CUSTOMER STORY
Helvetia Transforms Underwriting with AI and Location Intelligence
Discover how Helvetia and Precisely modernized risk assessment through advanced analytics and geospatial data
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Overview
Helvetia Group, a leading Swiss insurance group, backed by more than 160 years of insurance expertise since its founding in 1858 has built substantial trust among Swiss consumers, with more than 6.7 million customers placing their confidence in its comprehensive solutions.
Helvetia is a major player in the insurance world, operating in more than 100 locations across Switzerland and beyond. With a workforce of over 14,000 employees, Helvetia is committed to accessibility and personalized service for all customers. The company’s portfolio is spread across three main areas—non-life insurance, individual life, and group life—with non-life making up the largest share at 68 percent of its CHF 4.652 billion in premium volume. Beyond its core business, Helvetia stands out as a responsible corporate citizen, powering all operations with 100% renewable energy and supporting sustainability efforts by planting over 250,000 trees through environmental initiatives.
INDUSTRYInsurance
COMPANY OVERVIEW
- Headquartered in St. Gallen, Switzerland
- Founded in 1858
- 14,000+ employees
- 6.7 million customers
- ₣12.7 B in revenue
- 100+ locations
SOLUTIONS
Challenge
The company undertook a bold initiative to reimagine its underwriting and pricing operations using geospatial analytics. With climate risks such as severe storms and flooding on the rise, the company recognized the need for a more effective way to assess potential dangers. These efforts were driven by a strategic vision to understand the growing threats and future-proof Helvetia’s core processes for long-term resilience and accuracy.
However, their starting point was not ideal. “Our existing systems were heavily manual, complex, fragmented, and not scalable,” explained Karsten Nordick, Head of AI and Geo Analytics at Helvetia. “Underwriting and pricing involved numerous people and tools; there was no uniform data model for Floodrisk data, and tariff models treated all customers within the same postal code as having identical risk levels.”
This lack of precision overlooked the significant variability in risk that could exist even within a few meters, such as proximity to a river or elevation differences. Further, risk data in Switzerland is decentralized, with each of the 26 cantons (administrative districts) publishing flood risk information in their own formats and update cycles. This inconsistency made it difficult to use outside data effectively, thereby limiting the company’s ability to quickly adapt to risks.
Solution
To solve this problem, Helvetia built a service that can automatically assess risks on a large scale. The system utilizes Precisely’s location intelligence software and geo enrichment solutions, which manage how data is processed and enhanced. The solution integrates internal data, such as customer portfolios and property records, with various external data sources, including hazard maps, weather data, and building-level information. Sophisticated geocoding and data enrichment enabled the company to attach over 50 attributes to each property, including the number of floors, building area, and structural features, thereby generating an accurate and dynamic risk profile for every insured location.
“The architecture was designed to handle individual queries and batch processing of millions of records per week. Standard interfaces allowed for seamless future integration with new data sources or consumer systems.”
Karsten Nordick
Head of AI and Geo Analytics
Outcome
The results were transformative. Helvetia’s new system enabled end-to-end automation, eliminating time-consuming manual processes and also improving efficiency. It also enabled the integration of numerous external data sources to enrich address information and support tariff models.
Notably, the tariff models can now perform address-level risk calculations, a significant improvement over the previous zip code-based risk estimations. This ability allowed underwriters to differentiate between two homes that might be on the same street but have very different exposure to flood risk. This improved the risk appropriate pricing, ensured fairness for customers, and provided more sustainable risk management for the company.
Scalability was baked into the solution from the beginning. “The architecture was designed to handle individual queries and batch processing of millions of records per week,” said Nordick. “Standard interfaces allowed for seamless future integration with new data sources or consumer systems.”
In the future, Helvetia aims to expand the platform’s use beyond flood risk to other types of environmental and property-related risks. The company has already partnered with data providers to incorporate emerging datasets, such as real-time weather or climate risk indicators.
Next Steps
Helvetia’s transformation illustrates the strategic value of combining geospatial data with advanced analytics and AI. By starting with a focused use case and demonstrating value in iterations, the company laid a solid foundation for broader innovation. The backend was deliberately designed with a forward-looking vision, aiming for a future where potentially only a single geotagged photo would suffice, ensuring that such advancements can be implemented seamlessly.
Helvetia’s experience demonstrates that a realistic, gradual approach to leveraging AI and enhancing data systems can deliver tangible business value. Helvetia didn’t wait for all data sources to be perfect. Instead, they started with what was available, focused on business value, and refined the system as they went along. Today, the company is better equipped to respond to environmental risk, price more accurately, and may also extend its platform across new products and markets. The integration of location intelligence into core insurance processes is a core strategic capability that strengthens trust, supports growth, and ensures long-term competitiveness in a rapidly changing world.
Helvetia Group is the recipient of the 2025 Data Integrity Award for AI Innovation.
Learn more about each winner.
Precisely Geo addressing
Better understand customers, properties, businesses, and competitive landscapes thanks to accurately verified, geocoded, and enriched addresses that deliver relevant context.
