Insurers to accelerate use of automation over next five years

Written by Adam Cadle

13/07/2021

Global life and P&C insurers are planning to accelerate their use of automation over the next five years, according to a new survey.

The learnings which stem from a survey conducted by Willis Towers Watson, showed that most life companies queried said they currently use either ‘no automation’ or merely ‘some automation’, and conveyed that assumption processes were their least automated core areas of a valuation process, while data processes have seen the greatest investment to date. P&C insurers echoed the same sentiments that they also currently use no or some automation and revealed that engagement with senior management was their least automated core area of the current reserving process, while data processes were the most automated function.

“Insurers are looking to transform actuarial processes to achieve greater efficiency and efficacy, enabling more granular analysis and more frequent and timelier insights from their data,” said Max Drannikov, global product leader, business process excellence, Willis Towers Watson.

“Unfortunately, achieving this is a challenge due to several barriers, including limited time, staff and poor data quality. To achieve their objectives, the first step for insurers is to leverage automation to create the time and space necessary to invest in and achieve their ambitions. There are significant opportunities for life and P&C insurers to embrace automation. We have seen life insurers gain value from automation around model point grouping, allocation of IFRS 17 cohorts and economic capital processes. Many challenges P&C insurers face stem from reliance on multiple data sources and coordinating external/internal teams — they can combat this by automating data processes.”

Representatives from 52 life and 66 P&C companies across the world, including some of the largest multinational and domestic insurers, participated in the survey. Life insurers responded to questions covering data processes, assumptions, ESG, model execution, results production and audit trails. P&C insurers responded to questions covering data processes, loading/setting of supporting assumptions, loss reserve calculations, results production, senior management engagement and audit trails.

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