Driving Profitable Underwriting and Producer Loyalty

WHITE PAPER Driving Profitable Underwriting and Producer Loyalty Tom King © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Table of Contents Fixing the Submission Process: Removing the 04 Friction The Pressure to Perform: Why Fix Submissions 05 Now? The CIO’s Challenge 07 Breaking Down the Friction: Key Submission 08 Process Challenges The PS Advisory Difference: Reducing Friction 13 with Salesforce 14 Don't Let Outdated Processes Hold You Back © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

Friction Gap [noun] The impact of imperfect processes, systems, and business practices on both the loss and expense ratios. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

04 Fixing the Submission Process: Removing the Friction All insurers share common goals: achieving profitable growth, improving their combined ratios, and maintaining strong, dependable relationships with producers. While insurtech innovations and AI are often marketed as "reinventing insurance," this is a fallacy. The reality is that insurance is a time-tested industry — one that is heavily regulated and built on processes that are here to stay. However, there remains tremendous room for improvement. The real opportunity lies in removing the friction that clogs insurance operations. The truth is, the glue holding the insurance process together today is "wearing sneakers." By leveraging modern workflow and decisioning systems, artificial intelligence (AI), and modern integration techniques, insurers can reduce the friction and improve operational efficiency without sacrificing overall results. At PS Advisory, we help insurers eliminate manual processes, automate what can be automated, and allow their people to focus on high-value tasks. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

05 The Pressure to Perform: Why Fix Surprisingly, data shows that Submissions Now? outperforming insurers do not always achieve their results through lean operations alone. According to recent analysis of AM Best data: The fact is, there is friction in all insurance processes. Whether it’s claims, billing, underwriting, submissions, accounting or operations in general. Just about every insurer out there has inefficiencies that are impacting 59% their profitability and ability to respond to the market. It’s impossible to attack it all at once. of insurers that have lower Instead, the object is to create an environment combined ratios than their of “continuous improvement”, where the competition have higher insurer is constantly making improvements to expense ratios but lower loss individual processes, leveraging tools and ratios. lessons learned to continually add to the transformation of the organization. Similar to getting in shape, it’s not done all at once, it takes time and it never ends. The workouts might change, the diet may continually be adjusted but to make gains and continue to stay in shape it takes a change in lifestyle and that is the path the industry is on right now, a lifestyle change. ONLY The submission process — the engine for underwriting and new business — has a 22% tremendous amount of friction in it. This is of outperformers manage to especially true for commercial lines property, achieve both lower expense ratios casualty and group life business. The best place to watch this play out is the critical role and lower loss ratios. submission plays in driving both expense and loss ratios (while life insurance doesn’t leverage the combined ratio the same way that property casualty does, the same issues trends play out in a similar way). CIOs, COOs, and other insurance leaders know this: a smoother, faster submission process leads to better results across the board. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

06 CHART PLACEHOLDER With the right approach and technology, insurers can reduce their expense ratios without compromising results. This may be a surprise, most people Insurers often solve would guess that the majority of insurers problems or improve that beat the combined ratio for their results by "throwing segment would fall into the “Lower bodies” at the Expense Ratio, Lower Loss Ratio” category but this is not the case. problem. These numbers illustrate a crucial point: Insurers often solve problems or improve results by "throwing bodies” at the problem. Whenever insurers have wanted to improve customer service, reduce processing times, improve service to agents, address claims issues or improve underwriting results the traditional approach has been to add more people to the mix. This approach raises the expense ratio but also generally has the (not guaranteed) effect of lowering the loss ratio. With modern tools like AI and Salesforce’s insurance solutions, CIOs can now improve both expense ratios and loss ratios by eliminating friction. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

07 The CIO’s Challenge CIOs in the insurance industry face immense pressure. With an average tenure of just four How are my years[1], they must navigate legacy systems initiatives while delivering transformative projects. Too removing many CIO’s are faced with the challenge of friction, lowering keeping the lights on. They, and the insurers they work for, would be better served if they costs, and could look at projects and ask the question driving better “how is this project going to impact my underwriting combined ratio? What’s the impact on the results? expense and loss ratio?” To thrive, CIOs must ask: How are my initiatives removing friction, lowering costs, and driving better underwriting results? The submission process is a prime place to start. By leveraging AI, process automation, and digital transformation, insurers can: Reduce setup time Stop leaving money on and errors. the table. Improve compliance Serve producers and underwriting better. discipline. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

08 Breaking Down the Friction: KEY SUBMISSION PROCESS CHALLENGES Case Study LWCC At Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Corporation 1. Manual File (LWCC), automating submission intake reduced file setup time from Setup 30 minutes to 2 minutes using OCR. This enabled LWCC to: The Problem: Submissions still arrive via email as PDF Increase straight- attachments. Underwriters or support staff manually review these files, re-keying data into through processing systems. This process is time-consuming, (STP) for full issuance of error-prone, and expensive. submissions from 40% to 71%. The Solution: Provided instant Up until recently “state of the art” for feedback to producers processing the dirty in-box was OCR and business rules. While this can be very effective, set-up and training can require a significant amount of work, both for set-up and Enabled submission of maintenance. Especially for insurers with a applications using significant book of products that work across either the LWCC portal multiple markets. What’s changed is that Visual AI and industry specific toolsets such as or email Salesforce’s insurance solutions can dramatically speed setup and maintenance Reduced & eliminated over time. These tools: human intervention in most file set-up Extract data from PDFs and emails. Populate underwriting systems automatically. Free underwriters to Validate data against business rules and focus on complex risks third-party sources. Can provide quick quotes and instant feedback to producers Can manage In Good Order, Appetite and Improve producer Clearance testing much more effectively than satisfaction with faster ever before. responses[2]. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

09 2. Producer Experience: Faster, Smarter Responses The Problem: The average agency/brokerage works with 17 carriers[3]. Most insurers want to be one of the top three markets with the producers they work with. Due to this, most insurers have some sort of program in place to make themselves easier to work with. Producers rely on quick feedback to build client strategies. Delayed responses—or worse, silence—damage relationships and drive business to competitors. When it comes to what is important to producers, timeliness on quotes is second only to claims service to the client. CHART PLACEHOLDER © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

10 The Solution Salesforce’s integrated solutions provide insurers with tools to: Prioritize submissions: Leveraging the automated file set up in conjunction with AI and business rule evaluation, today’s underwriting desktop can review all incoming applications for desirability and stack rank them in order of preference for appetite, profitability, experience with the producer and general fit. This is not meant to force Underwriters into piece work but to help them prioritize accounts. Deliver faster quotes: Underwriting workbenches integrate data, rules, and AI to provide timely pricing indications. Instead of relying on the Underwriter and support staff to move applications from stage to stage, the underwriting desktop helps to manage the full end to end process. Collaborate seamlessly: Salesforce workflows enable real-time communication between underwriters and producers. This can be through the channel the producer wants to work with. While a producer may not submit an application through a portal, they will often collaborate with Underwriting on a portal if the portal provides value added service and speeds processing. Case Study N2G N2G Worldwide Insurance Services simplified complex, multinational submissions using Salesforce tools. Results included Faster, multi-line quotes for 25% improvement in Consolidation of systems global risks in a single underwriting from seven to three, proposal, improving documentation. increasing efficiency. producer loyalty[4]. By removing friction, N2G strengthened its producer relationships and streamlined underwriting processes. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

11 3. Stopping Missed Opportunities The Problem: A standard lament is that Underwriters don’t have the time to evaluate all of the applications they receive. They tend to focus on producers they have relationships with and producers that are persistent. This often leaves other applications untouched. This leads to missed business opportunities and untapped revenue. The Solution: AI and business rules automate submission prioritization: AI reviews all submissions and flags high-potential risks. Underwriting systems "stack rank" submissions by appetite, profitability, and other criteria. Low-value submissions can be automatically declined or routed for further review. This ensures insurers do not leave money on the table while maintaining underwriting discipline. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

12 4. Compliance and Underwriting Discipline The Problem: Manual processes make it difficult to enforce underwriting guidelines and regulatory requirements consistently. The Solution: Salesforce platforms enforce rules through automation and validation. Integrated AI tools ensure: Submissions meet underwriting guidelines, have passed clearance and are in good order before they are reviewed. Regulatory requirements are satisfied with audit trails. All actions are documented, improving transparency and control. These enhancements reduce risk, improve consistency, and create a foundation for scalable growth. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

13 The PS Advisory Difference: Reducing Friction with Salesforce At PS Advisory, we only focus on the insurance industry. We bring deep industry expertise and proven Salesforce implementation experience to insurers. We understand that insurers don’t need to "reinvent insurance"; they need to remove friction from their operations. PS Advisory has been named the 2024 Transformation Partner of the Year by Salesforce for the Financial Services sector. By combining our insurance domain knowledge with Salesforce’s cutting-edge tools, we help insurers achieve: Faster submissions Better adherence and quotes. to regulations and guidelines. Improved Higher producer throughput with satisfaction. less manual work Higher Improved focus on underwriting the right business. productivity. Our work with N2G, LWCC, and other leading insurers proves that these results are achievable today. WINNER © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved

Don't Let Outdated Processes Hold You Back The submission process represents a critical opportunity to reduce friction, improve underwriting performance, and strengthen producer relationships. By automating manual tasks, leveraging Al, and prioritizing high-value submissions, insurers can: Lower expense ratios by streamlining operations. Lower loss ratios by improving underwriting decisions Position themselves for long-term success. The tools are here. The expertise is available. The time to act is now. At PS Advisory, we are ready to help you take the friction out of your operations and drive profitable underwriting results. Let's Talk Today. Act Now: Stay Competitive in a Changing Market. www.psadvisory.com [email protected] Footnotes: CIO Survivors: Why Insurance CIO Longevity Matters | LWCC Case Study, Celent Model Insurer Award, 2024 | Big I 2024 Agency Universe Study | N2G Case Study, Celent Model Insurer Award, 2023. © 2025 PS Advisory. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.