Data usage could save insurance industry £4.5bn by 2017

The UK insurance sector could save more than £4.5bn by 2017 through harnessing the use of data.

That is according to a report by The Centre for Economics and Business Research and business analyst SAS, which revealed that data usage could contribute £216bn to the UK economy and stimulate 58,000 new jobs over the next five years.

The study entitled ‘Data Equity: Unlocking the value of big data’ is the first of its kind to look into the economic impact of data on the UK economy.

The cumulative economic benefit between 2012 and 2017 is expected to be £16.3bn with insurance contributing £4.6bn.

The insurance industry realised £517m in benefits in 2011, while the wider economy saved £25bn through the use of data.

SAS UK & Ireland’s director of high-performance analytics Andy Cutler said: “Tapping into the dizzying amount of big data could be the stimulus the UK economy has been searching for.

“Big data analytics has the power unlike any other technology to generate growth, reduce debt, create jobs, develop new innovations and deliver greater operational efficiencies.”