Abstract:
According to some embodiments, historic transaction data and loss data may be received from a data storage device. Geographic data and dynamically updated social network data corresponding to the entity may also be received and automatically analyzed by an estimator device to determine an estimated number of employees employed by the entity and similar entities having at least one common characteristic with the entity. A data weighting device generates weighted data by applying weighting factors to the received data including a weighting factor based on a location of users providing social networking posts and a weighting factor based on whether the social network data includes image, video, or audio data. At least one risk-related parameter corresponding to the entity is determined by a comparison eng ne that applies predictive models to (i) the weighted data, (ii) the estimated number of employees, and (iii) the similar entities to the entity.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This patent application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/364,733 entitled Systems and Methods to Intelligently Determine Insurance Information Based on Identified Businesses, filed Feb. 2, 2012, which claims priority to, and benefit of, under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/565,668 entitled “Systems and Methods to Determine Insurance Information Based on an Automatically Identified Set of Related Businesses” filed Dec. 1, 2011, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference for purposes. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    In some cases, it can be hard to accurately provide insurance information to a potential business insurance customer. For example, a small business owner might be unable or reluctant to provide detailed information about prior claims, detailed employee data, etc. As a result, it can be difficult for an insurance provider to suggest appropriate types of insurance policies, determine a recommended amount of insurance coverage and/or deductibles, and/or to predict likely insurance premium values for the small business owner. These difficulties can cause small business owners to miss opportunities to protect their enterprises. For example, a small business owner might find it difficult to determine the types and amounts of insurance coverage other business owners have purchased as well as the amount of claims that were made by those businesses. 
         [0003]    It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods to efficiently and accurately determine insurance information for a potential business insurance customer. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    According to some embodiments, systems. methods apparatus, computer program code and means may be provided to efficiently and accurately provide insurance information to potential customers. In some embodiments, historic transaction data and loss data may be received from a data storage device. Information about a potential business insurance customer may also be received and automatically analyzed to identify a set of related businesses. A coverage comparison engine may then determine insurance information for the potential business insurance customer based at least in part on historic transaction data and loss data associated with the set of related businesses. 
         [0005]    Some embodiments comprise: means for receiving historic transaction data and loss data from a data storage device; means for receiving information about a potential business insurance customer; means for automatically analyzing the received information about the potential business insurance customer to identify a set of related businesses; and means for determining, by a coverage comparison engine, insurance information for the potential business insurance customer based at least in part on historic transaction data and loss data associated with the set of related businesses. 
         [0006]    A technical effect of some embodiments of the invention is may be an improved and computerized method of determining insurance information for a potential business insurance customer. With these and other advantages and features that will become hereinafter apparent, a more complete understanding of the nature of the invention can be obtained by referring to the following detailed description and to the drawings appended hereto. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is block diagram of a system according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  illustrates a process in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is block diagram of a system according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  illustrate a method according to some embodiments of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is an example of coverage comparison platform according to some embodiments. 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  is a tabular portion of a data repository according to some embodiments. 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  is an example of receiving information about a potential business insurance customer according to some embodiments. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is block diagram of system  100  according to some embodiments of the present invention. In particular, a coverage comparison engine  150  associated with an insurance provider may receive customer provided data  110 . The customer provided data  110  might be received, for example, directly from a customer (e.g., via a web page). The customer provided data  110  might be received via, for example, Personal Computers (PCs), laptop computers, and/or wireless telephones that can transmit insurance data to the coverage comparison engine  150 . The coverage comparison engine  150  may then generate an output  170  based at least in part on the customer provided data  110  in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. 
         [0015]    According to some embodiments, the “automated” coverage comparison engine  150  generates the output  170 , such as an indication of a recommended level of insurance coverage for the customer. As used herein, the term “automated” may refer to, for example, actions that can be performed with little or no human intervention. By way of example only, the coverage comparison engine  150  may be associated and/or communicate with a PC, an enterprise server, or a database farm. According to some embodiments, the coverage comparison engine  150  is associated with an insurance provider or a number of different insurance providers. Moreover, according to some embodiments, a model (e.g., a multi-dimensional and/or weighted model) at the platform  150  may facilitate the generation of the output  170 . 
         [0016]    As used herein, devices including those associated with the coverage comparison engine, and any other device described herein may exchange information via any communication network (not illustrated in  FIG. 1 ) which may be one or more of a Local Area Network (LAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a proprietary network, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) network, a Bluetooth network, a wireless LAN network, and/or an Internet Protocol (IP) network such as the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet. Note that any devices described herein may communicate via one or more such communication networks. 
         [0017]    Note that the coverage comparison engine  150  may be associated with various types of insurance policies, including personal insurance, business insurance, workers compensation, liability insurance, and wealth management offerings, including property and casualty insurance, life insurance, retirement and education investment products, and group benefits offerings. 
         [0018]    Although a single coverage comparison engine  150  is shown in  FIG. 1 , any number of such devices may be included. Moreover, various devices described herein might be combined according to embodiments of the present invention. For example, in some embodiments, the coverage comparison engine  150  and a historic loss database might be co-located and/or may comprise a single apparatus. Moreover, according to some embodiments, internal data and/or third-party data (e.g., Dunn and Bradstreet data or similar information) may be used to supplement the information in a historic loss database. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  illustrates a process  200  that might be performed, for example, by some or all of the elements of the system  100  described with respect to  FIG. 1  according to some embodiments. The flow charts described herein do not imply a fixed order to the steps, and embodiments of the present invention may be practiced in any order that is practicable. Note that any of the methods described herein may be performed by hardware, software, or any combination of these approaches. For example, a computer-readable storage medium may store thereon instructions that when executed by a machine result in performance according to any of the embodiments described herein. 
         [0020]    The process  200  may be performed to facilitate a determination of insurance information for a potential business insurance customer. Pursuant to some embodiments, at S 210 , information about a potential business insurance customer may be received. The information about the potential business insurance customer might be associated with, for example, a social media site, an email address, a ZIP code, a business name, a postal address, and/or a business classification code (e.g., indicating that the business is primarily associated with “office” or “construction” work). The information about the potential business insurance customer might be received from, for example; an insurance agent, an insurance agency, a party entering information on behalf of an insurance agent, or a potential insurance customer (e.g., a small business owner). According to some embodiments, information associated with a plurality of social media networks and/or other data sources may be combined. Moreover, according to some embodiments, information may be imported from an accounting application a human resources application. For example, information about a total amount of sales during the last twelve months or information about a vehicle owned by a business might be imported from an accounting application (e.g., associated with bookkeeping or tax reporting). Note that the imported information might contain specific values or generalized profile information associated with the potential business insurance customer. 
         [0021]    At S 220  historic transaction data and loss data may be received from a data storage device. The historic transaction data and loss data might represent, for example insurance claims associated with tens of thousands of insurance policies over many years. 
         [0022]    At S 230 , the received information about the potential business insurance customer may be automatically analyzed to identify a set of related businesses. For example, a potential customer might indicate that his or her small business is associated with a dry cleaning enterprise. That information might then be used to identify related businesses, such as other dry cleaners or other companies that use potentially harmful chemicals. According to some embodiments, the set of related businesses is further identified based at least in part on information from a third party data store. The information from the third party data store might include, for example, coverage and policy transaction data and loss data from an information aggregator. Moreover, according to some embodiments, the set of related businesses may be further identified based at least in part on information from an internal data store (e.g., internal to the insurance provider). 
         [0023]    At S 240 , insurance information may be determined by a coverage comparison engine for the potential business insurance customer based at least in part on historic transaction data and loss data associated with the set of related businesses. The insurance information determined for the potential business insurance customer might be associated with, for example, risk characteristics, a recommended type of insurance coverage, premium information historical losses, average claim values, and/or a claim frequency value. 
         [0024]      FIG. 3  is block diagram of a system according to some embodiments of, the present invention. As before, a coverage comparison engine  350  associated with an insurance provider may receive customer provided data  310 . The customer provided data  310  might be received, for example, directly from a customer (e.g., via a web page) via, for example, a PC, laptop computer, and/or wireless telephone that can transmit insurance data to the coverage comparison engine  350 . The coverage comparison engine  350  may then generate an output  370  based at least in part on the customer provided data  310  in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein, such as an indication of a recommended level of insurance coverage for the customer. 
         [0025]    Although a single coverage comparison engine  350  is shown in  FIG. 3 , any number of such devices may be included. Moreover, various devices described herein might be combined according to embodiments of the present invention. For example, in some embodiments, the coverage comparison engine  350  and a local data repository  360  might be co-located and/or may comprise a single apparatus. Moreover, according to some embodiments, internal data stores  330  and/or third-party provided data  320  (e.g. Dunn and Bradstreet data or similar information) may be used to supplement the customer provided data  310 . 
         [0026]    According to some embodiments, the coverage comparison engine may be associated with one or more predictive models to take into account a large number of customer and/or underwriting parameters. The predictive model(s), in various implementations, may include one or more of neural networks, Bayesian networks (such as Hidden Markov models), expert systems, decision trees, collections of decision trees, support vector machines, or other systems known in the art for addressing problems with large numbers of variables. Preferably, the predictive model(s) are trained on prior data and outcomes known to an insurance company. The specific data and outcomes analyzed vary depending on the desired functionality of the particular predictive model. The particular data parameters selected for analysis in the training process may be determined by using regression analysis and/or other statistical techniques known in the art for identifying relevant variables in multivariable systems. The parameters can be selected from any of the structured data parameters stored in the present system, whether the parameters re input into the system originally in a structured format or whether they were extracted from previously unstructured text, such as from text based social media network or any other data. By way of example, a predicted number of employees or range of probable sales values may be used in connection with an estimated amount of risk or exposure. 
         [0027]    In the present invention, the selection of weighting factors may improve the predictive power of the coverage comparison engine, as well as to increase the perceived or actual fairness of received inputs or output  370  insurance data. For example, more established and highly frequented social networking sites may be associated with a higher credibility factor, while newer, less established sites would be associated with a relatively lower credibility factor. By way of further example, more current user posts or other social networking updates may be accorded a higher weighting while older, less current information would be weighted lower. 
         [0028]    According to some embodiments, information about a customer might be used to adjust one or more weighting factors. For example, location information associated with a customer might be used to adjust one or more weighting factors. For example, a user who generates a social networking post or request from a work site might be given more credibility as compared to other potential customers. As other examples, a customer who has a high reputation on a web site, who generates many social media network posts, and/or who has experienced a lot of transactions with an insurer might be associated with a relatively high weighting factor. Moreover, the inclusion of image, video, and/or audio information might increase a weighting factor associated with received information. 
         [0029]      FIG. 4  illustrates a method  400  according to some other embodiments of the present invention. At S 410 , information about a potential business insurance customer may be received. The information about the potential business insurance customer might be associated with, for example, a social media site, an email address, a ZIP code, a business name, a postal address, and/or a business classification code. According to this embodiment, the received information about the potential business customer includes geographic information, such as a postal address or ZIP code. 
         [0030]    At S 420 , a number of employees associated with the potential business insurance customer is estimated based on the geographic information. For example, an insurance model might determine that a vast majority of businesses in a particular ZIP code have less than twenty employees. As a result, it may be inferred that the potential business insurance customer in that ZIP code will also have less than twenty employees. Note that instead of a number of employees, embodiments may instead infer a total payroll value (and/or job titles or benefits associated with employees), a property value, a type of industry, or any other useful information. Moreover, note that information from multiple social media networks and/or other data sources might be combined in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. 
         [0031]    At S 430 , the estimated number of employees is automatically analyzed to identify a set of related businesses (e.g., other businesses having a similar number of employees). At S 440 , insurance information may be determined by a coverage comparison engine for the potential business insurance customer based at least in part on historic transaction data and loss data associated with the set of related businesses. The insurance information determined for the potential business insurance customer might be associated with, for example, risk characteristics, a recommended type of insurance coverage, and/or premium information. 
         [0032]    As a result of the embodiments described herein an improved system and method to facilitate a determination of insurance information for a potential business insurance customer may be achieved. Note that embodiments described herein may be implemented in any number of different ways. For example,  FIG. 5  is a block diagram overview of a coverage comparison platform  500  according to some embodiments. The coverage comparison platform  500  may be, for example, associated with the system  100  of  FIG. 1  or the system  300  of  FIG. 3 . The coverage comparison platform  500  comprises a processor  510 , such as one or more commercially available Central Processing Units (CPUs) in the form of one-chip microprocessors, coupled to a communication device or interface  520  configured to communicate via a communication network (not shown in  FIG. 5 ). The communication device  520  may be used to communicate. for example, with one or more remote customer or agent devices. The coverage comparison platform  500  further includes an input device  540  (e.g., a mouse and/or keyboard to enter rule and/or model adjustments) and an output device  550  (e.g., a computer monitor to display reports and/or aggregated results to an administrator). 
         [0033]    The processor  510  also communicates with a storage device  530 . The storage device  530  may comprise any appropriate information storage device, including combinations of magnetic storage devices (e.g., a hard disk drive), optical storage devices, mobile telephones, vehicle computers, and/or semiconductor memory devices. The storage device  530  stores a program  512  and/or a coverage comparison engine  514  for controlling the processor  510 . The processor  510  performs instructions of the programs  512 ,  514 , and thereby operates in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. For example, the processor  510  may receive historic transaction data and loss data from a data storage device. Information about a potential business insurance customer nay also be received by the processor  510  and automatically analyzed to identify a set of related businesses. The coverage comparison engine  514  may then determine insurance information for the potential business insurance customer based at least in part on historic transaction data and loss data associated with the set of related businesses. 
         [0034]    The programs  512 ,  514  may be stored in a compressed, uncompiled and/or encrypted format. The programs  512 ,  514  may furthermore include other program elements, such as an operating system, a database management system, and/or device drivers used by the processor  510  to interface with peripheral devices. 
         [0035]    As used herein, information may be “received” by or “transmitted” to, for example: (i) the coverage comparison platform  500  from another device; or (ii) a software application or module within the coverage comparison platform  500  from another software application, module, or any other source. 
         [0036]    In some embodiments (such as shown in  FIG. 5 ), the storage device  530  stores customer provided data  560 , third party data stores  570 , internal data stores  580 , and a data repository  600 . Examples of a database that may be used in connection with the coverage comparison platform  500  will now be described in detail with respect to  FIG. 6 . Note that the database described herein is only an example, and additional and/or different information may be stored therein. Moreover, various databases might be split or combined in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. 
         [0037]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , a table is shown that represents he data repository  600  that may be stored at the coverage comparison platform  500  according to some embodiments. The table may include, for example, entries identifying potential small business customers requesting information in connection with insurance policies. The table may also define fields  602 ,  604 ,  606 ,  608 ,  610  for each of the entries. The fields  602 ,  604   606 ,  608   610  may, according to some embodiments, specify: a customer identifier  602 , an agent identifier  604 , an insurance category  606 , customer provided data  608 , and a set of related businesses. The information in the submitted data database  600  may be created and updated, for example, whenever data is submitted by a customer. 
         [0038]    The customer identifier  602  may be, for example, a unique alphanumeric code identifying a potential small business customer who has provided information (e.g., in connection with a quote request for an insurance policy application). The agent identifier  604  might indicate the agent who submits the data and the insurance category  606  might indicate the type of insurance being applied for by the agent. The customer provided data  608  might represent, for example, an email address, ZIP code, postal address, etc. The set of related businesses  610  may be an automatically determined list of businesses that may be related to the customer associated with the customer identifier  602 . The set of related businesses  610  may then be used to evaluate historical risk data, loss values, etc. that may be used to generate insurance information for that customer. 
         [0039]    Information about a potential business insurance customer may be received in any of a number of different ways.  FIG. 7  is an example of receiving information about a potential business insurance customer according to some embodiments. In this example, a potential business insurance customer might scan a Quick Response (“QR”) matrix or two-dimensional bar code  710  associated with his or her business, take a picture of the business, and/or otherwise enter information via a mobile device  720 . Mobile device  720  may be a smartphone, personal computer or tablet computing device and may be configured to capture and display information associated with the present invention. According to some embodiments, the information might be sent through an insurance agent device  730  (e.g., associated with a potential customer tracking application) before being received by an insurance company server  740 . According to other embodiments, the information may be sent directly from the customer&#39;s mobile device  720  to the insurance company server  740 . The insurance company server  740  may then execute the steps described with respect to  FIG. 2  or any other embodiments described herein. According to some embodiments, a third-party service might provide questions to patrons of the potential small business client and this information may be used by the insurance company server. 
         [0040]    The following illustrates various additional embodiments of the invention. These do not constitute a definition of all possible embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is applicable to many other embodiments. Further, although the following embodiments are briefly described for clarity, those skilled in the art will understand how to make any changes, if necessary, to the above-described apparatus and methods to accommodate these and other embodiments and applications. 
         [0041]    Although specific hardware and data configurations have been described herein, note that any number of other configurations may be provided in accordance with embodiments of the present invention (e.g., some of the information associated with the databases described herein may be combined or stored in external systems). Additional, one or more of the elements described herein may be practiced in a distributed cloud computing environment where tasks are performed by logically or physically remote processing devices that are linked through one or r more communications networks. 
         [0042]    Applicants have discovered that embodiments described herein may be particularly useful in connection with insurance products. Note, however, that other types of insurance and related products may also benefit from the invention. For example, embodiments of the present invention may be used to determine data for financial, medical, educational, and other types of information. 
         [0043]    The present invention has been described in terms of several embodiments solely for the purpose of illustration. Persons skilled in the art will recognize from this description that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, but may be practiced with modifications and alterations limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.