Chances and challenges of business intelligence : insights from the German insurance market

In the context of digital transformation, new analysis and visualization methods and tools offer insurance companies the opportunity to support existing and enable new business processes and acquire new clients. In particular, competitive advantages can be generated through fast and intuitive high-quality data processing. Business Intelligence (BI) systems support and enable data processing and create significant value for financial services companies, as large amounts of customer data can be used profitably. Based on qualitative interviews with experts from the German insurance industry, this paper examines possible applications of BI in insurance companies and, moreover, opportunities and challenges resulting from BI implementation and use. Our results and findings show that the use of BI is beneficial and an expansion in the insurance sector is expected, as potential use cases currently are not fully exploited. Our research also supports decision-making of practitioners to implement new BI tools and processes.