The insurance industry is in the midst of a dramatic digital transformation. In recent years, in common with other branches of the financial services sector, it has been disrupted by a number of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced data analytics. These technologies have created opportunities for nimble fintech start-ups to make a name for themselves by developing and marketing innovative solutions to specific problems, which in turn has challenged established industry players to digitise their operations. Meanwhile, the challenges created by exponentially increasing amounts of data also require smart digital solutions.
In this new world, it is essential that insurance organisations work to understand the technological landscape and identify the platforms and programs that can benefit their business model and help them achieve their broader objectives. The end goal of this modernisation process is to make their operations fit for purpose – and as future-proof as possible – in a digital world.
The power of data
In 2019, Forbes reported that 90% of the world’s data had been created in the past two years, and the pace of data generation has only increased since then. The leading insurers today are using that data to create insights in every aspect of the business, from back-office processing to creating sophisticated pricing and underwriting algorithms. But these benefits can only be reaped after the company has done a thorough review of the data it has and consolidated it onto a centralised digital platform, where it functions as a ‘golden record’ or master source. And of course, this platform must be flexible and scalable, to enable it to meet the ever-increasing demand for data processing power.
In some cases, insurers have built their own technology platforms to meet these data challenges. But increasingly, bespoke technology solutions are being created to meet the specific challenges facing insurance organisations.
Managing and governing authority limits is one such challenge – particularly in large, global organisations with numerous local offices and subsidiaries. It is also an issue for companies that delegate significant amounts of risk writing to external organisations, and that need visibility of the delegated authorities and an accurate way of keeping track of the limits. Using traditional manual processes, it is costly and labour-intensive to achieve an overview of a company’s total risk exposure; without this overview, it is impossible for an insurer to be 100% confident that no breaches of authority limits have occurred that could make it liable for damaging fines or penalties.
A single solution
This where Authority Hub comes in. It is a single, web-based platform that acts as a sole repository for limit data across the entire organisation. By digitising the process of creating, submitting, reviewing and agreeing authorities, Authority Hub enables insurers to guarantee that these authorities are produced consistently and accurately. Moreover, it makes it easy for those responsible for managing authorities to audit them and provide evidence that they have been reviewed and accepted by the recipient.
Authority Hub also offers automation and logic-based rules that can help insurers to rapidly define, compile and delegate authority limits across an organisation (and across delegated business as well), saving time and money. Moreover, it gives clear visibility of where financial risk tolerance lies, claim payments limits, and even where expense authorities are distributed across the business – helping to prevent breaches.
Importantly, Authority Hub is future-proofed. Because it is fully managed SaaS software, insurance organisations don’t need to rely so heavily on their internal IT teams. And because there are no additional maintenance and upgrade costs, they also benefit from up-to-date cybersecurity protection and features that manage compliance with the latest data protection regulations. Authority Hub also integrates seamlessly with HR systems, taking away another layer of complexity in managing authorities.
In a data-driven world, Authority Hub helps insurance organisations to manage their authority limits in a straightforward, intuitive way and provides a single view of compliance across the business.
