Allstate Corp.’s technology unit in Bangalore, India, continued to go on a hiring spree last year, growing to 600 employees in 2013 from 200 the prior year.
An update on the enterprise, which was started in 2012 with 57 employees as a way to keep technology costs down, was highlighted in the Northbrook-based company’s recently released 78-page annual corporate responsibility report. It detailed everything from how much the home and auto insurer has reduced energy and employee paper consumption (11 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in one year) to how much it spends with businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans, and lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals.
Allstate spent 8.3 percent of its procurement budget in 2013 with businesses owned by such individuals, up from 6.6 percent in 2012. Its goal is to allocate 9 percent of its spending with those groups by 2015.
The company also discussed new efforts by its “quantitative research and analytics team” to use big data to help identify and prevent claims fraud.
Allstate gathers loads of data about the types, amounts and frequency of claims, through its own claims reporting records as well as external data, and it continually analyzes the information to identify potentially fraudulent claims. In fact, the California Department of Insurance recently requested a demonstration of how Allstate slices and dices the data, the company said in its report.
Allstate said such “predictive modeling algorithms” were first used in such high-fraud states as New York and Florida, but are now being used nationwide.
The quantitative team, it said, is now working on models that will help root out fraud by individuals by seeking out connections like phone numbers, post office boxes and other details to identify multiple claims that seem linked.
Allstate also mentioned that it helped launch, as previously reported, a $50 million multiyear program to combat violence in Chicago. Allstate said it made “an early $5 million, multiyear commitment” to the effort.
Aging concerns
The potential for auto accidents should be on the radar of organizations and businesses that cater to an elderly population, according to the 2014 Aging Services Claims Report published Wednesday by Chicago-based commercial insurer CNA.
“Aging services organizations,” including nursing homes, assisted living facilities and retirement communities, are “experiencing a significant increase in automobile accidents involving employee drivers and resident passengers,” CNA said.
Its 51-page report notes that, until recently, CNA had experienced only one aging services auto claim for $1 million.
As of the report’s publication data, there were three claims pending against CNA customers that are expected to reach or exceed $1 million.
It theorizes that distracted driving, including the use of hands-free headsets, is a factor.
Twitter @beckyyerak
