Transforming Risk Exposure Data Into Actionable Insights - Interview with Jacqueline Legrand, Co-Founder of Maptycs

In this interview, Jacqueline Legrand uncovers how Maptycs has been able to redefine and develop a next-generation risk data analytics and geospatial visualization platform to help insurers and risk managers gain a deeper understanding of property risk exposure in real time. Furthermore, Jacqueline highlights some of the key technology enablers that can help propel the insurance industry forward.

1. What problem(s) within risk exposure did you set out to solve when founding Maptycs?

Climate change is causing unprecedented weather volatility, and the insurance and reinsurance markets have experienced a rise of natural disasters such as flooding, hurricanes, wildfires, and droughts over the past few years. 

This has prompted specialist and Insurtech companies to develop new risk datasets, such as building level risk attributes, real-time weather data, or active flood/wildfire predictive with high levels of precision. As a result, there is an explosion of data that add to the traditional static models provided by CAT modelling companies for the past years.

The challenge for property underwriters is now to consolidate in real-time increasingly complex datasets to build a more accurate picture of their risk exposure, so they can compute adequate premiums, optimize their reinsurance or retrocession placements, set aside timely and relevant reserves, and respond to severe weather events to protect the insureds.

Insurers and reinsurers, relying mainly on legacy systems, struggle to integrate efficiently external data in their pricing, underwriting, reassurance, retrocession and reserving strategies.

We developed Maptycs, a next-generation risk data analytics and geospatial visualization platform, to help insurers and risk managers gain a more granular understanding of their property risk exposure in real time through a simple and easy to use experience. 

Risk managers can more effectively define their risk retention and transfer strategies. They can proactively mitigate losses and manage event response to protect the company’s operations when severe weather events unfold. They can also develop interactive risk reports to negotiate their risk transfer programs and communicate with senior management on the value of risk management. 

Insurance and reinsurance professionals will use Maptycs to compute premiums and optimize their reinsurance and retrocession placements in consistency with their capacity. They can assess property losses accurately and timely, during and after natural disasters, to manage event response and ensure they maintain adequate reserves for claims payouts. 

2. How exactly does Maptycs use data visualization and analytics technology to better understand risk exposure data? 

Maptycs has developed its own Geographical Information System (GIS) that is 100% cloud-based to ensure the best performance in visualizing the risk exposure data. It also leverages big data technology to ensure reliability and scalability when managing and analyzing large datasets. 

Users can analyze property portfolio data, external risk data developed in-house or acquired from third party providers, with the datasets provided by Maptycs that are both governmental data (such as FEMA risk zones) and data developed by specialist providers (such as real-time severe weather).  

Maptycs is a powerful engine that can combine multiple datasets to provide a complete picture of property risk exposure and assess vulnerabilities to natural disasters.

Users can map property portfolios alongside CAT risks zones, track accumulations of values by geographic area, from the country down to the postal code level. The system automatically calculates the clusters of values within a selected radius or apply visual filters as they draw shapes on the map to run “what-if” scenarios and gain detailed risk exposure on any selected area. Users can filter dynamically portfolio assets and external risk data by any value to create Interactive risk analytics reports. They can also monitor real-time events and setup customized notifications to quickly calculate projected losses during an event and proactively manage event response.   

Overall, Maptycs is designed as a modern application where all data and features are accessible from one main screen. The user interface is intuitive, and no specific training is required which is a foundation for fast user adoption. Maptycs can be easily integrated via APIs with existing legacy systems or advanced trading or underwriting platforms. 

3. How do you expect the rising role of technology in insurance to affect insurers assessment of risk and the customer experience thereof?

It boils down to efficiency through automation and effectiveness through analytics. We are seeing a series of automated underwriting platforms begin to arrive in the market, some leveraging Artificial Intelligence to price standard risks. Underwriters have access to risk assessment solutions that help even the most seasoned risk professionals to price complex risks, identify hidden opportunities, and optimize reinsurance placements. The quantity of data available is massive and will only continue to grow, especially with Internet of Things (IoT) supporting claims management and fraud reduction. But more so than greater data collection, tools that harness the vast amount of data to create impactful, actionable insights for insurers will be more relied upon as time progresses.  

For the customer experience, there will be greater transparency and flexibility. We are already beginning to see pay-as-you-go solutions pop up, which will undoubtedly support the uberization of the economy. Parametric insurance solutions will provide coverages for emerging perils and help close the gap of otherwise uninsurable risks. As underwriters gain efficiency and greater ability to leverage large amounts of data, the insurance industry as a whole can better serve the markets domestically and around the world.

4. In what other ways do you think technology can or should be implemented to provide even further insights and improvements?

One of the biggest and most persistent challenges in the insurance industry is information bottlenecks. There have been several reasons behind this, from limitations of legacy/core systems to simply the complexity of risks and explosion of external data. There are also higher expectations and new customer behaviors brought on by technological advancements in other industries, which compound on one another. 

New technologies open lanes to share data internally and externally between customers and insurers. On top of that, incredibly large datasets can now be quickly and easily combined and analyzed to make better decisions. Because of these new capabilities, new data ecosystems need to be built and developed by both private and public entities.  

Another key area of focus is crisis response. The severity and frequency of severe weather events will only continue rising, and historical models have become less reliable. New insurtech and risktech companies allow for more accurate real-time risk assessments and more swift loss mitigation and business continuity strategies. Customers need agility to proactively manage crises, and technology today can do much more than just deliver information - it can deliver insights, if you know how to implement it.

The market is moving quickly from “information technology” to “insight technology,” so attention needs to be placed in designing more intuitive user experiences and interfaces, which has been high priorities in other industries but not as emphasized in the insurtech space. That intersection between powerful and practical deserves much more focus to improve not only the underwriters’ experience but also the customers. A large component of this must include deeper partnerships with insurtech companies to complement legacy/core systems, as opposed to tunneling on replacing them.

5. Looking at the industry in its entirety, what do you think will be the key enablers for propelling the industry forward?

The industry is undergoing a deep transformation because both the risk landscape and the economy are rapidly changing. Companies face a whole new set of risks because of evolving climate risks, breakneck expansion of technology, and the explosion of communication in online media. At the same time, the “sharing economy’ is altering foundational insurance principles as we transition from an ownership model to a usage model. All these risks and shifting expectations are extremely difficult to assess and therefore difficult to insure at an economically acceptable price. 

The ability for the industry to build creative solutions that mitigate, retain, and transfer risks will be central to successfully navigate today's challenging insurance environment. Traditional approaches to risk management and insurance will need a new set of tools and expertise. Although technology and data analytics have a growing impact on our daily jobs, the market has not yet fully embraced emerging technologies, and I see this as a great window to bring innovation to the industry. 

New players, such as capital markets and insurtech companies, will bring new capacity for large scale events, new perspectives, and flexibility that can reshape the industry. Insurance has always suffered from a negative image of lacking transparency, so the growing prevalence of climate risks, political risks, and global crises like the Covid-19 pandemic should be approached as opportunities to demystify insurance’s value and role. 

Technology is a key enabler, especially as the capabilities continue improving and expanding, but private companies and government agencies also have the responsibility to understand and utilize these better tools. A big part of that is education, demonstrating how these technologies help rather than explaining what they do. Another component is better integrating new technologies with legacy systems and existing processes to meet the demands of better risk management strategies at the public and private level.

None of this is possible without attracting diverse, young talents. To continue propelling the industry forward, we must continue drawing in a wide variety of perspectives and expand the types of skills, backgrounds, and experiences we search for. The complexity of risks will only continue to increase as the years progress; therefore, the industry must grow and develop new talents to meet those demands.