Calculating Coverage

To ensure that clients have the appropriate coverage, Kemper Auto and Home (Jacksonville, Fla.) partnered with Confluency Solutions (Jacksonville) to create an online Personal Property Analyzer. a Web-based questionnaire that determines the adequacy of a consumer's insurance coverage. "It takes about 30 seconds to fill out, and it determines if people need to talk to their agents about whether they need additional coverage," explains Keith Hawley, director of e-commerce at Kemper.

The Personal Property Analyzer, built by Confluency Solutions on an open-source MySQL database using PHP, was rolled out in January on Kemper's Web site (www.unitrin.com). Consumers can use the analyzer to weigh their property value against their insurance coverage, and are provided with products from which to choose if they desire to increase coverage.

The auto, homeowners and personal property insurer, which is owned by Chicago-based Unitrin ($3 billion in financial assets), discovered that most homeowners' insurance policies only cover 50 percent to 70 percent of personal property, according to Hawley, who notes that the gaping hole between coverage and the real value prompted Kemper to seek a solution. Kemper provided Confluency Solutions, an insurance agency Web solutions provider, with access to claims history to determine a way to provide more-accurate coverage.

Kevin McDonald, president of Confluency Solutions, and a team of Kemper and Confluency analysts studied the claims data. "Over the last 10 years, people have acquired more property that was considered luxury, and insurance policies have not kept up with the base trend," explains McDonald. "Kemper's data shows that 30 percent of consumers are at risk."

The Survey Says ...

Following the analysis, McDonald and his team zeroed in on a set of predictive questions to help consumers identify if they have enough coverage. The survey, which determines consumers' risk by measuring the amounts and kinds of property they own, is the basis for the Personal Property Analyzer. Then, Confluency developed a Web-based consumer application to calculate coverage in real time. "The e-commerce team validated that the data allowed us to develop algorithms that delivered accurate estimates very quickly, and preliminary testing versions showed it was something consumers would use, understand and value," McDonald says.

According to Hawley, the initiative took four months to complete at a cost of about $20,000. "This is part of an overall plan to provide more service to our customers and potential customers over the Internet," he says.