Today the insurers of manufacturers have a somewhat similar opportunity as auto insurers had nine or ten years ago. The insured automobiles produced a lot of data, which seemed likely to provide valuable guidance for pricing and underwriting. But first the insurers needed a way to access and analyze that data.

For insurers to benefit from industrial facilities’ connected things and people, four steps are necessary: Gather, process, and store data from remote sensors; apply AI and advanced analytics to that data; produce implementable findings; mitigate losses and/or improve the manufacturer’s operations.