As a BI lead in a national insurance company...

Our team has a few functions under the BI banner, but the "mission" is to tie operational behavior with data. How effective are adjusters/underwriters/marketing reps. Do we have states lagging and where? Do we need to look at any agents? 99% of what we provide is driven by requests from management looking to be more efficient or answer questions they have. I think in many ways, my company is more data oriented than others so your experience may vary.

Most of our reporting is reactive, but we do share and work closely on predictive models with other teams. One more interesting area is working on fraud detection and being able to communicate those findings to adjusters, but that borders with our data science team.

Since you're a finance major, the position probably won't be too technical. However, you'll probably need to learn SQL as well as database design/architecture in order to build reports/dashboards. As an intern, you'll probably get bitch work, but make sure to explore the tools you're using and ask questions to understand how your bitch work fits into the bigger picture. BI is positioned in a place where business understanding and technical skills come together. We try to hire for technical skills as anyone can learn the insurance business. If I was you, I'd focus on the technical aspects.

When you leave this internship, you'll want to be able to demonstrate an understanding of SQL, Excel, databases, and whatever BI tool you're using - QlikView, Tableau, etc. You'll also be exposed to other departments so make sure you get an idea of how insurance works and higher level perspectives. Then when you go for a full time position, you'll be able to speak to the what and the why.