TowerGroup recently published a research note on GIS that examines three significant areas where GIS is offering carriers great benefits. I think underwriting [is a general priority of GIS], but [GIS] also is very powerful in terms of disasters and catastrophes in managing your claims adjusters out there, asserts Smallwood. Thats where a lot of companies were using this technology with the hurricanes in Florida. Flood insurance, particularly identifying flood plain areas, is the third.
[Insurers] were able to send their claims adjusters to the places that got hit the hardest [following the Florida hurricanes of 2004], adds Matthew Macauley, a research associate for TowerGroup. They had their claims adjusters both on wireless networks and with GIS.

The technology allows claims ad-justers to locate a claimants property even if there is no street sign (or even a building) to mark the property. As Smallwood states in the research note, While the value to an insurance carrier in terms of efficiency of resource deployment can be measured, the goodwill and positive customer service generated by the use of location-based intelligence can be worth much more.

The TowerGroup study lists three areas for underwriting where GIS can serve as a valuable tool: geographic factors in risk, rating territory validation and correction, and personalized risk assessment. The technology will allow underwriters to see visually a territory with their map technology, explains Smallwood. [Insurers] can do it on a new-business and a policy-by-policy basis. It also allows them to take on a portfolio management perspectiveable to see their books of business. Lets say on the commercial side, you want to take on a new mall in a Florida area, you can look at your book of business to see how exposed you are.