On a recent edition of AAIS Pulse, The Hanover SVP Scott Grieco sat down with AAIS SVP Operations, Joan Zerkovich, for a “Tech Talk” discussing current technology trends, and methods for modernizing the way insurers think about data and information sharing.

Over the past few years, AAIS has made waves in the insurance regulatory reporting realm with the release of openIDL, an open governance blockchain network that has been adopted by the Linux Foundation. openIDL couldn’t have happened without the active engagement of carriers, regulators and other industry leaders wiling to “step up and champion a whole new level of collaborating,” according to Ms. Zerkovich. The Hanover Insurance Group is one of those companies that has “stepped-up.”

Ms. Zerkovich asked Mr. Grieco, “What is the biggest change in respect to the insurance product that you’ve seen throughout your career?” He sees complexity due to legal and compliance requirements, as well as customer demand, as the biggest changes. He detailed, “As we learn more and build expertise, we’re able to use that knowledge to create bigger and better products that can service certain individuals.” This not only helps insurers better understand customer needs but is has also driven a lot of the change

Ms. Zerkovich pointed out that “Data and technology have play[ed] an important role in risk assessment, management, and mitigation, as well as product development.” Mr. Grieco explained that The Hanover collects data from a multitude of locations, utilizing supplemental applications in loss control and claims departments. According to Mr. Grieco, “When we take this information and bring it together with third-party data, it creates a lot of analytics we can build upon.” The Hanover can look at trends, what businesses have historically done and what is coming. He points out the “need to grow insights and expertise so that we can reduce or eliminate risks.”  The Hanover’s work with openIDL is essential to this mission. But there is still work to be done, as Mr. Grieco adds, “As we see these things move forward, we want to take advantage of the data and analytics we get, which helps us to better predict where we see claims coming from.”

 Mr. Grieco and Ms. Zerkovich also discussed other trends in data including challenges in managing data, “democratizing” data, regulatory compliance, and much more.

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