In 2008, Accenture printed the outcomes of the primary P&C Underwriting Survey in partnership with The Institutes. Because the longest-running longitudinal underwriting survey within the insurance coverage trade, this report reveals a holistic image of the place underwriting has been—and the place we’re going. Specifically, it exhibits us the connection between the targets leaders set during the last decade and what the tangible progress has resulted from these initiatives.
One of many key insights I gleaned from the 2021 P&C Underwriting Survey is that not a lot has improved for underwriters during the last 15 years. Regardless of leaps ahead in expertise, underwriters nonetheless face the identical challenges they did in 2008 and, in some areas, the state of underwriting as a core perform of the insurance coverage enterprise has worsened.
In my earlier posts, I mentioned the shift to automation, the results of expertise within the underwriting course of, and the diminishing deal with the work underwriters do. On this submit, I wish to spotlight the significance of the underwriting skillset and discover a special strategy to marrying expertise to that talent set which is able to make underwriters’ jobs simpler and simpler.
Again in 2008, our survey revealed that greater than 40% of underwriters’ time was spent on non-core duties. Underwriters had been struggling to maneuver on from legacy programs and undertake new options. Quick ahead to 2021 and the latest survey exhibits that solely 35% of underwriters really feel that expertise has decreased their workload. In 2008, that quantity was practically equal, at 36%.
In each 2008 and 2021, a scarcity of knowledge integration was cited as a problem that accompanied new expertise, with 72% of respondents in each years reporting the problem. In 2021, 79% of respondents reported that lack of course of integration was the most important cause expertise negatively impacted their workload.
This knowledge made me replicate on the day-to-day tasks of the underwriter and take into consideration why expertise hasn’t made the act of underwriting any simpler. Right this moment’s responses present that there’s much less worth positioned on underwriters themselves. There’s empirical proof for this together with knowledge displaying that survey respondents largely see underwriting recruitment, coaching and retention packages of their organizations as poor.
Moreover, deal with core underwriting controls and self-discipline is down: simply 30% of an underwriter’s time is spent doing danger evaluation and producing quotes. Danger evaluation is the core competency of an underwriter. Their job is to assessment knowledge throughout completely different sources and synthesize it to make an correct (and worthwhile) choice. With this lens, I see the underwriter as the unique knowledge scientist.
The status and worth positioned on the underwriting occupation has taken a dive during the last 15 years, which has left underwriters caught with the identical issues they confronted over a decade in the past. Insurers have prioritized minimizing bills and “demystifying” underwriting by automating the method or lowering the underwriter’s position in danger evaluation.
We’ve carried out this by offloading work from the underwriters, supplied new danger and pricing fashions to help choice making and tried to leverage automation to make underwriting simpler. None of those initiatives are damaging in and of themselves. All of them work nicely for assessing less complicated, homogenous dangers whereas driving down value and enhancing pricing consistency. However they miss the basic subject of extra advanced underwriting.
The actual problem is that underwriting continues to be a paper-first course of with necessary knowledge siloed in PDFs and spreadsheets hooked up to emails from brokers. To evaluate danger, underwriters nonetheless have to maneuver between completely different paperwork, in search of knowledge that’s formatted in numerous methods relying on the dealer it’s coming from.
Although we’ve tried to make the processes round underwriting simpler, there hasn’t been a deal with enhancing the info science facet of underwriting. This requires knowledge to be extra accessible. We have to implement options that assist underwriters extract, handle and assess all their knowledge in a single place in a approach that additionally supplies related context and deeper insights.
Many organizations have made vital strikes to change into data-driven during the last 15 years. Insurance coverage has all the time been pushed by knowledge, nevertheless it’s time to rethink how knowledge aggregation and evaluation are optimized in underwriting processes. If insurers wish to see better effectivity and improved consistency and high quality in danger and pricing choices, our focus can’t stay on offloading work from the underwriter. We have to assist underwriters do what they’re greatest at analyzing data, uncovering patterns and making choices based mostly on a holistic view of an applicant.
To do that, we have to contemplate third-generation underwriting platforms like these I mentioned in my earlier submit. It actually comes down to 5 easy priorities:
- Put money into options that pull all the info underwriters want out of their silos, bringing data from PDF and spreadsheet attachments into one place, finally eliminating that mode of communication altogether.
- Manage data, data and knowledge across the vital underwriting choice steps of triage, danger analysis and pricing.
- Current data in context. For instance, allow underwriters to take a look at new submissions in comparison with comparable submissions to assist them perceive how the submission or renewal differs.
- Combine this data-driven, analytics-first strategy into current workflows to make the expertise seamless.
- Arrange the standard controls, measures and suggestions mechanisms to enhance the standard and consistency of underwriting inside the new course of.
Fortunately, we’re already seeing insurers taking steps in direction of enchancment on this space. The 2021 survey exhibits that 67% of insurers will prioritize investments in underwriting platforms over the following three years. Seventy-one % want to add predictive analytics to their tech stack whereas 66% plan to spend money on buyer and dealer portals, one other solution to streamline knowledge aggregation.
If you wish to know extra about how we’re serving to firms handle these 5 concepts, let me know.
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Disclaimer: This content material is supplied for normal data functions and isn’t meant for use instead of session with our skilled advisors.
