Allstate Corp. plans to bring nearly 400 jobs to Chicago focused on innovation and technology in a bid to improve customer service.

Plans call for establishing an innovation hub at the Merchandise Mart building in Chicago, which will include 45,000 square feet on the building’s 8th floor.

The property/casualty insurance giant said the job surge will focus mostly on its Quantitative Research & Analytics and Connected Car teams.

Hires will focus on adding more quantitative scientists and innovation specialists that back, in part, the QR&A team, which focuses on research, synthesizes data and builds predictive modeling. Allstate’s Connected Car division, in turn, has focused on developing next-generation telematics that might build on its Drivewise telematics tool for personal auto insurance clients.

Allstate Chairman and CEO Thomas Wilson said in prepared remarks that the innovation hub will focus on “expanding our world-class technology and data capabilities to help us better serve our customers, advance public safety and improve the quality of life on our roadways, in our homes and in our workplaces.”

Source: Allstate