You can't wander very far at an insurance technology conferencewithout someone mentioning telematics. OK, maybe I was the one thatbrought it up, but still, the subject is at the top of manypeople's minds.

I got the UK angle on this subject from Jamie Macgregor ofCelent who explained that British insurers have a slightlydifferent approach to the subject than insurers operating in theColonies.

Insurers in England are targeting young drivers and offeringtelematics as an option to allow them to actually prove to theinsurers that they are not awful drivers and older drivers thatneed to prove they are still young enough to operate a vehiclesafely..

American insurers are working from a different angle. Theybelieve good drivers are interested in analytics in order to getdiscounts on their premium.

Macgregor pointed out that young British drivers pay a higherupfront premium and get their money back as they prove they arequality drivers. American insurers, as we all well know, are aghastat such a concept.

Stuart Rose of SAS is working with American insurers ontelematics, but he admits there is much confusion right now becauseinsurers are “not sure what they are looking for” from themountains of data they are collecting on the performance of theirdrivers.

Rose and SAS, of course, are masters of analytics and arelooking for ways to deal with the challenges that the influx ofdriving data is bringing their way.

Both Macgregor and Rose agree that telematics will likely changethe way personal auto insurance is sold throughout the world,whether it is for good drivers seeking rewards—in the form ofdiscounts—or for poor drivers seeking to prove they can changetheir ways.