In this era of big data and analytics, it has become important for organizations to have an access to timely and transparent data that can add value to their processes. Any data, if utilized and channelized effectively, can solve various complex issues, optimize processes, and enable making sound decisions. A leading company, Innovu was founded on the belief that by bringing together vast silos of data in the human capital continuum world, it can unlock powerful knowledge to solve complex challenges.
Innovu pours through claims information from payers in order to help the self-funded advisors and employers gain better insights about why those costs have been escalating at double-digit rates over the last 10 years. Its analytics platform helps to uncover where there’s an opportunity to help eliminate waste and manage that risk better. It also enables the advisors that work with self-funded employers to put in the appropriate solutions to then reduce that cost. Innovu focuses on three major continuums which includes healthcare spend, workers’ compensation risk, and retirement sectors. Its vision is to continually add different data sets and provide unique solutions using analytics to allow the advisors to help their employers while lowering their cost.
Delivering Appropriate Solutions
Innovu securely, accurately, and seamlessly integrates data across all programs to create a consolidated “single truth” of information. The part of its core functionality is to use machine learning to match members into the platform so that individuals can do analysis across the different sectors such as healthcare, workers’ compensation, and retirement. The company is training its machine to continually match people because, depending on what system it comes from, they’ll have missing information, incomplete, or wrong information. This is one of the core technologies that the company is leveraging. Kevin states “It’s really about leveraging analytics and comparable analytics to benchmark where one employer might have a higher spend than others. And so, it’s really about the comparative analytics and the ROI?, the prospective looking analytics that we apply to the data to bring that value out.” “29 and a half percent of the time, the data that we collect is incomplete, missing, or wrong, and so we’re enhancing the data in our platform by filling in those critical elements, so that employers can gain better insight into their healthcare spend, and advisors can implement the appropriate solutions, to realize actual savings and RIO” he adds.
An Industry Veteran
Innovu is led by veteran entrepreneurs, benefits and risk experts, and technologists who provide agile solutions that empower clients to integrate their data to gain valuable insight to make more strategic business decisions. One member of its core team is Kevin O’ Brien, the Senior Vice President of Distribution of the company. Kevin was also Innovu’s first customer. So, his background is actually on the insurance advisor side. He has spent 15 years with a large regional advisor in Pittsburgh. He brings an industry experience of how advisors are using data to uncover opportunities with their clients and how Innovu’s product can fill those needs in the company. Also using his knowledge and contacts, he has contributed to build out the distribution team nationally. His expertise positions him to leverage the company’s technology platform and service model to provide actionable insight into how clients can lower their total cost of human capital.
Robust Engagement Model
Innovu comes across few major challenges. One is about educating advisors on the value of data and helping them to transform their business model from a more qualitative relationship-based model into a more quantitative and results-driven model. Advisors that are succeeding out there in gaining new clients and helping those clients reduce their spend are adapting that quantitative approach much, much faster. Other challenge is about getting the data from the carriers, as carriers sometimes limit the access. So Innovu has spent a lot of time, through its on boarding process, in working with those carriers to educate them on the fact that it’s not about bringing to light or vilifying anybody, it’s about providing transparency to their customers, and ultimately, that strengthens their relationship and their value with them.
Innovu is not just a platform as a solution company. It also has a robust engagement model that actually comes with its software. The team at Innovu helps advisors actually do the analytics that brings the answers to the surface of exactly how employers could save money, which helps them to educate and transform that industry. The company is not delivering them a technology that they would have to learn and train people on.
Blockchain Playing a Large Role
Blockchain technology is transforming the storage and data analysis. Kevin believes that blockchain is an interesting emerging technology and the security, privacy and continuity advantages that it brings will strengthen the industry’s ability to protect personal health information, including Innovu’s. While Innovu evaluates the usefulness of blockchain in its business, security will remain a key tenant of because the company currently handles large amounts of sensitive data.
As viable and portable blockchain solutions continue to evolve, Innovu plans to integrate these technologies so as to continue to bolster their security posture. As a testament to the high value that Innovu places on security and privacy, Innovu is SOC 1, SOC 2 and HITRUST certified which has provided a strong foundation to build secure solutions and believes that blockchain may play a large role in that as it matures.