Conversations naturally flow backwards and forwards, and sometimes go off on tangents, something that traditional business workflow processes cannot cope with.
Painstakingly mapped out and then built in a linear way, with one action leading to another and so-on from start to finish, the traditional business process workflow sounds great in theory, but we all know that life isn’t like that.
This forced inflexible journey dominates existing workflow process systems from online airline ticket systems through to commercial underwriting platforms. The rigidity of this approach means that if something needs to change and you want to go back to adjust something, you have to start the whole journey again.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Send has designed a non-linear business process workflow that reflects the real world and the organic flow of conversation for writing insurance business from submission through to binding. We still map out the core processes, but we break them down into interchangeable and linked mini workflows. This means that if an underwriter wants to go back and change something, they can – and any change, made anywhere, at any time, will result in the whole system automatically re-evaluating and updating itself – and fast.
Insurance is conversational by nature
Our approach also means that an underwriter can jump around in the process. For instance, at Lloyd’s, if you are a follower on a line of business you can bind and quote the policy first, and then backfill in the relevant information for the record later. In other words, the process can mirror the way business is done in the real world.
In commercial insurance in particular there is always something that needs to change. A customer may say, ‘can I add another property’, ‘can I change the value of this one’, ‘what if I only insure my US portfolio’ and so on. Insurance is conversational by nature, and the workflow needs to be able to work with, not against this.
To achieve this, we have identified the core, broad steps that most underwriting businesses will need – including sanctions check, due diligence, rating – and these are interlinked. But we don’t dictate the order, rather the system will automatically re-evaluate through the whole chain should any data be changed either via a manual data trigger or an automated one. This re-evaluation of the workflow then presents a list to the user of what still needs to be done. In other words, a conversational workflow is an event driven process, that evaluates the state of the workflow all the time.
Put underwriters back in control of the system, not vice-versa
Traditional, rigid workflow systems drive the user down certain routes – but that is not how commercial underwriting and insurance work, this approach wastes time, adds confusion, and puts the system in control not the underwriter. Send’s solution empowers underwriters, enables them to make decisions in record time, and provides operational efficiencies of at least 50%.
Our conversational workflow process is fluid, organic and configurable to individual business requirements, though our boiler-plate version already meets at least 80% of most underwriters’ needs without any customisation. Send wants to give underwriters control over the process rather than the process having control over them. We believe this has to be the way forward. So, let’s talk…
To find out more about Send’s non-linear workflows and how we can help you to become more efficient, contact Matt, Co-founder and CTO.
Matt.mcgrillis@send.test.betterbrandagency.com