mover advantage. But I don't
believe the advantage lies in what telematics data is. It's what you do with
it.
You and I could draw up a list of
telematics data items right now. If you've ever driven a car, you can quickly
come up with an exhaustive list of things you could measure related to driving.
We might end up with a list that's too long, because we might want to measure
quantities that electronic sensors can't (yet) determine – the mood of the
driver, say. But our list definitely won't be too short. When it comes to insurance data, the secret
isn't the ingredients. It's the execution. Telematics