‘Speed wins deals’ for underwriters, says SEND
For underwriters “speed wins deals” in today’s fast evolving risk landscape where lines that used to be “a fairly safe zone” for underwriters, such as property, are less certain and require greater forethought, according to Adam Cherubini, chief revenue officer at Send.
Speaking to Intelligent Insurer ahead of his speaker session at Underwriting Innovation USA conference in Chicago, November 13–14, he explained that the biggest challenges for underwriters centre on staying competitive in a market where risk profiles constantly change.
“The majority of underwriters we talk to say they were unable to obtain all the data and information they need to make decisions quickly and efficiently.
“Manual processes and slow extraction of risk submissions are putting commercial underwriters at a disadvantage,” he explained.
When it comes to the language used around contracts, underwriters constantly have to try and think ahead to remain competitive.
“They are constantly asking: ‘Do I have the right information to make decisions on those evolving risks?’” he said.
Cherubini’s speaker session, titled ‘Become the carrier of choice for brokers and clients by maximising your speed of action’, epitomises his point about the critical nature of swift and accurate decisions.
He said he chose this conference topic because: “Speed wins deals. Sometimes, the single biggest decision for a broker to place business is the speed at which the underwriter at a carrier gets back to them, even if they don’t have the lowest priced quote.”
He said that he wanted to help show carriers and MGAs how they could accelerate their response rate by improving their submission processes with AI and freeing up underwriters time from manual steps. Using these processes, carriers and MGAs can start workflows immediately, which means they can respond to risks they want to write faster, he said.
“Underwriters need to stay ahead of their customers' expectations. In today’s risk landscape underwriters are under immense pressure to make the right decision and do it quickly.
“Acceptance of technology as a resource to help them do their job more effectively, not as a replacement for their profession.
“Underwriters are being asked to do more with the same. Insurance-focused technology, or insurtech, can help them stay relevant to do more without the need for additional resources,” he said.
For Cherubini the biggest opportunity in underwriting over the next 12 months is around optimising the time they spend analysing risks, while nurturing their broker relationships.
“Underwriters who embrace technology to shape new offerings through API-driven architecture will have an advantage.
“With data coming in from various sources, it needs to be captured and aggregated in a quick way that makes sense and structured so that underwriters can spend their time managing risk over manual data manipulation.”
In terms of transformative technologies he pointed to AI, saying that embracing AI and real-time access to a variety of data sources will provide underwriters with the right information they need to make the best decisions on which risks to write.
“To help deafen the noise, underwriting should be moving to a world where underwriters focus on tech enablement and let technology handle the repetitive heavy lifting,” he said.
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