Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE is turning to Silicon Valley startup Cyence an effort to boost its ability to perform global cyber risk analysis in multiple ways.

Their pairing will allow Cyence’s cyber analytics plaform to be combined with AGCS’s underwriting processes. By doing so, the insurer will be able to analyze cyber exposures at the company level for large businesses, a system that allows it to tailor coverage to fit specific customer profiles based on a detailed understanding of their cyber risks.

Additionally, AGCS will put Cyence’s cyber risk analytics into a new digital distribution platform that allows for low-touch, automated underwriting of cyber policies for medium-sized companies. On top of that, both companies will jointly develop a new predictive modeling tool for cyber-driven business interruption risks.

AGCS board member Hartmut Mai said the partnership is based on a need to keep ahead of new risks.

“AGCS has always been known for its industry-specific data-driven insights and predictive modeling,” Mai said in prepared remarks. “Going forward we must complement our technical know-how and experience with extensive data-driven insight and predictive modeling if we want to keep ahead of new risks such as cyber, supply chain or emerging liability exposures.”

AGCS is also partnered with Praedicat, but that arrangement focuses on analyzing big data to identify liability risk trends.

In a 2016 interview with Carrier Management, Cyence co-founder and CEO Arvind Parthasarathi referred to cyber as a quickly-evolving “profound business risk” for smaller companies, which made modeling for it increasingly necessary, he said.

Source: AGCS