Guy
Carpenter & Company, Inc., a member of the Marsh and McLennan
Companies, is using
Oracle
Spatial in conjunction with the map algebra functions of
PCI Geomatics to help
insurance companies develop risk assessment models. Guy Carpenter has
released a product called i-aXs which is an online risk management
platform that provides a number of tools to insurance companies,
including:
- Data mining
- Portfolio analysis
- Automated management reporting
- Mapping tools
- Satellite imaging
- Real-time weather tracking
Shajy Mathai, vice president of the Instrat unit, the
quantitative arm of Guy Carpenter, says the models that are now on the
market provide clients with the ability to do complex analysis but do
not provide sophisticated reporting and spatial data manipulation
capabilities. These models, by themselves, do not provide an insurance
company with a clear business strategy. Using the analytics in i-aXs,
clients can develop risk surfaces that describe the marginal impact of
adding exposure to a portfolio. With i-aXs, clients now have the
ability to determine their loss levels and pinpoint those areas with a
weighted average of the models, and then decide where they can add or
remove business.
Mathai says that the modeling is done at the raster level but the risk
is aggregated to the political geography as an index. The model results
are then reloaded into an Oracle Spatial database. According to
information provided by Oracle, the Gradient Analysis tool - part of
the i-aXs suite of portfolio management solutions - shows the relative
impact of losses to a client's portfolio at a specific risk level, by
geographic area. According to Mathai, "With this tool, clients can
develop a realistic underwriting strategy that allows them to plan
their business growth and attrition in a more formalized, detailed and
effective way."
Guy Carpenter was just recently
recognized
by Oracle with its Oracle Spatial Excellence "Innovator of the Year"
Award at the Oracle Spatial Special Interest Group User's Meeting in
Orlando this past April.