The Past 4 Years Have Exposed the Urgency of Modernising Reinsurance Platforms (5 of 5: Lack of Visibility)

Blog Series 5 of 5

Sapiens Article Series on Why the Past 4 Years Have Exposed the Urgency of Modernising Reinsurance Platforms: Process, Control, Manual Processing, Human Error, Lack of Visibility.

Lack of Visibility

In our opening Whitepaper for this series, ‘Business Case for Reinsurance Administration Automation’, we discussed the two major disruptive forces that have forever changed the reinsurance market: natural catastrophes and COVID-19. In 2021 alone catastrophe losses surpassed $100 billion, with $450 billion in aggregate since 2017[1]. When it comes to the life insurance market, COVID-19 has increased life insurance purchases by 32%[2]. On the property and casualty side, the American P&C Insurance Association forecasts that COVID-19 claims will reach $1 trillion a month[3].

The insurance and reinsurance industries will have to deal with volumes never before seen, aside from the overwhelming complexity of each process and claim. Each claim is handled by numerous people within the organisation and by third parties. Each person has their own style, workflow, and even local regulations (for multi-national claims), What’s more, all data is calculated and inserted manually, further increasing the possibility for human error.

In the above scenario, each individual has only fragmented visibility of their particular link in the insurance claims process. It does not allow for checks and balances on the process as a whole, for weaknesses to be identified and solved, for data analysis, accuracy, efficiency and more. Combined with the dramatic increase in post-COVID-19 and catastrophe claims, reinsurance leakage resulting from these inefficiencies can no longer be ignored.

As in every industry, here too data plays a crucial role in decision making processes. The reinsurance industry has reached a tipping point where it is required to handle a constant increase in data volume for their decision-making process without access to the raw data that seems to be drifting further and further away.

Modernising our reinsurance platforms is no longer merely a preferred option; it’s a must. Implementing a digital platform that is designed with the user and the complexities of the process in mind is the only solution to the data and process gridlock we’re all heading towards.

A centralised platform will serve as an engine for accurate decision making and accountability for an organisation’s activities. Such a platform will shorten processes from weeks to minutes with high quality data and provide actionable insights, automated calculations, resilience to changes, reduced risks and ultimately increased bottom line and control.

Full visibility across the whole chain will deliver a “single point of truth” that ensures consistency, enabling governance and a flexible rule-based single workflow where all stakeholders are aligned.

Learn more about how you can modernise your insurance platform with Sapiens.

[1] Climate change making peak peril distinctions irrelevant: Howden

[2] The COVID-19 Effect: High Tech with Human Touch to Optimize Life Insurance Customer Experience

[3] Forrester’s 2021 predictions: Claim leakage top carrier concern | PropertyCasualty360

• reinsurance