Data Quality Improvement

Data Source Expansion

In my last blog I examined how the Step 2 approach to improving the value of your data expands the scope and the information available. I explained how it is likely that Step 2 will be a series of steps that expand the scope in “bite size chunks.”

As the expansion continues other data sources within the organisation will need to be linked into the data warehouse to provide the coverage of the enterprise data that the organisation requires. It is important that any project for new enterprise data sources (the implementation of a new Policy Administration System for example) include the ability to feed their data into the data warehouse as part of the project’s deliverables.

External Data Feeds
There is an increasing number of external data feeds. It is important that your organisation may be able to utilise. The different areas of your business will become aware the ones that are useful to them, but where your organisation has the scale, it may be appropriate to have someone search out the ones that are most useful, and bring them to the appropriate stakeholders.

Step 2 must continue to focus on the provision of incremental value to the business, and in preparation for Step 3, enable the information consumers to access and explore their information.

Step 3 – Embedding
This step allows the organisation to increase the coverage provided by the previous steps but is very much focused on increasing the value of the data warehouse to the organisation by embedding the information-led decision making as just “the way things are done.”

A key part of embedding information into an organisation is the ability for the information consumers to be able to self-serve. The days of IT creating reports or data views are thankfully retreating into the past. Ensure that any such dependencies are reduced and where possible eliminated during the course of this step.

Step 3 doesn’t need to follow Step 2 in a sequential way, in fact there is a great deal of value in running Step 3 iteratively and starting slightly after Step 2 so that the organisation has a pent-up-demand for the data warehouse.

Step 4 – Improving
In the same way that organisations change and improve, so must the systems and data warehouses that support them. Ensure that your organisation is regularly looking at how it can improve and adapt the data warehouse with new requirements as they evolve.

That concludes my series of blogs on how the insurance sector can increase the value of its data. In this series my objective has been to provide an objective and practical overview of the four steps that are required – Value from Foundations, Expansion, Embedding, and Improving.

Data is increasingly the fuel that drives the engine of the so-called fourth industrial revolution. The digital age. By understanding their data better, insurers can understand their risks and identify advantages and opportunities that potentially increase profitability.

My hope is that this series of blogs have helped you to identify practical, incremental steps to improve the value of your data. The digital devil, however, is always in the digital detail!