Baldwin Mutual Taps Lyzasoft Solution for Desktop Data Analysis

Baldwin Mutual Insurance (Foley, Alabama) has purchased Lyzasoft's (Denver) Lyza desktop data analysis solution to integrate and analyze historical data for reinsurance modeling and rate analysis, according to a Lyzasoft source.

The insurer had found it increasingly difficult to access historical data manually within an environment consisting of spreadsheets, AS/400 spool files, AS/400 DB2 tables and MySQL databases, according to the source. Baldwin Mutual Insurance previously resorted to what the source characterizes as the inefficient exercise of performing SQL build-ups of the data through temporary tables until achieving the desired query results.

"We had no automation in place, so it was a custom build every time there was a request for a change to the report," says Kevin Russell, vice president, Baldwin Mutual Insurance, responsible for business intelligence (BI) for modeling policies, pricing, reinsurance, financials, and accounting. "With Lyza, we can visualize each step in the data integration process and evaluate the results immediately, without waiting for lengthy SQL queries to run. We've used Lyza extensively to pull datasets from different sources and different formats. It is enabling us to quickly consolidate data, and to conduct rate reviews and to create ad hoc financial reporting for our accountants in a timely fashion."

Baldwin Mutual Insurance's biggest use of Lyza is in "breaking down the policy," i.e., understanding how much premium was generated and how many claims were filed in order to determine whether rates are adequate, according to the Lyzasoft source.

"A recent analysis conducted with Lyza concluded that pricing needed to be adjusted in numerous locations in order stay competitive, attract new customers, and to keep our current client base happy," Russell says. "Lyza has proven to be an invaluable tool for us."

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio