22 June 2020, LONDON – When it comes to managing their data, insurers and reinsurers can learn valuable lessons from the ancient Japanese art of Samurai sword-making, a new report from cyber risk analytics leader CyberCube asserts.

In the report, Crafting the Samurai Sword – A Framework for Advancing Your Data Strategy, CyberCube likens the four-step process used to make a sword to the process risk carriers should adopt to build strengthen, and leverage their “data lakes”.

Judy Chow, CyberCube’s Director of Product Management and one of the report’s authors, said: “Today, data is one of a risk carrier’s most valuable assets. But to realise its full value, data needs to be managed and shaped so that it can be used to make intelligent business decisions. As the majority of the cyber insurance market is in the early stages of this journey, businesses will benefit from looking ahead and strategically building that strong digital foundation.

“Creating a pool of data that serves as a competitive advantage for a business is part science, part art. Because the volume of data is large, companies need to be intentional about the way they’re approaching each step in the data process to achieve the desired business value. The process used to make traditional Samurai swords is the perfect analogy for what’s required.”

The report identifies the four stages necessary to create a strong set of data assets. These are:

• Selecting data from a wide range of sources
• Cleansing the data using a range of techniques 
• Combining data to create new insights
• Building applications that use the data to facilitate business decision-making

The report’s co-author Lewis Guignard, CyberCube’s Senior Manager, Data Science, said: “The aim of this report is to share our expertise in the data domain with the insurance community. The key point is that not all data lakes are created equal. Two businesses can own similar data but achieve very different business outcomes. The way in which each business manages its data will have a tremendous influence on the results it achieves.”

Crafting the Samurai Sword – A Framework for Advancing Your Data Strategy is available to download from CyberCube’s website.

ENDS

About CyberCube 

CyberCube delivers the world’s leading cyber risk analytics for the insurance industry. With best-in-class data access and advanced multi-disciplinary analytics, the company’s Software-as-a-Service platform helps (re)insurance organizations make better decisions when advising clients on the financial impact of cyber risk, underwriting individual risks or managing cyber risk aggregation. CyberCube’s enterprise intelligence layer provides insights on millions of companies globally and includes modeling on thousands of points of technology failure. The CyberCube platform was established in 2015 within Symantec and now operates as a standalone company exclusively focused on the (re)insurance industry, with access to an unparalleled ecosystem of data partners and backing from ForgePoint Capital, HSCM Bermuda, MTech Capital and individuals from Stone Point Capital. For more information, please visit www.cybcube.com or email info@cybcube.com