Leading Insurance Broker Achieves Streamlined Data Extraction Process and Visualization in Only 6 Hours, Down from 7 Days

Managing data in today's business landscape is no easy feat. Organizations generate and process a tremendous amount of data every day, which must be efficiently collected, processed, analyzed, and stored. Manual data extraction and consolidation can be time-consuming and lead to data discrepancies, which can impact business operations and decision-making.

One of the largest insurance brokers in Jamaica struggled with the same challenge of data management. Learn how Softude, a leading provider of Business Intelligence solutions, helped this company to overcome all the challenges and enhanced its business efficiency.

Behind the Scenes of Client’s Business

All the business data was stored on 3 Microsoft SQL servers and applications such as Freshdesk, Epic Desktop app, E-MetroTel, and One Drive. Around 70% of the time was spent on the data management as it was done using Excel. It was not only a time-consuming process but also required the dedicated team to extract, transform, and load the data for analysis.

It took a week for the client’s team to create reports on the data extracted from multiple sources. These reports highlight the insights on the key performance indicators based on which clients take decisions and necessary actions.

Additionally, the client’s team was suffering on the technical front as they have to refresh on-premises systems every time the updated report needs to be published. This posed a significant challenge and resulted in the loss of productivity and resources.

The Major Impact

Since reports were available weekly, the client was not able to get insights on customer issues, business operations, and trends in real-time. Failing to this cost the client in several ways.

• Reduced customer engagement as the customer issues were not taken care of quickly.

• Difficult tracking performance as real-time insights on the key performance indicators such as client retention rate, claims ratio, etc., were not available.

• Increased IT and data management cost

An Intelligent Solution by Softude

Softude has vast expertise in developing effective business intelligence solutions for clients dealing with similar issues and helping them in proactive decision-making. So, we already knew what exactly this insurance brokerage company needed to overcome the data management challenges and smoothly manage the process.

First Step

Our process started with developing a data pipeline to bring together the siloed data from various isolated storage locations and structure it in a way that facilitates easy utilization by data analysis tools.

Second Step

In the next step, we automated the data flow of the on-premises database, third-party APIs for Freshdesk and E-MetroTel, and desktop applications. The large volume of data extracted from these sources was stored in our cloud-based snowflake data warehouse solution.

Third Step

Lastly, we created a centralized platform powered by Power BI to visualize the data into meaningful reports for quick access to insights.

The Powerful Tech Stack Behind this Intelligent Solution

Azure Data Factory

A cloud-based data integration service that allowed us to create, schedule, and manage data pipelines.

Why It’s a Good Choice?  

• Easy integration with various data sources

• A visual interface to easily create and manage data pipelines, without requiring extensive coding skills.

• Ability to handle large volumes of data

• Cost-effectiveness as it automates the data processing tasks and reduces manual labor thereby reducing the cost of operation.

• Smooth monitoring and management of data pipelines

Power Apps

A low-code platform developed by Microsoft that helps in building custom business applications without requiring extensive coding skills. We used Power Apps to automate the data flow of desktop applications and connection with ADF

Why It’s a Good Choice?

• Rapid application development

• Cost-effective solution for building custom applications

• Cross-platform compatibility

• Easily integrate with other Microsoft tools, such as SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and Power BI.

• Automate business processes

• Provides built-in data visualization and analysis tools

Python Selenium Script

We used Python Selenium Script for browser automation to directly interact with the E-MetrolTel that does not provide API. With Python Selenium Script, now the data is directly extracted and load to the data pipeline for the further process.

Azure Logic Apps

We used this cloud-based service provided by Microsoft for workflow automation and integration with ADF.

Why it’s a Good Choice?

• Can handle a large volume of requests and workflows without impacting performance.

• Have a visual designer that makes it easy for users to create and manage workflows, without requiring extensive coding knowledge.

• Provides monitoring and diagnostic tools to track and troubleshoot workflows, ensuring they run smoothly.

• Have built-in connectors to a range of services for quick and easy integration with other business systems.

Azure SQL

All the data was stored and managed at this cloud-based relational database service provided by Microsoft. It is a fully managed service, meaning Microsoft handles the maintenance, patching, and backups of the database.

Why It’s a Good Choice?

• Built-in disaster recovery features, ensuring that data is always available and protected.

• Advanced security features, such as threat detection and encryption, help protect your data from security threats.

• A flexible pricing model that fit our client’s budget and usage requirements.

Power BI

We used the most popular data visualization tool, Power BI, to create an interactive dashboard for our client.

Why It’s a Good Choice?

• Create interactive reports, dashboards, and charts, that fit specific business needs and align with their brand and visual identity.

• Easy integration with multiple data sources

• Real-time insights to monitor and respond to changes in the data quickly.

• Mobile accessibility of data and reports on the go

Dashboard to Visualize Client’s Success

Now, the client has a single source of truth for all data that helped gain real-time insights on business KPIs. The dashboard displays the data into meaningful reports such as premium commission, client and insurance policy retention, receipt register and receivables, ticket metrics, insurance premium financing, etc.

The Positive Impact of Our Solution

• 7 days to just 6 hours for report generation

• 100% updated reports available across all systems

• Zero human intervention for data extraction from multiple sources

• Reduced cost of operations due to effective data management

• Timely decisions and actions to resolve customer issues

• Improved business rating by tracking and promptly addressing customer escalations,   resulting in superior customer experience

• Centralized platform for easy data access and real-time insights on business KPIs

Our robust and efficient business intelligent solution addresses all the challenges of the client and delivers actionable insights on daily basis. The solution is made to adapt more systems in the future with the growth of client’s business.

Conclusion

Processing business operations in the traditional way is no longer an option in today's competitive landscape. With vast amounts of data related to customers, business, and clients, staying updated and gaining insights from this data is crucial for taking timely actions and staying ahead in the competition.

As a result, businesses need to embrace business intelligence solutions to accelerate their operations and outperform their competitors. Our team of skilled BI experts specializes in helping businesses across diverse sectors harness the power of data. We provide comprehensive assistance with data integration, data management, data visualization, and  advanced analytics.

‍