In todays world, where snap decisions are a necessity at times, insurers face a difficult choice: Make a fast decision even if its based on incomplete information, or find a way to get all the data needed to make an informed decision quickly. For Chubb Specialty Insurance (CSI), a division of the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, the answer was to get its hands on all the data needed to rate policies on an exposure basis.

The company did not have a good process in place to improve the rating process, says Mark Berthiaume, senior vice president for information technology at CSI. It was all spreadsheets, he explains. The original plans called for us to build our own [rating engine]. But we decided we should at least look in the marketplace.The insurer turned to technology consultant Accenture to conduct an industry scan. We went through the process, and Duck Creek [Technology] came out as the only [vendor] we wanted to evaluate further, Berthiaume says.

Chubb was clear in its direction. We knew the way we wanted to improve our practices was to implement a system that enforced the discipline of rating on an exposure level, says Berthiaume. We wanted a solution that would meet Chubbs requirements for standard technology compliance. We wanted a Web-enabled system to extend this into the future. We also wanted this to integrate with our existing systems.