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Using Data To Illuminate The Intentionally Opaque Insurance Industry

52 min • 9 oktober 2023

Summary

The insurance industry is notoriously opaque and hard to navigate. Max Cho found that fact frustrating enough that he decided to build a business of making policy selection more navigable. In this episode he shares his journey of data collection and analysis and the challenges of automating an intentionally manual industry.

Announcements

Hello and welcome to the Data Engineering Podcast, the show about modern data management
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Your host is Tobias Macey and today I'm interviewing Max Cho about the wild world of insurance companies and the challenges of collecting quality data for this opaque industry

Interview

Introduction
How did you get involved in the area of data management?
Can you describe what CoverageCat is and the story behind it?
What are the different sources of data that you work with?
- What are the most challenging aspects of collecting that data?
- Can you describe the formats and characteristics (3 Vs) of that data?
What are some of the ways that the operational model of insurance companies have contributed to its opacity as an industry from a data perspective?
Can you describe how you have architected your data platform?
- How have the design and goals changed since you first started working on it?
- What are you optimizing for in your selection and implementation process?
What are the sharp edges/weak points that you worry about in your existing data flows?
- How do you guard against those flaws in your day-to-day operations?
What are the most interesting, innovative, or unexpected ways that you have seen your data sets used?
What are the most interesting, unexpected, or challenging lessons that you have learned while working on insurance industry data?
When is a purely statistical view of insurance the wrong approach?
What do you have planned for the future of CoverageCat's data stack?

Contact Info

Parting Question

From your perspective, what is the biggest gap in the tooling or technology for data management today?

Closing Announcements

Thank you for listening! Don't forget to check out our other shows. Podcast.__init__ covers the Python language, its community, and the innovative ways it is being used. The Machine Learning Podcast helps you go from idea to production with machine learning.
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Links

The intro and outro music is from The Hug by The Freak Fandango Orchestra / CC BY-SA