open Insurance Data Standards
openIDS, where open standards are being built
Our growing industry-stakeholder community is embracing open standards as a baseline framework that will serve as an intermediary for mapping data before converting it to another standard, like a universal translator.
While improving data flow may be a focused challenge across the industry, the first step to building the supporting technologies and reaching viable business use cases is in generating industry data standards. The long-term benefits will far outweigh the costs that are shared among the openIDS community. As data becomes increasingly critical for accurate insurance processes, the industry must adopt data standards to manage larger volumes efficiently, securely, and innovate beyond.
It's time to make moves
How an open, trusted, non-proprietary collaborative platform is the foundation for generating effective and widely adopted industry data standards:
Foundation data standards framework
openIDS is spearheading the development and adoption of open, non-proprietary, and universally accepted data standards. These efforts represent a critical first step toward building a transparent, and collaborative, data standard that can serve as a foundation for the industry’s future.
The data challenge
Leveraging data to enhance claims management, improve customer experiences, and develop innovative products tailored to evolving market needs. In an industry built on mitigating uncertainty, data provides the insights necessary to remain agile, reduce losses, and foster trust with policyholders.
Why it hasn’t been solved
Lack of data standardization. Results, beyond inability to effectively innovate, include insurers and other stakeholders spending billions of dollars each year translating data into formats for regulatory reporting, catastrophe models, and a myriad of other transactions – ultimately affecting the wider U.S. economy.
Lost in translation
50
Separately regulated jurisdictions
4,000
Insurers
120,500
Industry third-party vendors
Despite the overwhelming support among both regulators and insurers for state regulation and its effectiveness, it is almost impossible to gain a consensus on the need for data standards – much less the standards themselves.
No insurance association or vendor has successfully taken the lead to build a consensus on a solution.
Decentralized innovation.
Built on trust.
The Linux Foundation (LF) is a 501(c)(6) non-profit that provides the largest global neutral, trusted hub for developers and organizations to code, manage, and scale open technology projects and ecosystems.
openIDL was founded by (AAIS) in 2021 as a Linux Foundation project. Building a Cohesive, Smarter, More Secure Insurance Industry. The project and its various initiatives were created for insurance industry collaboration on data standards and reporting. The Linux Foundation is the largest global open source software development non-proprietary platform focused on enabling industry-wide and cross-industry collaboration by means of the LF’s proven open governance model and framework. Generating and maintaining Industry Open Standards utilizing the framework of transparency, participation, and a strong governance model ensures that collaborative work and products do not become compromised and/or proprietary.
AAIS remains the only national not-for-profit advisory organization governed by its Members.
- 700+ Community Members
- 50+ Licensed statistical agent in more than 50 jurisdictions
AAIS was established as a not-for-profit organization with the goal of fostering collaboration among its insurance company Members. This collaboration enables insurers to develop better and more cost-effective solutions that benefit the entire industry—solutions that individual companies could not achieve on their own. In 2021, AAIS created a not-for-profit subsidiary under the Linux Foundation for insurance industry collaboration on data standards and reporting. The Linux Foundation is dedicated to creating and maintaining not-for-profit open-source industry standards with a proven governance framework that allows transparency and participation while ensuring that collaborative work product does not become compromised or proprietary. As a Linux Foundation project, openIDL (Open Insurance Data Link) is an existing platform that is governed by its time-tested governance model.
open Insurance Data Standards White Paper in progress...
What is the openIDS Working Group?
An openIDL Working Group tacking one of the industry’s most pressing challenges: the lack of widely adopted data standards in the U.S. property and casualty (P&C) sector. This absence of standardization costs insurers billions annually in translating data for regulatory reporting, catastrophe modeling, and operational tasks. These inefficiencies not only burden insurers but also hinder their ability to collaborate effectively with regulators and other stakeholders, obstructing efforts to create meaningful, informed policies.
What is the industry value the openIDS Working Group intends to prove?
As climate-related disasters intensify and population growth in high-risk areas accelerates, the need for standardized, aggregate data has never been more urgent. Reliable and accessible data is critical to ensuring affordable insurance solutions and maintaining the stability of the U.S. economy. By adopting comprehensive data standards, the industry can enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and foster constructive collaboration between insurers, regulators, and other stakeholders.
What will the open standards be built on?
AAIS will update its stat data model architectures, harmonizing them with existing open-source standards, such as OASISLMF and OMG, as well as others willing to contribute their data structures.
Who can access the new openIDS model?
AAIS will donate its data model architecture to openIDL and the Linux Foundation as an open-source model architecture, available at no cost to anyone that would like to use it.
What is the projected industry adoption rate of the new openIDS standards?
Incremental adoption is anticipated, such as in the case of the aforementioned catastrophe data call by multiple states, where the data standard provides a foundation for them to issue a standardized data call. Over time, creators of new policy administration systems will start integrating elements of the data model architecture, gradually driving broader adoption.
What is the timeline for the opendIDS Working Group to produce?
The openIDL organization was originally developed as a data-sharing platform, created by AAIS and donated to the Linux Foundation, which required a standard data model architecture. While openIDL will continue to support its platform, its focus will shift to data standards.
openIDL has funds to continue operations for approximately 12 months, but as AAIS shifts from the openIDL platform to focus on data, it will need additional industry participants and openIDL primary members to continue to fund and build consensus for the open-source data standards.
There is active interest from insurance regulators, insurance not-for-profits, industry third-party vendors, and some large insurers; efforts are underway to create critical mass.
Who else is participating in the openIDS WG?
Founded in 2017, reThought Flood is a technology-centric Managing General Agent focused on US flood risk. reThought offers commercial and residential flood insurance on behalf of A.M. Best “A” rated carriers, and has formed strategic relationships with insurers, reinsurers, and other capacity providers to help them profitably innovate in the flood risk arena. reThought’s game-changing technology helps solve vexing industry problems underwriting flood risk, which requires advanced precision and a true understanding of the hazard. reThought has developed a state-of-the-art proprietary underwriting methodology and risk assessment technology which reflects the reality that with flood risk, inches matter. www.rethoughtflood.com
Cloverleaf Analytics is the leader in insurance intelligence solutions, having evolved from Business Intelligence (BI) into providing advanced tools using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Speech to Insights, and other emerging technologies to empower carriers to achieve unparalleled growth. Cloverleaf enables carriers in diverse lines of business to create modern products that help insurers remain competitive against new market entrants while redefining what consumers and businesses understand as the meaning of insurance value. cloverleafanalytics.com
How can you check out the WG and/or get involved?
Please visit the openIDS wiki page here to learn more about the specifics of the group’s progress, objectives, and historical agendas, meeting minutes, and supplementary content.
The openIDS Working Group meets every Thursday from 11 – 11:30am EST.
If you are interested in exploring, learning more, and/or getting involved, please join the next meeting! Simply reach out to info@openidl.org and our team will add you to the invite and provide any additional information / answer any further questions you may have about openIDS, its Working Group, the openIDS White Paper development, or any further inquiries about the project.
Feel free to contact us directly:
openIDL
Josh Hershman, Executive Director
Lanaya Nelson, Ecosystem Manager
AAIS
Werner Kruck, President & CEO
Post-standards adoption benefits
With predefined standards in place, the focus shifts from debating data relevance to leveraging it for strategic advantage – benefitting all parties.
Secure industry and cross-industry data exchange on the horizon
While the initial focus is on regulatory compliance, the implications of data standardization extend far beyond. From interactions with reinsurers to managing general agents (MGAs), standardized data protocols promise to enhance various facets of the insurance value chain. Moreover, the potential for cross-industry standardization opens doors to unprecedented collaboration and innovation.