Willis Re Taps SpatialKey for Visual Insights into Catastrophic Risk Exposure

WESTFIELD, Mass., Nov. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- SpatialKey, a leading provider of SaaS-based location intelligence technology, today announced that global reinsurance advisor, Willis Re, a unit of Willis Group Holdings (NYSE: WSH), has established a long-term relationship with SpatialKey as part of its strategy to use breakthrough technology to develop intelligent and practical solutions for risk scenarios.  Willis Re is initially using SpatialKey to help its insurance clients better assess the composition of their portfolios and identify their exposure to natural and man-made hazards, including hurricanes, terrorism, tornados, and wildfires.  SpatialKey is a next-generation, web-based analytic and mapping platform that enables Willis Re to perform sophisticated, multidimensional analyses of portfolios and risks far faster and at a deeper level than existing solutions in the industry.

SpatialKey's interactivity and location-based visualization capabilities allow Willis Re and its clients to more quickly assess, understand, and quantify risks. As a result, they can make deeply informed portfolio and reinsurance decisions in minutes that would previously have taken hours or days.  The ease-of-use and speed of SpatialKey's rich visual application improves Willis Re's ability to collaborate with its clients in the analysis and decision-making process and promotes more effective and timely portfolio management.

SpatialKey's software blends business and location intelligence to combine client data, including hazard information, in highly intuitive maps and analyses that make risk levels instantly apparent.  SpatialKey is designed to geographically depict a portfolio's data attributes to facilitate risk assessment.  The tool also enables Willis Re's clients to directly integrate their own data layers into the system, allowing them to iterate and interrogate their own ideas on the fly.

"SpatialKey gives us a faster, more powerful, visual way to both analyze and communicate risk exposure information to our clients. It allows us to show them where they are properly protected as well as where they are in jeopardy and may need to alter their strategy," said Vaughn Jensen, Executive Vice President at Willis Re. "SpatialKey's flexible, easy-to-use platform, combined with our market-leading expertise and analytics, allows Willis Re to deliver an unprecedented level of insight that will help our clients optimize their portfolios and risk profiles for maximum profitability."

"Location is clearly a critical component of any insurance analysis, but the industry has been limited by traditional GIS and spreadsheet tools that require insurance professionals to evaluate data by ZIP code or county, with no way to easily understand and communicate how location correlates to results," said Tom Link, General Manager of SpatialKey.  "Using location intelligence technology from SpatialKey, leading companies such as Willis Re can help clients clearly understand where they have risk density in their portfolios and better manage risk by spreading it out geographically and developing other risk mitigation strategies that directly affect their bottom line.  We look forward to working with Willis Re to further evolve its capabilities and continue to deliver a superior level of service and insight to its clients."

About Willis Re

One of the world's leading reinsurance brokers, Willis Re is known for its world-class analytics capabilities which it combines with its capital markets and reinsurance expertise in a seamless, integrated offering that helps clients increase the value of their businesses. Willis Re serves the risk management and risk transfer needs of a diverse, global client base that includes all of the world's top insurance and reinsurance carriers, as well as national catastrophe schemes in many countries around the world. The broker's global team of experts offers services and advice that help clients make better reinsurance decisions, access worldwide capital markets and negotiate optimum terms. For more information, visit www.WillisRe.com .

About Willis

Willis Group Holdings plc is a leading global insurance broker. Through its subsidiaries, Willis develops and delivers professional insurance, reinsurance, risk management, financial and human resource consulting and actuarial services to corporations, public entities and institutions around the world. Willis has more than 400 offices in nearly 120 countries, with a global team of approximately 17,000 employees serving clients in virtually every part of the world. Additional information on Willis may be found at www.willis.com.

About SpatialKey

SpatialKey puts the power of location intelligence in the hands of decision makers. No programming. No specialists. No waiting.  Available either out-of-the-box or customized to meet your specific location intelligence requirements, this easy-to-use, SaaS solution accelerates understanding, collaboration, and action. Cost effective deployment from small workgroups to large organizations takes under a few hours. Nothing unlocks the full potential of location information like SpatialKey.  For more information, please visit www.spatialkey.com.

SOURCE SpatialKey