Introduction Late seventeenth century was an era of growing international trade. New shipping routes were discovered and adventurous traders brought exotic products from strange and alien lands. But their journeys across the oceans were fraught with danger and unknown risks. They needed some kind of protection against the peril lurking in high seas. This gave rise to a new breed of entrepreneurs ? marine underwriters ? who agreed to cover the losses in return for a fixed amount of premium. Their business depended on current information about the sea routes, pirates, political condition, weather patterns, conditions aboard the ship, and consumer tastes for exotic products. In order to acquire business information, many marine underwriters began to frequent Edward Lloyd?s coffeehouse in London. This was the place where they could share business intelligence with other underwriters and captains of trading ships. In 1771, seventy nine underwriters who did business at Lloyds? got together to form a society that went on to become the most famous of all insurance companies ? Lloyd?s of London.
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insurance brokerMore than three centuries after Edward Lloyd opened his coffeehouse; the very ?Business Intelligence? ? that brought together marine underwriters at Lloyds? ? is much more crucial for the insurance industry. It pervades almost every aspect of the value chain and technology has the potential of making it almost ubiquitous across the organization. Today, an underwriter would not go to a coffeehouse to gain business intelligence; but, probably, to get away from it. And one thing is sure: she cannot afford to stay in the coffeehouse for long.
Insurance is totally dependent on the ability to convert raw data into intelligence ? intelligence about customers, markets, competitors, and business environment. Over the years data processing technology has progressed phenomenally and tools like data warehousing and data mining, which...