In 2008, Accenture revealed the outcomes of the primary P&C Underwriting Survey in partnership with The Institutes. Because of the longest-running longitudinal underwriting survey contained in the insurance coverage protection safety enterprise, this report reveals a holistic image of the place underwriting has been—and the place we’re going. Notably, it shows us the connection between the targets leaders set over the past decade and what the tangible progress has resulted from these initiatives.
One among many key insights I gleaned from the 2021 P&C Underwriting Survey is that not tons has improved for underwriters over the past 15 years. Regardless of leaps ahead in know-how, underwriters nonetheless face the equal challenges they did in 2008 and, in some areas, the state of underwriting as a core perform of the insurance coverage protection safety enterprise has worsened.
In my earlier posts, I mentioned the shift to automation, the outcomes of know-how contained in the underwriting course of, and the diminishing handle the work underwriters do. On this publish, I have to spotlight the significance of the underwriting skillset and uncover a particular method to marrying know-how to that functionality set which is able to make underwriters’ jobs simpler and additional wise.
As soon as extra in 2008, our survey revealed that higher than 40% of underwriters’ time was spent on non-core duties. Underwriters had been struggling to maneuver on from legacy methods and undertake new decisions. Quick ahead to 2021 and the newest survey shows that solely 35% of underwriters really actually really feel that know-how has decreased their workload. In 2008, that quantity was just about equal, at 36%.
In each 2008 and 2021, a scarcity of knowledge integration was cited as a problem that accompanied new know-how, with 72% of respondents in each years reporting the issue. In 2021, 79% of respondents reported that lack in actual fact of integration was the largest goal know-how negatively impacted their workload.
This data made me mirror on the day-to-day duties of the underwriter and contemplate why know-how hasn’t made the act of underwriting any simpler. At present’s responses present that there’s so much a lot much less value positioned on underwriters themselves. There’s empirical proof for this together with data exhibiting that survey respondents largely see underwriting recruitment, educating and retention functions of their organizations as poor.
Moreover, handle core underwriting controls and self-discipline is down: merely 30% of an underwriter’s time is spent doing hazard evaluation and producing quotes. Hazard evaluation is the core competency of an underwriter. Their job is to overview data all by means of completely utterly totally different sources and synthesize it to make an applicable (and worthwhile) resolution. With this lens, I see the underwriter as a result of the distinctive data scientist.
The standing and value positioned on the underwriting occupation has taken a dive over the past 15 years, which has left underwriters caught with the equal factors they confronted over a decade before now. Insurers have prioritized minimizing funds and “demystifying” underwriting by automating the technique or decreasing the underwriter’s place in danger evaluation.
We’ve executed this by offloading work from the underwriters, outfitted new hazard and pricing fashions to assist resolution making and tried to leverage automation to make underwriting simpler. None of those initiatives are unfavourable in and of themselves. All of them work efficiently for assessing easier, homogenous dangers whereas driving down price and enhancing pricing consistency. Nonetheless they miss the basic concern of extra tough underwriting.
The true draw back is that underwriting stays to be a paper-first course of with essential data siloed in PDFs and spreadsheets hooked as a lot as emails from brokers. To evaluate hazard, underwriters nonetheless ought to maneuver between completely utterly totally different paperwork, on the lookout for data that’s formatted in numerous methods relying on the vendor it’s coming from.
Although we’ve tried to make the processes spherical underwriting simpler, there hasn’t been a handle enhancing the information science facet of underwriting. This requires data to be extra accessible. We now should implement decisions that assist underwriters extract, take care of and assess all their data in a single place in a method that furthermore offers related context and deeper insights.
Many organizations have made very important strikes to flip into data-driven over the past 15 years. Insurance coverage protection safety has all the time been pushed by data, but it surely certainly actually’s time to rethink how data aggregation and evaluation are optimized in underwriting processes. If insurers should see larger effectivity and improved consistency and fine quality in danger and pricing choices, our focus can’t carry on offloading work from the underwriter. We now have to assist underwriters do what they’re finest at analyzing data, uncovering patterns and making choices based completely on a holistic view of an applicant.
To do that, now we’ve got to be aware of third-generation underwriting platforms like these I mentioned in my earlier publish. It actually comes down to 5 easy priorities:
- Put money into decisions that pull all the information underwriters want out of their silos, bringing data from PDF and spreadsheet attachments into one place, lastly eliminating that mode of communication altogether.
- Arrange data, data and knowledge all through the very important underwriting resolution steps of triage, hazard analysis and pricing.
- Current data in context. For instance, allow underwriters to check out new submissions in contrast with comparable submissions to assist them perceive how the submission or renewal differs.
- Combine this data-driven, analytics-first method into present workflows to make the expertise seamless.
- Arrange the standard controls, measures and options mechanisms to strengthen the standard and consistency of underwriting contained in the model new course of.
Fortunately, we’re already seeing insurers taking steps in course of enchancment on this home. The 2021 survey shows that 67% of insurers will prioritize investments in underwriting platforms over the next three years. Seventy-one % want so as to add predictive analytics to their tech stack whereas 66% plan to spend money on purchaser and vendor portals, one totally different technique to streamline data aggregation.
Within the occasion you need to know extra about how we’re serving to companies handle these 5 concepts, let me know.
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Disclaimer: This content material materials supplies is supplied for elementary data options and isn’t meant for use considerably than session with our skilled advisors.