Insurtech Insights USA 2023 is holding an expert panel on the Bionic Approach Transforming Underwriting Capabilities in today’s hard market, organisers have announced.

The expert panel, which includes executives from top insurers as well as market-leading technology companies, will be exploring the challenges of the current underwriting market for insurtechs and incumbents, and looking at ways providers can improve their odds of success through innovative, game-changing strategies and the latest technologies. 

Titled Balancing Art and Science: The Bionic Approach Transforming Underwriting Capabilities, the session will see David Schapiro, Co-Founder, Planck, Massimo Cavadini, Senior Executive Partner and Global Leader of Insurance Solutions, Munich Re, David McFarland, Founder and CEO, Coterie Insurance, Sy Foguel, President and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies and Lewis Liu, Co-Founder and CEO, Eigen Technologies, pool their expertise and discuss the challenges facing the underwriting space.

Underwriting has become a hot topic – and a transformed space since the advent of AI and its widespread adoption. However, continuous innovation is required to further streamline and speed up the underwriting process.  

With employees all over the world now working remotely/hybrid, important questions have also emerged among leadership teams around how to win in an increasingly competitive market.

Furthermore, as cyber threats and the global political instability, combined with an economic downturn, continue to challenge the insurance industry, many discussions need to be had by industry leaders, to decipher the most effective ways of driving forward underwriting solutions.

ITI USA expert panel participants on the challenges of investment: ‘Balancing Art and Science: The Bionic Approach Transforming Underwriting Capabilities’

– David Schapiro, Co-Founder, Planck
– Massimo Cavadini, Senior Executive Partner | Global Leader of Insurance Solutions, Munich Re
– David McFarland, Founder & CEO, Coterie Insurance
– Sy Foguel, President & CEO, Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies
– Lewis Liu, Co-Founder & CEO, Eigen Technologies

THREE ways underwriting is set to change and evolve to meet market needs

The latest technologies have so far revealed much untapped potential in the underwriting space. And with a series of difficult challenges facing the whole insurance industry in 2023, solutions that can streamline processes and provide greater accuracy, are in high demand. We look at three key trends disrupting the underwriting space in today’s hard market.

1) Insurers can capitalise on evolving cognitive technologies to target discrete market segments.

Advancements in AI and data analytics are enabling insurers to further refine market segments and create new opportunities for addressing them with innovative products and services via digital distribution channels. One emerging channel is embedded insurance, where insurance is seamlessly integrated into the customer journeys of non-insurance companies, such as offering life insurance during a mortgage application process.

New cognitive insurance platforms are driving these new products and distribution channels, empowering insurers to capture opportunities. These platforms automate evidence gathering and provide real-time recommendations based on constantly updated data analytics, enabling efficient underwriting decisions. Cases that require further analysis are automatically referred to human underwriters, who can then focus on in-depth analysis, resulting in more streamlined decision-making and a competitive advantage in fast-paced digital distribution channels. Continued innovation in this area is expected to shape the industry in the coming year, as demonstrated by examples like a Chinese life insurer improving operating efficiency and customer experience through AI and smart algorithms.

2) Customer experience will be a driving force behind underwriting innovation

Customer experience will continue to be a determining factor in the digital competition for new business, with a heightened focus on meeting changing consumer expectations quickly. According to a Gartner report (Richard Natale, Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, August 2022), “By 2027, digitally engineered underwriting will have reached mainstream adoption in the life insurance industry, resulting in significantly increased revenue and underwriting profitability and improved customer experience.”

While younger generations have been early adopters of digital experiences, older cohorts, including those aged 55 and above, are also becoming more comfortable with digital interactions. Providing a seamless digital customer experience has become a minimum requirement for insurers to attract and retain customers. Underwriting plays a pivotal role in supporting the digital customer experience, particularly with the proliferation of customer experience technologies available through ecosystem partners.

As the insurance industry shifts from indemnity to protection products, digital technologies will be crucial in delivering differentiated experiences that leverage platforms and ecosystems for new product innovations. Product and underwriting innovation are expected to be significant sources of revenue in the coming years, necessitating increased use of AI, automation, data analytics, and cloud technologies to drive profitable growth. Insurers can modernise their legacy core systems to unlock siloed data, automate underwriting workflows, and provide a faster, more digitalised buying experience while tapping into additional data sources to apply appropriate risk management. This not only reduces underwriting timeframes and costs but also enhances the customer and underwriter experience, aligning with consumers’ expectations for seamless, proactive, and personalized interactions. 

3) Human and Machine operating models will address underwriting skills shortages

Digital technologies, including AI and automation, are not replacing underwriting jobs but rather becoming more essential as insurers face ongoing shortages in skilled labor. Insurers need to adopt a talent and investment strategy that focuses on digital skills in data analytics and no-/low-code capabilities, along with leveraging flexible workforces to optimise the underwriting function.

For instance, with the increasing use of third-party data, AI and automation provide an efficient way to ingest and process data, freeing up underwriters to focus on their core expertise of assessing and pricing risk while enabling timely and effective decision-making. Administrative work, which can account for up to 40% of underwriters’ time, can be streamlined through these technologies, enabling them to deliver better results. The first step in improving the efficiency of underwriting operations is enhancing the interoperability of back-end systems, which is crucial for simplifying customer-facing functions across product distribution, marketing, sales, service, and commerce, and leveraging an integrated technology stack across platforms and ecosystems. The combination of human expertise and machine automation can lead to a better experience for underwriters and potential policyholders

Want the discussion to continue? Join us in New York! For more information on Insurtech Insights USA 2023, June 7th-8th, at the Javits Center, visit here