Digital Transformation using GIS

By Bharati Lele
Digital transformation (DT) uses technology like analytics, mobility, IoT,
big data, cloud, social media and embedded devices integrating with
traditional technologies like CRM, ERP, to address business problems by
radically improving reach of enterprises. However, not many (in fact very
few) consider Geo spatial technologies (GIS Geographical Information
System) as an important visualization decision making technology for
Digital transformation. Surprisingly, today, there isnt a sector or Industry
which is untouched by this aspect of digital transformation. Our journey
and considering GIS as a strong technology for visualization as part of
Digital Transformation got reinforced when one of worlds leading Auto &
Aero manufacturer (also are customer) requested for a DT journey
roadmap that included - Mobile, Big Data, Advanced analytics and GIS
solutions. We have transformed and continue to transform our customers
in DT using GIS technology in sectors like Life Sciences, Energy & Utilities,
Insurance, Manufacturing, Defense and Transport. We are also helping and
contributing our bit in DT using Geospatial for nation building.
The transformational journey that finally got us the first prize was one such
attempt towards powerful digital transformation using Geo spatial
technologies along with business intelligence and analytics to solve
business problems in Insurance sector in an event of Catastrophe like flood
or hurricane.
In todays globalizing & competitive business environment, companies are
looking for variety of data and new forms of analysis to remain competitive.

Geo Spatial data has emerged as a significant source of information in both

traditional as well as advanced analytics. The value of location as a business
measure is fast becoming an important consideration for organizations. It
is estimated that around 80% of the data stored in data warehouses has
some sort of geographic reference. This location-based information
enhances the analytics capabilities of companies, allowing them to take
smarter, faster decisions.
In recent years, a series of natural calamities like flood and hurricane has
cost the Insurance industry billions of dollars worldwide and has forced
Insurance companies to re-evaluate their workforce management, risk
management and claims response processes. While government
organizations play important roles in responding to these disasters, in
many cases, it is observed that Insurance companies have to bear the brunt
in rebuilding and restructuring. Therefore, it becomes imperative for
Insurers to understand the risks associated with policies, understand their
target customers and their proximity to hazards to ensure timely rollout of
the right set of products and services.
Our solution addressed these operational challenges faced by Insurance
companies, staff/workforce deployment when catastrophe strikes. The
solution focuses on specific use case targeting Workforce Management
allowing Catastrophe Supervisor to assess the entire catastrophe impact
across Claims, Policies and Properties dimensions and plan the workforce
accordingly. This analysis allows Catastrophe Supervisors to plan and
deploy resources on the impacted site and provide better services to their
customers. Its location-based information management system enhances
the analytical capabilities of insurance companies, allowing them to take
smarter, faster decisions in an event of a catastrophe.

This solution increases the analytical capabilities of the insurance

companies by gathering data from the different transaction processing
systems, integrating this data with geo spatial information for managing
natural catastrophes, improving underwriting analysis by storing them in a
central data warehouse and by creating reports and computing KPIs for
specific for the property and casualty insurance companies. This vast
amount of Geo-coded data can be used by insurance organization for
effectively managing risk exposures, Catastrophic and large-scale event
management, claims management, maximize sales/marketing
opportunities and build innovative products.
Two of most important aspects of any Digital transformation are
captivating customer experience and extreme operational
efficiencies.
In event of any catastrophe, customers are hit the most due to property
losses. It is in this time of extreme grief, it is an unstated expectation to
have Insurance companies to understand them better and serve as soon as
possible for claim processing.
Our solution helps customers (Insurance companies) customer better by
having different kinds of analytics through various geographies, Claim
distribution by severity, property exposure, type of property casualty and
predicting the estimated claims based on the history of received claims in
earlier years, in planning the workforce, both human (public adjusters) or
non-human needed for claim settlement ; thus maintaining and looking at
their top line growth.Solution gives captivating customer experience
by:
1.

extending early warning system to end-customer in the

event of catastrophe for example warning customer of hail

storm in nick of time so that customer can park the car inside to
avoid damage
2.

adding customers delight by customer getting access to

information about catastrophe offices (temporary claim booth
setup) post Catastrophe to be able to file claim faster. This also
means reduce time for FNOL for the Insurance companies
Second aspect of Digital transformation i.e. operational processes was
addressed by automation. Our solution helps in achieving this through
automatically routing all the claims based on adjusters history to the claim
center. This in-turn saves huge amount of manual effort of work
distribution. One of customers achieved reduction by 25% due to this
automation.
This is just a beginning for us in redefining Digital Transformation
using GIS. Similar framework can be applied in case
of epidemic workforce management, data quality analysis and well
prognosis, Smart Asset Management using wearable, fleet management,
smart city needs no special mention think of an area and GIS is there. I
believe, there is bit of GIS in everyone Let's creatively destruct the power
of GIS.