“As a trusted partner, UnderwriteMe have consistently supported Zurich in optimising our digital underwriting proposition. Not only has the UnderwriteMe platform enhanced our capability to deliver regular improvements that drives increased automation and a smoother digital experience for our customers, but our continued collaboration on key projects including machine learning and augmented decisioning pave the way for even greater success in the future.”
The Background
Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) wanted to realise their vision of delivering a step-change in the customer and adviser experience across the quote, application and policy management journey, with instant underwriting decisions at point-of-sale and actionable insights available in real-time.
Following a competitive tender process, UnderwriteMe was selected as Zurich’s Underwriting Engine automation partner with its powerful, API-driven solution, ease of use and life insurance domain expertise. UnderwriteMe presented an attractive proposition, being innovative market leaders in the UK and backed by Pacific Life Re’s global reinsurance capability.
The project set an optimistic goal to deliver an integrated digital quote, application and automation solution within 6 months across Zurich’s individual-advised product portfolio.
The Solution
The 6-month delivery timeframe was achieved collaboratively between Zurich, UnderwriteMe and Zurich’s other project vendors, culminating in the deployment of the Zurich Adviser Portal in October 2018. Knowing customer and adviser experiences early in the adoption period would be critical to long-term success, and Zurich immediately harnessed the rich new data and insights delivered through UnderwriteMe’s integrated Business Analytics solution to rapidly address update requirements as they arose.
In April 2022, Zurich’s ever more ambitious vision of leading customer and adviser experience has led to the launch of an upgrade to their Underwriting Engine – UnderwriteMe’s new Augmented Decision Module, which enables automated assessment of common structured evidence data such as short insurance medical exams and pathology testing. Combining multiple electronic assessments per customer and utilising structured data flows from their medical services provider, Zurich now completes these assessments automatically, with the added benefit of enhanced insights using the new data flows.
How
In collaboration with Zurich, UnderwriteMe created a solution that:
Delivered a tailored journey to the customers and advisers buying Zurich’s individual-advised product suite – only relevant questions are asked, cutting the application time.
Supported application channel-of-choice, including telephone interview and customer online completion, assisting adviser efficiency, customer preference and broad adoption of the electronic application process.
Configured sophisticated rules in the Underwriting Engine, delivering maximum Straight Through Acceptance rates and prudent risk management, while at the same time being maintained by Zurich’s business users.
Delivered a powerful analytics package, giving Zurich the insights it needs in real-time to dynamically manage their application process.
The Result
Since launching in 2018, Zurich’s partnership with UnderwriteMe continues from success to success, including:
98% adoption of the electronic application process, saving customers and advisers time in the application journey.
2.5 times improvement in Straight Through Acceptance rates.
Sustained uplift in NPS results for Zurich’s digital underwriting proposition, up 2.5 times to 50% over the life of the Zurich / UnderwriteMe partnership.
Deployment frequency capability 4 times greater than competitors.
Actionable, on-demand insights and data analysis.
A platform supporting Zurich’s future innovation such as predictive underwriting, machine learning and other cutting-edge capabilities.
“We are proud to partner with Zurich to enhance their digital capabilities with our Augmented Decision Module. This has resulted in faster issuing of policies and enhanced customer and adviser journeys. We look forward to supporting Zurich to deliver their vision of innovation for the future of life insurance.”
