The Ardonagh Group today announces the launch of Ardonagh Intelligence, marking a new phase in its journey to harness the best of robotics, machine learning, and data enrichment across its businesses.
Building on work begun six years ago, Ardonagh Intelligence will create a single view of the data and technological capabilities across the Group, which now employs more than 100 data scientists and programmers including at the Ardonagh Analytics Lab in Mullingar, Ireland. The Analytics Lab launched in 2021 with support from the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
The new unit builds on the insights of the Analytics Lab alongside the carrier management and product design of Ardonagh Portfolio Solutions, which was established in 2019 to use data analytics to drive forward a group placement strategy.
Group Chief Executive David Ross commented: “Taking the placement power of one of the world’s leading insurance broking groups, we have built a sophisticated engine to manage our $18 billion of GWP, which undoubtedly continues to be optimised by investment in the capability found in our Mullingar lab and other centres of expertise globally.”
“The further you wade into the global data lake we have assembled over the past six years, the more boundless the opportunities become to deliver efficiencies for our portfolio of companies, and extraordinary benefit to the millions of clients they serve.”
Ardonagh Intelligence is headed up by Managing Director Sami Sulaiman and chaired by Ian Donaldson, an early pioneer in digital insurance distribution and underwriting who led the growth of the Atlanta Group and its merger with Markerstudy.
Ardonagh Advisory Data & MI director Ian Cooper will transfer to Ardonagh Intelligence and lead an initiative to bring the considerable expertise developed in the UK to other commercial brokers across the world.
Sulaiman joined Ardonagh in October following its acquisition of PSC Insurance Group. He has worked in a wide variety of broking, claims and operational roles. For the last eight years he oversaw business operations as Managing Director of Carrolls, designing and implementing a number of value-creating process and placement initiatives.
He commented: “Data-driven insights and AI-powered automation make the difference between a good business and an exceptional one. Ardonagh’s opportunity is unique, because it brings together so many businesses which invested early and already excel in this field. By bringing together our global capabilities we can extend the reach of that expertise and power it to go further and deeper.”
Ian Donaldson, Ardonagh Intelligence chair, commented: “It is hard to understate the transformational effect of digital insights across the businesses in Ardonagh’s portfolio. By bringing this work together under a unified strategy we can support local leaders with a roadmap incorporating the latest technologies that will have an immediate and tangible impact on everything from improving productivity to identifying risk insights and growth opportunities, while continuing to invest in the future.”
