RESEARCH REPORT
Intelligent underwriting
5-MINUTE READ
April 04, 2022
In brief
- L&A carriers are capitalizing on four underwriting trends: automated, digital, data driven and fluidless.
- AI holds the power to differentiate.
Reimagine the life insurance underwriting experience for productivity and profit
Life and Annuity carriers are looking for a competitive advantage. It’s why they’re applying technology and digital platforms such as the Accenture Life Insurance & Annuity Platform (ALIP) to capitalize on four underwriting trends: automated, digital, data-driven and fluidless. They’re rethinking the underwriting function with these four trends in mind to drive new business and higher levels of service and efficiency.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is key
Combined with automation, underwriting platforms and interconnected ecosystems, AI holds the power to differentiate insurers and their offerings providing a compelling competitive advantage. This paper explores several ways Accenture is working with insurers, using these technologies to reimagine the underwriting experience and produce results.
Four trends accelerating underwriting transformation:
- Automated
Applying digital and data driven underwriting from a holistic perspective and rethinking underwriting processes ensures widespread innovation and efficiency gains from automation.
- Digital
From electronic application through evidence gathering and policy issuance, digitizing the underwriting process is driving efficiency and enabling the other trends to flourish.
- Data driven
Supplementing conventional data sources with new sources such as data from health and wellness apps produces an enhanced understanding of risk which can be the basis of an improved experience while maintaining underwriting rigor.
- Fluidless
During the pandemic, insurers out of necessity waived the paramedical exams and collection of fluids. Rethinking the process post pandemic, they’re using alternatives to fluids that are based on data and predictive models.
Intelligent data ingestion & storage: Converting intake into insight
Accenture worked with a Tier 1 insurer to use intelligent ingestion to provide a better experience for its policyholders and significantly reduce the time and cost to issue a policy. Repeat customers now avoid the paramedical exam because the insurer reuses evidence gathered from the policyholder’s previous application, provided the evidence is used within a timeframe specified by the insurer. During the application process, the system automatically locates any previous applications, and if the date of the evidence falls within the expiry date, applies the evidence to the new application—a welcome convenience for policyholders and underwriters.
37%
Thirty-seven percent of life underwriters say a lack of information/analytics at the point of need impacts their ability to achieve business objectives.
Life insurance underwriting reimagined
AI and automation technology along with human ingenuity are driving transformative change in underwriting. It’s what Accenture calls a “3rd generation underwriting platform” designed to leverage the best of people, processes and technology to drive top- and bottom-line growth.
Read the point of view to discover:
- One factor that 75% of underwriters believe could drastically improve their productivity.
- How one insurer is assessing reinsurance options and making decisions in real-time
- How Intelligent Services is helping another insurer reduce the time and cost to decipher medical text coding.