P-C insurers are only as good as the quality of their data.(Numbers Crunching)(property and casualty)

National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, May, 2004 by Banfield, Carole J.

Since data is the lifeblood of the property-casualty business, more than a few insurers could find themselves in need of transfusions when poor data quality threatens their competitive advantage and bottom line. The cost to U.S. p-c insurers of poor quality data is high. Measured in overpricing, underpricing, writing too many bad risks, regulatory fines or simply losing business from disgruntled customers, poor data can mean poor financial results.

A recent study by The Data Warehousing Institute, a Seattle-based research organization for the business intelligence and data warehousing industry, highlights the dimensions of the problem on a broader scale. Poor quality customer data costs U.S. businesses a stunning $611 billion a year--and this estimate doesn't...