--- title: 3 Ways to Gain a Competitive Edge in a Flat Rate Property Insurance Market description: Here are three ways property insurance underwriters can gain a competitive advantage in today's flat rate market. image: http://www.intermap.com/hubfs/Blog/HiRes-199136-edited.jpg --- [Investors](https://www.intermap.com/investors-2018-0) |[ Partners](https://www.intermap.com/partners-2018-0) |  [WebStore](https://store.intermap.com/MapShop.aspx?GeoLocation=World) [![Intermap Technologies Inc.](https://www.intermap.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Intermap%20Logo%202019%20-%20White.png?width=1656&height=277&name=Intermap%20Logo%202019%20-%20White.png "Intermap Technologies Inc.")](http://intermap.com) # [The Risks of Hazard](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog) ## [3 Ways to Gain a Competitive Edge in a Flat Rate Property Insurance Market](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/2015/05/3-ways-to-gain-a-competitive-edge-in-flat-rate-property-insurance-market) Posted by [Ivan Maddox](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/author/ivan-maddox) on May 5, 2015 1:04:42 PM Find me on: [LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanmaddox) [Twitter ](https://twitter.com/IvanHazMaps) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) While reading Gallagher’s CEO first quarter synopsis ([Best’s](http://www3.ambest.com/ambv/bestnews/newscontent.aspx?AltSrc=105&RefNum=182128), subscription required) I was interested by his thoughts on the flat rate market in property insurance: "I've never lived this way before," he said. "It's either one way or the other, where you've got rates coming down substantially and you're shopping everything, or rates are going up and you're scrambling to get the coverage you want." He continues by describing how comfortable he is in such an environment because his company is built for competition: “Give us a stable rate environment and … we will drive organic growth." ![competitive property insurance market](http://www.intermap.com/hubfs/Blog/HiRes-199136-edited.jpg "competitive property insurance market") This is an attitude that all successful brokers, carriers, and reinsurers will need to emulate. Successful companies will succeed on their competitive merits for the foreseeable future. Here are three ways property insurance underwriters can gain a competitive advantage in this market. 1. Invest in risk software solutions, like [InsitePro](https://www.intermap.com/software/insitepro), that offer analytics to let them leverage every scrap of data they have to the maximum benefit. 2. Reduce [underwriting leakage](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/2015/01/reduce-underwriting-leakage-with-better-data), which helps reduce costs and increase efficiency. 3. Improve an existing book of business by finding new properties for which the open market might be overestimating the risk, and shedding properties from their portfolio that are riskier than they might have first thought. [Risk scoring](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/2015/02/risk-scoring-improves-underwriting-4-benefits) can be used for both of these types of initiatives. A twist to this narrative is the possibility that better analytics are partly responsible for the flat rates. [Take a look at this video](http://www3.ambest.com/ambv/displaycontent/video.aspx?rc=miller415) filmed at the RIMS Annual Conference in New Orleans in April. It features Jamie Miller, Managing Director and Head of Property at Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, expressing the opinion that better modeling is responsible for the current market conditions. It makes sense that widely available and improved analytics lead to stable and predictable rates, because they are being used more widely, delivering rational information, and being interpreted consistently. However, it’s a mistake to think technology has solved the market fluctuations of property insurance.  Innovation will continue to drive competitive advantages for those who embrace it. In property insurance, this is even more pronounced because of the prevalence of certain models for certain perils ([I explored this a while ago](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/2015/04/if-everyone-uses-same-risk-model-is-it-still-useful)). Those who can innovate beyond the standard data and analytics will do well in this market. In fact, they’ll do well in any market.   Topics: [Insurance Underwriting](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/insurance-underwriting), [Property Insurance](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/property-insurance) ## [The Risks of Hazard Blog](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog)   [![rss-feed](https://www.intermap.com/hs-fs/hub/395294/file-2218415117-png/images/rss-feed.png?width=27&name=rss-feed.png)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/rss.xml) Welcome to The Risks of Hazard, brought to you by Intermap Technologies®. From the latest industry news and trends, to insight from thought leaders around the globe, stay tuned for a variety of content aimed at helping you better understand the role of location-based intelligence in the world of insurance underwriting and risk assessment. To see how Intermap delivers analytics tailored to your underwriting, visit our [InsitePro](https://www.intermap.com/software/insitepro) page. ### Subscribe to the Risks of Hazard blog! ### Posts by Topic - [Flood Insurance (64)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/flood-insurance) - [Insurance Underwriting (62)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/insurance-underwriting) - [Flood Risk (43)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/flood-risk) - [Risk Management (42)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/risk-management) - [Insurance Protection Gap (32)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/insurance-protection-gap) - [Private Flood (29)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/private-flood) - [Flood Modeling (28)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/flood-modeling) - [Property Insurance (26)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/property-insurance) - [Natural Hazard Risk (25)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/natural-hazard-risk) - [Natural Catastrophe (24)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/natural-catastrophe) - [Floods (23)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/floods) - [InsitePro (21)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/insitepro) - [Risk Scoring (17)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/risk-scoring) - [Wildfire (17)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/wildfire) - [Insurance Software (16)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/insurance-software) - [Insurance Technology (16)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/insurance-technology) - [Effective Underwriting (15)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/effective-underwriting) - [Earthquake (12)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/earthquake) - [Other Risk Models (11)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/other-risk-models) - [NFIP (10)](https://www.intermap.com/risks-of-hazard-blog/topic/nfip) ©2026 Intermap Technologies®. All rights reserved. | [Legal](https://www.intermap.com/legal) | [Disclaimer](https://www.intermap.com/disclaimer) | [Terms of Use](https://www.intermap.com/terms-of-use)  ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "WebSite", "name" : "Intermap", "url" : "https://www.intermap.com/" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "Corporation", "contactPoint" : { "@type" : "ContactPoint", "contactOption" : "TollFree", "contactType" : "customer service", "telephone" : "+1-877-837-7246" }, "logo" : "https://www.intermap.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Intermap-2019/Images/Intermap-Logo.png", "name" : "Intermap Technologies®", "sameAs" : [ "https://twitter.com/Intermap", "https://www.youtube.com/user/intermaptechnologies", "https://www.linkedin.com/company/intermap-technologies/" ], "url" : "https://www.intermap.com/" } ```