Underwriting Submission and Management System
Business Problem:
A national insurer operated a division that specialized in selling commercial liability and workman's compensation insurance. Requests for quotes were received from a variety of brokers and often delivered to several underwriters located in different offices. Underwriters were responsible for the following activities:
- Making sure the RFQ is not a duplicate and being worked on by more than one underwriter at the same time
- Distributing components of the RFQ (e.g., applicant financials, personnel data, etc.,) to various departments (e.g., audit, loss control) located around the country
- Scheduling site visits
- Coordinating activities of the various departments
- Assembling and submitting the quote to the requesting broker
- Quoting response time averaged 45 days because various departments were located around the country and no central repository existed for supporting the process. Also, most bids were received by mail and subsequently had to be separated, copied, and Fed-Exed to the various departments.
The insurer's desire was to build an application that would have the following characteristics:
- Underwriters could easily identify if the RFQ was a duplicate.
- An electronic folder would be started for each RFQ that would track all activity associated with the quote process.
- The RFQ would be scanned and distributed electronically thus eliminating the high Fed-Ex bills.
- A work flow engine that facilitates material distribution and response coordination.
- A mechanism that would allow underwriters and their managers to see the status and activity levels associated with the quote process.
- Quote history capability to be used to identify bottlenecks in the process, measure timeliness of responses, and report on underwriter productivity.
- A mechanism for assembling responses and printing or e-mailing final quote.
Solution:
RESolutions Consulting designed and developed a Lotus Notes business application for the purpose of managing all the requirements stated above.
System functionality included:
- An electronic central folder repository for all RFQs processed by the company
- A scanner interface that enabled the underwriting assistant to quickly convert, disassemble, and distribute the RFQ electronically
- A work flow routing mechanism that automatically distributed the RFQ components to the various departments
- A tickler mechanism that allowed the underwriter to track the activity and progress by the various departments
- Quote history reporting that enabled managers to measure underwriter performance, identify and resolve bottlenecks, and respond to market dynamics
- A capability to assemble and print/fax/export the final quote
Return on Investment (ROI):
The following is a partial list of the ROI achieved by the insurer:
- Quote turnaround time was reduced from 45 days to 10.
- Fed-Ex distribution costs were eliminated.
- Material distribution timeliness and accuracy was dramatically improved as the manual process was eliminated.
- Underwriters and their managers could see at a glance the progress of an RFQ.
- Automatic reminders allowed underwriters to stay on top of the process.
- The final quote was prepared electronically, thus eliminating the underwriters need to manually assemble the quote using word processing.
