How risk management technology can save you time and money on commercial-insurance renewals
As risk and insurance managers know all too well, commercial-insurance renewals can be a time-consuming slog—especially if you’re using spreadsheets to manage the process, store the data you collect, and then prepare your reports and submissions. Indeed, it’s not unusual for spreadsheet-based renewals to consume 75 days just with collecting data and creating reports.
A manual renewals process is not only labour-intensive—it’s also open to human error and runs the risk of opening big gaps in your data.
So, what can you do to improve your renewals process?
Focus first on the fundamentals
If your goals are efficiency and cost-savings, focus on the fundamentals, which include: understanding the requirements for the submission; gathering and collating data; and investigating the data you get from the field for missing information or errors. Getting the basics right can be quite time-consuming, but it’s critical to:
- Be prepared: Understand the information your broker and underwriter need from you and have a strategy for collecting it.
- Be organised: Store all your data in a single, easily accessible location.
- Remove human error: Eliminate data-entry errors.
- Set up workflows: Create report templates to easily extract the information you need.
- Communicate across department: Ensure everyone is working to the same criteria.
Mastering the priorities listed above can be quite challenging when relying on manual processes. Relying on spreadsheets, email, phone calls, and to-do lists simply doesn’t scale like modern risk management software does.
How risk management technology makes renewals more efficient while saving on risk-transfer costs
Time savings
- Cut down the time taken to gather renewal information through automated workflows and questionnaire templates.
- Get easy access to data through a global entry search function and a range of data upload options.
- Integrate with other internal systems and pull data from other applications, such as payroll or vehicle-fleet databases.
- Easily create, distribute, and follow up on renewal questionnaires. Check data validity and data formats while producing robust reports.
Full, accurate data submissions
- Remove the human error that easily occurs when using spreadsheets. Data entry inaccuracies are removed through validation checks and controlled data fields.
- Avoid corrupt files associated with spreadsheets.
- Provide brokers and underwriters proof of implementation of risk mitigation suggestions.
- Ensure accurate data collection with enhanced questionnaire design. (For example, reduce technical jargon; ask only the questions that apply to a specific field contact; improve your contacts’ understanding by adding context to questions; test different versions of questionnaires with the goal of improving data quality.
- Set up trigger emails to follow up on actions, standardise questions and answers so everyone is working to the same process and easily output data into specified reports.
- For further reading: How to eliminate errors in the insurance renewal process
Optimize the premiums and terms and conditions of your insurance policies
- Reduce your premiums through accurate and full data submissions, which means actuaries can calculate your level of risk based on true information.
- Provide accurate data submissions, which ensures your insurance is at the right level of cover and you are not over- or underinsured.
Understanding the true capabilities of technology
Risk management technology is more than just a data capture and reporting tool. It truly can transform your commercial insurance renewal process, and your whole business. If you’re sure what your business needs, talk to one of our experts about the full capabilities of Ventiv IRM, and how a RMIS system can help with your next insurance renewal management.
David Thomas is Commercial Director, Ventiv Technology. Email DAVID.THOMAS@VENTIVTECH.COM or LINKEDIN
