Growth Without Underwriting Discipline Isn't Going to Produce Sustainable Results

Carriers need to strike a balance between operational and premium generating activities.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Inside P&C and have a chat about some of the themes I heard in my conversations with carriers at #ITCVegas. One of the most consistent requirements we discussed to affect meaningful change was the need for underwriting discipline.

There will always be practical considerations, such as budget, timing and competing priorities that any organization will have to manage its way through to affect change. After all, most organizations realize they can’t do everything they want to do at the same time. It isn’t reasonable or practical to try to do so, but almost every carrier I’ve spoken to recognizes the need and wants to get started.

However, while it’s encouraging that there is a desire to commit to making investments in technology, they also need to ensure the discipline to embrace new technology and the change that comes with it extends across the whole organization, not just within a single department or function. There is definitely a change management component to any technology investment, not just implementation and deployment.  

Why? The responsibility for growth has shifted from being the sole responsibility of sales, marketing, and business development, to include underwriting, IT and operations. Recognizing this, any investment in technology needs to have buy-in across the organization – and not passive support, but active adoption. Underwriting needs to be involved in technology decisions to not only get buy-in, but to ensure they have the opportunity to share the responsibility for articulating requirements. When they do, they’re less likely to push back or resist change, especially they’ve had a hand in helping to define it.

The discipline to embrace technology across the entire organization, across all roles and functions, is critical to sustain the path to ROI. Otherwise, an organization will struggle to not only recover its investment but capitalize on it and leverage it as a catalyst to fuel growth.

And that’s the most important takeaway for carriers: an investment in technology is a catalyst for growth. It’s the mechanism that ensures underwriting and growth are aligned, that ensures internal workflows and processes are designed to not only support growth, but sustain it.

Adam Cherubini

Send Chief Revenue Officer