SOMPO’s Purpose
Value Creation Cycle : Route of New Value Creation
Providing solutions to change our future society
With the trust we have cultivated through our existing businesses and the abundance of high-quality real data we have accumulated, we are working to create new value beyond the boundaries of existing businesses by attracting diverse businesses and human resources as cooperation partners, promoting DX, and establishing our new RDP business model. The content here introduces specific efforts by each company to provide solutions that will change our future society as part of our creation of new value.
By thoroughly promoting the digital transformation (DX) of each business, which we have been working on since 2016, we aim to further accelerate the DX of the entire Group and increase corporate value by implementing revenue growth and improving operational efficiency in existing businesses, and by linking the efforts of Sompo Group companies to each business and company both in Japan and overseas.
In addition, by linking DX initiatives to RDP, we aim to develop and provide innovative SaaS solutions, especially in the nursing care and healthcare areas where social needs are high, and to materialize our unique RDP business.
Group CDO
Albert Chu
DX Strategy to realize digital transformation
The Group is developing two mutually important efforts that are digital and data-driven: “new customer value creation through new businesses” and “DX promotion for existing Group businesses.”
We have positioned DX promotion as a foundational initiative, and have set up an organization to discover digital technologies, appointed a CDO to take charge of DX promotion, and secured and trained personnel to realize digital transformation (securing DX specialists and DX human resources development) as its three pillars. Through the organic functions in each of these pillars, we are working to accelerate DX initiatives and realize transformation. In addition, we will utilize data accumulated through the DX initiatives of the entire Group, and seek to enhance corporate value through the creation of customer value by linking it to our efforts for the realization of the Real Data Platform (RDP), a framework for creating new solutions that contribute to security, health, and wellbeing.
The SOMPO Digital Lab transforms existing businesses and creates new businesses
Since the establishment of the Digital Strategy Planning Department (now the Digital and Data Strategy Department) in April 2016, the SOMPO Digital Lab has been supporting the Sompo Group digital business at three bases in Tokyo, Silicon Valley, and Tel Aviv.
Each of the three bases is involved in its local community, and gathers cutting-edge information while also utilizing the venture capital network, enabling the collection of information on the latest technologies and approaches to leading local companies. In addition, through mutual collaboration by the bases to realize DX for the entire Group, they provide optimal solutions to diverse business needs and support the transformation of existing businesses and the creation of new businesses for each Group company.
Appointment of the DX Promotion Manager
The Group CDO, who is the DX Promotion Manager for the entire Group, and the four CDOs appointed in each business to promote DX in the Group’s core businesses will build an alliance to promote DX initiatives. In addition, the three SOMPO Digital Lab bases, which serve as “antennae” to quickly pick up on advanced digital technologies, are also responsible for market research, proof of concept (PoC) work, and solution provision, offering comprehensive support to each business, and thereby accelerating DX initiatives across the Group.
Envisioned status and expected effects achieved through DX
| Business | Envisioned status through DX | Expected effects in FY2023 |
|---|---|---|
Domestic P&C Insurance |
|
15.1 billion yen (Improvement of underwriting income/ expenses and operational efficiency) |
Overseas Insurance and Reinsurance |
|
1.9 billion yen (Improvement of underwriting income and expenditure, operational efficiency enhancement) |
Domestic Life Insurance |
|
4 billion yen (New business opportunities, operational efficiency enhancement) |
Nursing Care & Seniors |
|
900 million yen (Operational efficiency enhancement) |
SOMPO’s partners for creating new value
The Sompo Group aims to realize SOMPO’s Purpose and enhance corporate value by working with like-minded partners to promote initiatives that create new value by providing solutions that help solve social issues.
Palantir Technologies Inc
To provide new solutions by utilizing large amounts of high-quality real data, SOMPO has formed a business alliance consisting of three companies including Palantir Technologies Inc. (hereinafter “Palantir”) and Palantir Technologies Japan K.K., which was established as a joint venture with Palantir.
By combining Palantir’s technology with our Group’s real data, we are working to develop a real data platform (RDP) and take on the challenge of creating new value. With regard to the preceding nursing care RDP, solutions for nursing facilities are scheduled to be deployed by the end of FY2022, and we are steadily proceeding with preparations to this end.
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Sompo Holdings has concluded an agreement on comprehensive mutual cooperation with AIST, one of the largest research institutes in Japan, in order to solve social issues such as the declining birthrate and aging population and the challenges associated with the new normal by leveraging expertise in our respective fields. SOMPO and AIST aim to build a platform for creating new customer value and solutions by forming an ecosystem involving the national government, local governments, and businesses. The first step will be to develop and standardize methods for assessing nursing care quality, and to develop methods for efficiently discerning the actual state of the nursing care process, with the aim of disseminating this to the world as a security, health, and wellbeing solution coming from Japan.
Advancement and automation of underwriting operations
Sompo Japan Insurance
Palantir’s data analysis platform “Foundry” was introduced for underwriting work (hereinafter “UW”).
By integrating data scattered both inside and outside the company and storing it in one place, Foundry has created an end-to-end solution to increase efficiency and improve the accuracy of decisions.
At present, Foundry is used as the main system for UW, primarily by the corporate fire insurance underwriting department. In addition to promoting data-based pricing and optimization of underwriting conditions, the system has enabled us to identify SME-scale contracts with high loss ratios that could not be identified in the past and allowed us to review their underwriting conditions, yielding a steady improvement in income and expenditures in FY2021.
Going forward, we aim to further advance and automate UW by expanding our efforts for new types of insurance and integrating risk models and AI technology in the future.
In addition, through cooperation with Hitachi, Ltd., we were the first in the insurance industry to commercialize natural disaster portfolio optimization technology using cutting-edge pseudo-quantum computing, and we introduced this into natural disaster risk underwriting decisions in FY2022. The technology uses a pseudo-quantum computer to rapidly calculate a portfolio that balances both risk-taking and stable profitability from a vast number of possible combinations of underwriting and reinsurance conditions for natural disaster risks. We have already begun using this technology for earthquake insurance for corporate clients, and will continue to expand its use in underwriting and reinsurance arrangements for other types of insurance.
Sompo Japan will continue to promote DX through the utilization of cutting-edge technologies, including real data platforms and quantum technology.
Providing new value utilizing digital technology and data
Sompo Himawari Life Insurance
In order to realize SOMPO’s Purpose, we are leveraging digital technology and data to provide value that makes our customers healthier. To date, we have provided new value through collaboration with Binah.ai, an Israeli startup company with H2 in Taiwan and Niigata University. Our collaboration with Binah. ai was in the healthcare field, and involved joint development of a function that allows customers to check their stress conditions by simply taking a photographic portrait of a face. This function is provided through the “LinkX Health Try” app, which supports improvement of lifestyle habits. This app also includes other functions utilizing technology from a Silicon Valley startup company that acquires health checkup data from images. In addition, H2 is developing Health2Sync App a health management app for diabetics that is used by approximately 900,000 people worldwide. Through our business alliance, we support the prevention of serious illness by manage chronic conditions efficiently. Moreover, we are conducting joint research with Niigata University on the effects of improvement of lifestyle habits through voluntary lifestyle review using the app.
We will continue to provide new value by leveraging our domestic and international networks and expertise.
Nursing Care RDP-transformation into a platformer in the nursing care and seniors business field
Overview of the nursing care RDP
In the nursing care and seniors business, we are taking on the challenge of resolving the gap between the growing demand for nursing care and the supply of nursing care due to the social issue of Japan’s aging population, and improving the sustainability of the nursing care insurance system. A major pillar of these efforts is the “Nursing Care RDP (Real Data Platform). The main pillar of this initiative is the “Nursing Care Real Data Platform (RDP).” Based on industry leader Sompo Care’s big data (real data) on users, operational capabilities such as services and know-how, and Palantir’s data integration, the RDP aims to contribute to the sustainability of the entire industry by creating new solutions that contribute to improve productivity with good quality and deploying them in the nursing care and adjacent industries.
Vision for the Nursing Care RDP
The goals of the Nursing Care RDP are not only to expand into the nursing care and adjacent industries, but also to realize a sustainable nursing care insurance system in cooperation with both national and local governments, and to expand business overseas.
As the first step, we started collaboration with a partner company for nursing care facilities in June 2022, with full-scale sales planned to begin by the end of the fiscal year. At the same time, we aim to establish a system that has the potential to become the de facto standard by collaborating with local governments to build a home nursing care model and study caregiver support services, and by standardizing technology and care quality through joint research with the AIST.
Business model and practice of the Nursing Care RDP
Business model of the Nursing Care RDP
We are considering supporting nursing facilities with three menus : the Nursing Care RDP, support for digitalization and real service provision as a business model.
For nursing care providers that have already implemented digitalization, we will provide the solutions (apps) we have developed to help them improve productivity and quality through data utilization. For nursing care providers whose various records have not been digitalized and their operation have not been systematized yet, we will support development of their infrastructure by supporting digitization and aid visualization through centralized management for various data, along with creating a system that enables them to acquire and utilize real data. Furthermore, in addition to data-related support, we will also provide support in terms of real services, such as Sompo Care’s know-how and services, in order to establish and enhance operations.
By providing such support, we will spread SOMPO’s aim of improved productivity accompanied by good quality throughout the industry, and take on the challenge of contributing to improving the sustainability of the nursing care insurance system.
Specific examples of solutions for nursing facilities
Health management and workflow
This app provides suggestions on changes in health condition by centralizing and analyzing information from various sensors and daily customer records. We are developing and verifying this app with the expectation that it will be effective in coordinating with doctors to adjust medications, provide necessary interventions, and more.
Care management cycle workflow
Based on the real data and records obtained, this app provides suggestions in terms of four aspects of the care management flow: assessment, care planning, nursing staff workflow (schedules), and nursing care records. We are developing and verifying the app with the expectation that it will be effective in implementing a review of the level of care required and care plans.
The future we aim for with the Nursing Care RDP
Towards promotion of the nursing care RDP
Takahiro Iwamoto
Exective Director and Chief Digital Officer; Sompo Care
One of the social issues facing Japan is the declining birthrate and aging population, which is a major problem that no industry can avoid. The aging of society means that while the number of seniors will increase, the working-age population will decrease —something that will have a particularly large impact on the nursing care industry. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has announced an estimate that by 2040, there will be a shortage of 690,000 nursing care workers to support seniors. We at SOMPO feel a strong sense of urgency about this issue, and have thought about what we can do to improve the sustainability of the nursing care industry. As a result, we have concluded that instead of focusing solely on our own growth, it is essential to work hand in hand with other nursing care providers, medical care, and other adjacent industries to achieve growth for society as a whole through the Nursing Care RDP.
Through our Nursing Care RDP efforts, we aim to improve productivity with good quality throughout the nursing care industry as a whole. We will ensure the calculation of nursing care fees and personnel systems through appropriate care management, improve the activities of daily living (ADL) and QOL of users through health management and future predictions, and in turn have this lead to reductions in social security costs. Through this, we hope to create a world in which users, employees, and future society can all benefit from “the three goods” (good for the buyer, seller, and society).
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