Majority of Underwriters Face Efficiency Challenges: Survey

Today’s underwriters struggle to maximize profit, according to a recent survey conducted by insurance software provider FirstBest Systems. The study considered 40 carriers, primarily in P&C, to better gauge efficiency in underwriting departments.

Results concluded that due to processing inefficiencies, 82 percent of underwriters spend a maximum of half their time on underwriting. Over half of underwriters work with four or more systems in the underwriting process and many spend the bulk of their time on tasks unrelated to underwriting.

[ Struggling with underwriting inefficiencies? Read: 5 Ways to Get the Most of Underwriting Investments. ]

Two-thirds of insurers surveyed identified underwriting as a top business priority. A further 29 percent said it was a moderate focus and 5 percent said it was unimportant.

Despite these claims, underwriting often takes a backseat to other less profitable tasks. 41 percent of respondents estimated they spend 10 percent to 25 percent of time on underwriting; another 41 percent claimed it takes up 26 to 50 percent of their time. 18 percent of respondents spend over half their time on underwriting.

“These findings demonstrate that underwriters need tools that are designed to fully optimize the underwriting process,” said John Belizaire, co-founder and CEO of FirstBest.

Kelly Sheridan is the Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focuses on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance & Technology, where she covered financial ... View Full Bio