Discover how low-code automation paves the way to connected underwriting on a global scale

The insurance industry is at a crossroads. On one hand, an exciting future lies ahead where machine learning and artificial intelligence will find new insights, predict behaviours, and manage risks to create more personal offerings for customers.

On the other, many insurers find themselves hamstrung by siloed legacy technologies, which put roadblocks in the way of agility and responsiveness to changing consumer demands and market needs.

Gijsbert Cox, industry leader of EMEA and Asia-Pacific at Appian, hopes to dispel some myths that are holding insurers and their brokers back from the next wave of digital revolution. At this year’s Underwriting Innovation Europe virtual event on June 29, Cox will share a case study from CNA on how the global insurer created a truly seamless end-to-end digital underwriting experience, generated efficiencies, and dramatically improved the experience of its employees, partners, and customers in over 160 countries.

What do you hope attendees will learn from your session?
That they will learn that you can use a low-code automation platform to build solutions that allow you to connect all your internal and external data and systems to transform the underwriting experience.

I hope attendees will see how you can have one solution with all the information at your fingertips, and how that solution lets you share that information with colleagues and partners around the globe. We often see different systems being used between departments, business units, and countries, making collaboration very difficult.

If a solution allows an underwriter in the UK to see the same real-time data on the same platform as someone in Singapore, that’s really valuable and powerful.

Could you outline what ‘low-code’ means in an insurance context?
A low-code platform makes it as easy as possible to build an application rapidly. Traditional software development methodology often starts with business analysts gathering user requirements to create a design document and sending it to IT developers to create the application. This process often takes months, so by the time the business users get the finished application back, they may realise too late that the requirements have changed or been lost in translation.

The Appian Low-Code Automation Platform enables you to draw workflow applications in a flowchart, supported by drag-and-drop capabilities, rich user interfaces, and data connectors to accelerate creation time. Appian has invested a lot in the platform so that enterprise applications can be created very quickly and securely.

Appian provides a multidisciplinary team, with underwriters, business managers, and other stakeholders providing requirements for IT to create workflows and user interfaces in real time for immediate review and feedback. The speed of build is tremendously fast, taking weeks rather than the months that we’re used to.

Speed is important but we also live in a complex and increasingly digital world where we use data on a daily basis. We want to access data from disparate sources in one simple solution. We also want the agility to adapt quickly to a fast-changing world.

With a low-code platform, you can change data source, business rules, tasks, and workflows rapidly—no more waiting for weeks or months.

Why choose this particular case study?
Underwriting work typically relies heavily on spreadsheets, emails, phone calls, and documents. There is, of course, a reason for that. Every risk in specialty and commercial insurance is unique. It is often difficult for underwriters to analyse and assess based on a few data fields. You really need to be able to gather and digest all the information together.

CNA underwriters were relying on spreadsheets, and multiple systems to gather information, collaborating with employees in other offices across different time zones. Coordinating data input, managing versions of spreadsheets, and rekeying data across many different systems consumed underwriting resources, added time and complexity to the analysis and pricing process.

Using Appian, CNA created a solution to help underwriters analyse risks and make sure that the submission, quote, and bind path is smoothly managed from end-to-end all on one platform.

How can this address some executives’ concerns about upgrading their systems?
They need to know that there’s an alternative to the “rip and replace” scenario. There is a tendency to stay in siloed thinking if the standard approach is replacing an old policy or claims system with something modern. More insurance and financial services companies are moving away from this approach.

Instead, many Appian customers opted to create new applications to augment and integrate with existing systems. This provides a modern and simple user experience, while enabling them to access data from anywhere on a unified platform. Some customers may choose to migrate data and obsolete legacy systems overtime. We also see companies creating new business units and services on the Appian Low-Code Automation Platform.

What is one takeaway you hope attendees come away with from your session?
We need to reduce complexity to make it easier for your employees to do their jobs and for customers to do business with you. I would challenge attendees to think about how a low-code automation platform can reduce complexity for their workers, increase underwriting efficiencies, and digitise other insurance workflows, from claims processing and new customer and partner onboarding to automating contact centre functions.

There is a technology out there that not only helps employees become more efficient and productive but also increases collaboration. That’s what this market needs today, and insurers need it to accelerate their digital transformation and set themselves apart from the competition.

Gijsbert Cox, industry leader EMEA and Asia-Pacific for Appian, will be speaking at Underwriting Innovation Europe on June 29 at 4:00pm. The event is free to attend for insurers and brokers/agents, but you must register in advance. Sign up to access the content  live and on demand here.