The negative ratings were higher among frontline underwriters than management, says Accenture, “indicating there may be more of an issue than management realizes.”

“As the survey results show,” says Accenture, “a key focus on technology investments needs to be on effectiveness of execution—confirming that the solution being developed indeed improves underwriting efficiency and performance, rather than just adding another tool to the process.”

Accenture outlines the following five core traits that could help carriers get better results from their underwriting investments.

Clear Goals and Measures

Accenture says, “Carriers developed many underwriting tools as a response to the need for an underwriter desktop or workstation, but without a clear aim on achieving a business need—such as improving speed-to-market.”

Accenture notes that a previous survey it conducted found that by deploying the right underwriting components well, carriers can increase targeted growth by 15 to 20 percent, lower underwriting leakage by 30 to 50 percent and reduce non-value add activities by as much as half.

But this can only be achieved if insurers link their technology investments to clear business goals.

Innovative Process and Ideas

According to Accenture, “The effectiveness of any underwriting technology project depends on the quality of process it will support. Is the underwriting process precise, consistent and efficient? Is the insurer spending too much time and resources on business that is non-strategic? Is it giving up too much rate in negotiations?”

Accenture notes that nearly 40 percent of underwriters in its survey viewed frontline underwriting practices as average or deficient.

“Once carriers understand process inhibitors to growth, they can better draw on innovative ideas, such as new analytical capabilities or data sources, to help them think and behave more productively with minimal impact to underwriters,” Accenture states,

Information at Underwriters' Fingertips

Nearly half of survey respondents say there is room for improvement in accessible, intuitive tools, and sometimes underwriters can get bogged down in the very tools meant to make their jobs easier and more effective.

Accenture says, “Many underwriting environments today are littered with various tools—software applications, templates, websites, Excel spreadsheets and so forth—designed to 'help' underwriters. It often means that underwriters spend their time jumping from task to task, re-entering data into different tools to reach a decision.”

Solutions, says Accenture, need to focus on integration, delivering the right data to underwriters when they need it. “Every extra system, tool, data entry and mouse click adds to underwriting complexity, inefficiency, cost and a less-than-positive underwriter perception of value from a carrier's technology investments,” Accenture explains.

Modern Operating Model

Accenture says that insurers need to evaluate their overall operating models in addition to underwriting processes as part of developing a technology solution.

“Particularly, carriers need to know how well their authority structure can contribute to business improvement,” Accenture says. “Governance and controls that align to overall process timeframes and goals should be in place to nurture underwriting effectiveness.”

Greater Management Insight

Accenture says: “Tracking results and leading indicators across operational, transactional and quality metrics yields insights into underwriting performance.”

Accenture breaks the metrics to track into three categories: operational metrics, which track underwriting efficiency through premiums, staffing, systems and data-cost trends; transactional metrics, which track sales submissions, quotes and bind-rate data by geography, line of business and market segment; and quality metrics, which rely on qualitative and quantitative measures to assess underwriting quality.

Scorecards that analyze these metrics are “integral to management processes,” Accenture says, adding that metrics and targets should be reviewed regularly “in lock-step with shifts in underwriting strategy.”

Accenture concludes, “Performance management and governance around results will help insurers stay on track to achieve business goals through the market cycle.” Ultimately, Accenture says, some carriers will break away from the pack, creating “haves” and “have-nots,” with those investing effectively separating themselves from those unable to keep up.