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In This Issue
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Auto
Insurers We Can Help Solve a Billion Dollar Problem
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New
Alaska Reports
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Tech
Tip: Manual Placement
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RiskMeter's
Custom Coastline Reports for MGAs
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2nd
Data Source Added to Building Characteristic Report
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KY
Tax Codes & Other Premium Tax Code Reports
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New
Report: Straight Line Wind
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NAVTEQ
Geocoding Solution Coming Soon
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TX
Designated Catastrophe Areas
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RiskMeter
Online Integration
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TX
Wildfire Report
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Online
Training Schedule
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Upcoming
Events
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Unsubscribe
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Issue: # 11
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November 2011
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Auto
Insurers - We can help solve a Billion Dollar Problem
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A recent study by Quality Planning identified several
key areas of premium leakage. Two of the problems identified
were a) incorrect commuting distance and b) incorrect rating
territories. Together,
these two factors account for $3.1 billion annually in premium
leakage!
Did you know that the RiskMeter has solutions for both of these
problems?
For rating territories RiskMeter can be used to verify the proper
rating territory, regardless of how your territories are
defined. All you have to do is send us your territory definitions
and our GIS analysts can digitally draw maps that will match your
territories down to the street level. This will allow your
underwriters and agents to type in an address and get the correct
rating territory. As companies are moving towards smaller
territories (sub-zip) this technology is not only ideal, but
necessary to assign the proper rating territory! This works
with auto,
homeowners and other lines of business too!
For distance to work, RiskMeter has come up with an innovative
solution. Most people do not know the address of their spouse's
office; Therefore, it is difficult to ask them to verify the distance
to work, so they'll just guess. We've come up with a unique
solution to this problem. Call us to discuss your issue, and
we'll tell you our secret!
For more information, please contact Daniel Munson, Founder,
RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444
or Email
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New
Reports: Alaska Shoreline, Wildfire & Fire Districts
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In order to help our users make better underwriting
decisions, RiskMeter has made it a priority to add the latest data
and reports. We're proud to announce that we're going to be
adding the following three risk reports for the state of Alaska.
Distance to
Coast - It's now possible for insurers who write
business in Alaska to check the distance to coast based on the
address entered. In addition, we can also customize the
coastline based on your definitions and set the distances to check
(i.e. ½ mile, 1 mile, 2 miles, etc) as well.
Responding
Fire Districts - This report will return the
county & community name for the address entered. We're
providing full coverage for Anchorage, Fairbanks, Kenai, Matanuska
and Juneau Counties.
Other counties maybe added as needed.
Wildfire
Areas (Coming Soon) - We've taken detailed
vegetation data and classified the fuels by burn potential. The
burn potential will be separated into four classes from very low to
high. We are providing partial coverage based on population centers.
Some of the areas of coverage include: Anchorage, Juneau and
Fairbanks North Star. We are also working on TX.
For more information about these reports, please speak with your
account executive at 617.737.4444
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Tech
Tip: Manual Placement - A Patented Feature
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Did you know when the subject marker is not in the
exact location you can move it to the correct spot? RiskMeter's
patented manual placement feature allows you to move the subject
marker anywhere on our GIS maps and aerial photos. In
addition, this feature will also automatically re-run all of the
selected reports as well. This will give you a high level of accuracy
for any report.
To use RiskMeter's manual placement feature all you have to do is
click the manual placement radio button (located above the map), then
right click on the spot on the digital map or aerial photo where you
want to move the subject to. You will only need to click once and
within a few seconds the map will redraw itself, and your results
will automatically recalculate themselves based on the new
location. To learn more about this feature, check out our brief
WebEx demonstration below!
To view the manual placement WebEx demonstration, please go here
**Note - If you don't have WebEx on your computer it will ask you to
download it.**
If you have any questions about this feature or are having a hard
time viewing this demonstration, please contact Monique Audette at 617.737.4444
or Email
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RiskMeter's
Custom Coastline Reports for MGAs
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MGAs quite
often write for more than one carrier. When measuring the
distance to coast this can be problematic. Since carriers have no
agreed upon standard as to what the coastline is, the same location
can yield different results, depending on how the coastline is
defined. This makes calculating the distance to coast confusing
and time consuming for MGAs.
The RiskMeter Online has a solution. On a single
RiskMeter account multiple coastlines can be used. So if an MGA
works with four different carriers, RiskMeter can return four
separate answers. We
now have custom coastlines from several carriers but
we need the help of the MGA community. Let us know what carriers
you need coastlines for! Also, speak with your
carriers, and let them know how much this would help you. If we
can get each carrier to define their custom coastline for us, we can
load them onto your RiskMeter account, if you write business with
them. This way, you would only have to type in the address
once, and get back the distance to coast from each carrier according
to their rules. These custom coastlines can also be used with
our web services, which enables straight through processing.
For more
information about this program, please contact Daniel Munson,
Founder, RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444
or Email
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2nd
Data Source Added to Building Characteristic Report
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We're proud to announce that our 2nd data source for
RiskMeter's Building Characteristic Report is now live! This
additional data will increase our hit rate and the number of fields
returned for this report.
The importance of building characteristics can be felt throughout the
insurance industry from Reinsurers all the way down to Brokers.
When building characteristic information isn't provided, it's common
for year built, number of stories, roof shape, etc., fields to be
labeled as "unknown" during the modeling process. This
incomplete information directly affects Reinsurers, Carriers and
Brokers.
Many carriers have begun to pre-fill this information at the point of
sale. This way, the information is already verified, and you're
also saving the agent time and effort. Through our
web-services you can do this too!
For more information or to have this 2nd data source added to your
account, please contact Daniel Munson, Founder, RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444
or Email
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Kentucky
Tax Codes & Other Premium Tax Code Reports
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In August of 2009 RiskMeter's Kentucky Tax Database
was verified by the Kentucky Department of Insurance. This
report was created in response to Bill HB 524, which requires
insurers to use a verified electronic risk location system to assess
premium taxes by January 1, 2010.
We would like to let our users know that we can also return historical data
and effective
dates for this report as well. Despite best
intentions, assigning policies to the wrong tax jurisdictions has
been a major issue for insurers who write business in Kentucky, and
has resulted in class action lawsuits, as well as insurers having to
pay fines due to over/under charging for premium taxes. The RiskMeter
Online leverages the latest geocoding technology to enable users to
assign the correct premium tax
code, city code, city name, county, fips code and
much more to each policy by simply entering an address.
Premium Tax
Code Reports
Certain states, municipalities, counties and fire districts have set
up premium taxes that must be collected and reported by insurers.
These taxes require insurers to report to the state the total
premiums for each jurisdiction code. The RiskMeter Online can
accurately reflect the boundaries of each jurisdiction through the
use of geocoding technology.
In addition to providing tax reports for Kentucky, we also provide
reports for AL,
DE, FL,
GA,
IL,
LA,
NJ,
NY,
SC
and TX.
For more information, please contact Daniel Munson, Founder,
RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444
or Email
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New
Report: Straight Line Wind
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RiskMeter has added a new straight line wind report to
its service. Straight line winds (also known as thundergusts or
hurricanes of the prairie) are produced by the downward momentum in
the downdraft region of thunderstorms. Straight line wind
storms can produce winds that reach 100 mph or more.
RiskMeter's straight line wind report gauges the potential for damage
to any location in the Continental US, and is based on data from the
National Climatic Data Center. By simply typing in an address,
you will be able to get:
SLW Scale:
This is a number between 1-100 that represents the frequency of
straight line wind events. Currently, the national average is 8
(equates to 2 straight line wind events per year), so any SLW Scale
number higher than that is more likely to have an event occur.
SLW
Percentile: This is a percentile score that
compares your lookup to the rest of the US. For example a score
of 10 means that it is in the lowest 10% of all areas in the US, or a
score of 80 would mean that it is in the top 20% of all areas in the
US. Being in the 50% percentile means this is the median value.
Storms per
Year: This is the average number of straight
line wind events per year for an area.
SLW Score:
This score is based upon the straight line wind events per
year. The scores can be interpreted as follows:
0 No Risk - No events reported
1 Below Average Risk - Less than 1.5 events per year on
avg
2 Average Risk - 1.5-2.5 events per year on average
3 Elevated Risk - 2.5-5 events per year on average
4 High Risk - 5 to 15 events per year on average
5 Extreme Risk - More than 15 events per year on average
For more information about this report, please contact Daniel Munson,
Founder, RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444
or Email
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NAVTEQ
Geocoding Solution Coming Soon
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Address placement plays a vital role for underwriters
and agents who leverage automated underwriting solutions. If you
can't accurately locate an address, you really can't do very
much. The RiskMeter Online has made it a priority to provide
the best geocoding solutions available. By using multiple geocoders,
we have the highest accuracy rates of anyone.
We're proud to announce that we've reached an agreement with NAVTEQ
to add their premium geocoding solution to our service. Once
we've fully integrated NAVTEQ into RiskMeter, we will add another 100
million parcels (in addition to 100 million plus parcels we have
today), as well as increase our accuracy and hit rate with our street
coverage. We believe that this further extends our geocoding
advantage over any other solution.
For more information about our geocoding
solutions, including parcel level, street level, manual and
birdseye (aerial) photos, please contact Daniel Munson, Founder,
RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444
or Email
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TX
Designated Catastrophe Areas
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The 70th Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2012
(codified as Article 21.49 Section 6A, Texas Insurance Code), which
implements certain inspection requirements, for structures to be
considered insurable property for windstorm and hail insurance
through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (T.W.I.A).
Our GIS Analysts have just digitized the TX Designated Catastrophe
Areas. By simply entering in an address, insurers can see if a
policy falls into a Seaward of Intracoastal Canal, Inland (I) of
Intracoastal Canal or Inland (II) of Intracoastal Canal and properly
apply credits. For more information, please contact Daniel
Munson, Founder, RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444 or Email
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RiskMeter
Online Integration
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Has your company thought about accessing RiskMeter
data directly through an agent portal or policy administration
system? If you have not, your agents and underwriters are
wasting valuable time validating this information outside of their
work stations. If you are looking to pre-fill this data or
implement straight through processing we can help.
Successful carriers are now automatically validating information
provided by their agents at the time of quote. By integrating
RiskMeter, carriers can comfortably quote and bind in real-time by
using validated information. In a previous study, we found that
up to 15% of all policies are incorrectly rated. This is due to
the agent or underwriter having to manually determine the proper
rating territory with paper definitions. This process can be
done automatically via RiskMeter integration for the most efficient
results.
RiskMeter has partnered with dozens large and small quoting and
policy admin systems to reduce key strokes and streamline the
underwriting process. We have also simplified our web services
for in-house integration projects. If you have not
discussed integrating RiskMeter Online into your solutions, now is
the time.
For more information, please contact Daniel Munson, Founder,
RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444
or Email
To view our integration partner list, please visit here
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TX
Wildfire Report Coming Soon!
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The 2011
Texas Wildfire season has been the most costly in its history and has
caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for Property &
Casualty insurers. Due to your feedback, we're going to add TX
to our current list of states (AZ,
CA, CO, FL, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA and WY).
When our TX wildfire report is complete, you will be able to process
new business, as well as run your existing book in batch. This
will allow you to gauge your current risk and plan for the
future. For more information, please contact Daniel Munson,
Founder, RiskMeter Online at 617.737.4444 or Email
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Online
Training Schedule
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In order to help you utilize the RiskMeter Online more
effectively, we are now offering complimentary training to all of our
customers. This is a great way for your organization to have
its most pressing questions answered, learn about the latest risk reports
and discover how to utilize cutting-edge features, such as: Birdseye Geocoding,
One Click
Ruler and Manual
Placement.
To attend any of the complimentary training sessions,
please register here
Western Risks
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
National
Risks
Wednesday, December 7
Western
Risks
Wednesday, December 14
National
Risks
Wednesday, December 21
Western
Risks
Wednesday, December 28
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Upcoming
Events - Meet the RiskMeter Team
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RiskMeter Online will be attending or exhibiting at
the following upcoming conferences. Whether you're a customer or
prospect, we'd love to meet with you onsite at these exceptional
events! Don't hesitate to stop by our booth or if you wish to
schedule an appointment, please contact Dan Munson (Email) or Brad Sherwin (Email ) at 617.737.4444
California Wholesalers Industry Day (CIWA)
January 11-13, 2012 * La Jolla (San Diego, CA)
Reinsurance
Association of America CAT Modeling
February 14-16, 2012 * Orlando, FL
Napslo
Mid-Year Leadership Forum
February 29- March 3, 2012 * Scottsdale, AZ
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