In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced many businesses to confront underlying challenges that hindered innovation and productivity. The pandemic lit a match for enterprises that sparked the need to improve their ability to deliver quality services in an upended market and get ahead of the competition.
Metromile, a leading digital insurance platform in the U.S., decided to use an intelligent, data-driven approach to overcome this challenge. With data science as its foundation, the company offers real-time, personalized auto insurance policies by the mile instead of the industry-standard approximations that have historically made prices unfair. Metromile’s software developers’ team sought to manage data dispersed throughout the organization in a wide range of sources and repositories, and run its analytics more quickly. Upgrading its data analytics technology has enabled Metromile to deliver better and more efficient business operations that kept the company competitively positioned for the future.
Data Analytics Deliver Modernization and Operational Efficiency
Metromile’s digitally native offering is built around the modern driver’s needs, featuring automated claims and complimentary smart-driving features. The company says its customers save 47% per year on average by charging per mile. Metromile has seen significant growth over the past several years. As a rapidly scaling technology company, Metromile didn’t want its analytics function limited by data in disparate systems, including in-house databases and software-as-a-service platforms.
Data modernization and operational efficiency have always been a high priority for every business. Querying data sources and keeping analytics infrastructure up to date to properly utilize valuable data insights is challenging for many companies. Data can provide technology solutions that will improve modernization and operational efficiency. Recognizing the importance of finding new solutions, Metromile sought out an efficient approach to analytics.
Metromile’s data team started by implementing Snowflake architecture to separate and provide dedicated resources for its ETL pipelines and querying activity to avoid resource contention. This flexibility enables the company to scale up and down seamlessly and effortlessly. Metromile’s developer team added Stitch to quickly stand up new analytics services, expanding to answer questions spanning nearly 30 different data sources, including app databases, ad platforms, and web tracking. These combined solutions made for a marked difference. Metromile’s data engineers can now get data from a new source into Snowflake with Stitch in as little as under an hour, a process that used to take a couple of days. Developers have more time to focus on data quality, where the business gets the most value.
Between March 19, the start of many shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders, and April 20, 2020, Metromile customers collectively drove 58% fewer miles than they did last year. Some two-thirds of U.S. drivers are considered low-mileage drivers, according to Metromile. Intelligent data analytics have been a big win for both Metromile and its community of drivers. Accurate data analytics provide essential headwinds for its high-quality customer service, which helps it keep ahead of its competitors during these tumultuous times.
