19MARCH 2023CXO INSIGHTSBy Jim Foley, Vice President, Product and Underwriting, WellfleetTHE NEED FOR DATA INTEGRATION AND APIS IN TODAY'S BENEFITS UNDERWRITING LANDSCAPEHeld back by legacy technologyShopping in the 21st century is easy. Consumers don't need to put in much effort when it comes to buying goods and services. Why? Technologymakes it easy. From almost all our online and app-based engagements, like Amazonor Expedia, a few clicks and poof we get what we need, quickly. Further, these same services provide us withpersonalized offerings ­ like NetFlix's top 10 and YouTube's recommendations. We expect better, faster and accurate technology. And for the most part, we get it. So why is the insurance industry so slow to follow suit? The main reason - legacy technology and layers of hierarchal complexity. This includes technology that was built more than 30 years ago, coupled with patchworked systems that makes for inefficient capabilities. Companies add patches to their systems in an attempt to get the job done. Even though they are costly and inefficient, the thought is, that it's less expensive to keep the train rolling than to replace with more efficient equipment. This is where carriers need to see the bigger picture and identify how they can make their systems better for the long run. Especially when it comes to underwriting their plans. How can they do this?Embracing technology Carriers that want to improve their quoting and plan building need to break away from the roadblocks created by legacy systems, and embrace advancements like API capabilities. Why? The brokers and clients that struggle with errors resulting from data issues for plan builds, enrollment and claims with the end consumer expecting better experiences, like with a carrier's portal. Technology that leverages data integration and APIs greatly improve process. It creates and stores clean data across systems and allows IT systems to transmit information in near real-time. Redefining how carriers, brokers, employers, and customers interact.For instance, today, when a case is quoted, there are often multiple versions created. Ultimately,poor version control ends up with incorrect product plans being sold, which leads to major downstream implications -including lost clients.With data integration, as plans and rates are being built on the underwriting side, there is a real-time system of version control. No manual saves, no discrepancies, just the ability to provide exactly what was agreed on. This is where data integration powers retrieval of the approved quote and moves it to case build, portals and all the way to claims set Jim FoleyMaking Waves in the IndependentInsurance Channel
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