Swiss Re has formed a strategic alliance with Microsoft Corp., which is providing digital tools to support Swiss Re’s new Digital Market Center.
The Digital Market Center is designed to help develop next-generation, large-scale tools to transform the way the insurance industry predicts and manages risks, as well as new product creation, the reinsurer said.
Swiss Re’s Digital Market Center will draw on Microsoft’s next-generation Azure cloud technologies, internet of things and artificial intelligence capabilities.
The first areas of application are planned to be connected vehicles and mobility, industrial manufacturing (Industry 4.0), and natural catastrophe resilience, said Swiss Re. The Digital Market Center will also develop innovative cyber platforms to measure business risks in a digital environment, enabling a new class of risk technology solutions.
The Digital Market Center will offer insurers a broader understanding of risks. For example, Swiss Re said, it will be able to develop a deeper analysis of automotive risks such as a car’s safety performance when using the latest driving assistance technologies. By providing such data-driven insights, powered by Microsoft’s automotive data capabilities, Swiss Re noted, it will enable insurers to design innovative new motor insurance products, such as pay-as-you-drive covers.
Swiss Re’s work in this area will go beyond new product creation and provide broader risk insights for complex, interconnected systems. For example, risk managers can get a greater understanding of how the loss of a ship’s cargo may affect global supply chains, or how natural catastrophes will impact a government’s key infrastructure investments. Based on these type of data insights, insurers can develop solutions that proactively mitigate losses before they occur, Swiss Re said.
As part of the strategic alliance, Swiss Re will transform its internal operating platform by modernizing and moving it to the Azure cloud. This move will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the core processes by leveraging the most advanced data processing and AI capabilities at scale.
“Swiss Re’s alliance with Microsoft will help accelerate the digital transformation of the insurance industry, with benefits across all lines of business,” said Thierry Léger, CEO Swiss Re Life Capital, in a statement.
“By building digital markets and not just isolated products, we aim to transform the way businesses approach the risks they face. The alliance between Swiss Re and Microsoft presents an exciting opportunity for the insurance industry,” he added.
Anette Bronder, Swiss Re group chief operating officer, said: “Digital transformation can only be achieved through strong partnerships. The strategic alliance with Microsoft will greatly advance our ability to make our risk expertise available to our clients. At the same time, we can achieve significant efficiency gains for our own internal platforms and processes. This is an important step for Swiss Re’s evolution as a leading data-enabled risk knowledge company.”
“I am looking forward to seeing how this collaboration enables new pathways for innovation in how insurance solutions are built and managed,” commented Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president and president, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations at Microsoft.
“By combining Swiss Re’s risk expertise with Microsoft Azure, we have the opportunity to deliver greater peace of mind to people and to enrich their experience with the insurance industry,” added Courtois.
Source: Swiss Re
Topics InsurTech Data Driven New Markets Artificial Intelligence Market Swiss Re
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