Utilizing technology can have substantial time savings and improve underwriting results. Seemingly simple advances can greatly improve efficiency and the user experience in the workplace (does anyone still use only one computer monitor?).
In the environmental insurance arena, we look for opportunities to provide our Clients with an exceptional experience. We have automated the mundane processes vital to underwriting; obtaining, organizing and managing documentation. Some may think document management is inconsequential, but think how much time you spent on the last real estate portfolio downloading hundreds of documents, with Gigabytes of information, 150 MBs at a time, then creating file trees, opening, and renaming documents, etc. I have not encountered anyone who enjoys receiving and managing the “document dump” that is necessary before beginning the real job of evaluating the risk.
Starting with an organized submission and a high-level understanding of the account early in the process provides three key benefits:
- Visualize the number of properties, the geographic distribution, and the occupancy types to formulate the underwriting strategy and to determine the level of effort needed for engineering and underwriting.
- Understand which properties have documents, the age of the documents and the need to fill data gaps with supplemental research.
- Reconcile reports with the Statement of Values/Property List to share with the broker and/or insured for verification that all properties are covered.
We find that having an organized data set from the start allows the engineering review to be completed more affordably and with greater confidence. Show your product line manager, broker and insured that you have control, understand, and can efficiently manage the account before and after binding.
To learn more, check out the Bell Oldow Environmental Jumpstart or you can reach me at Andrew.Stead@BellOldow.com.
