Thad DeBerry is excited about the future of insurance technologybecause of the many opportunities that exist.

“There is so much untapped opportunity right now to improve thebusiness,” says DeBerry, senior vice president and CIO of WesternWorld Insurance Group. “Maybe more than anything else in the lastcouple of years, technology has the ability to transform anorganization and change its future like nothing else. Having theability to make and see that kind of impact and drive a companyforward through growth and reach a new level of profitability ispretty exciting.”

Technology also brings with it huge challenges, according toDeBerry.

“Things are changing so rapidly, so taking that rapidtechnological change and applying it to real-world insurancesolutions is a huge challenge,” he says. “There are cultural issuesas well. Some segments of the insurance industry are staid andsteeped in tradition, so it's a challenge to break throughthat.”

(Read more about all our 2012 Insurance IT All-Stars:Peter Moreau, RichPederson, Rick Roy, and Bryan Fowler.)

A carrier's integration of third-party data and services is thenext big frontier in terms of the competitive space for excess andsurplus lines (E&S) insurers such as Western World, explainsDeBerry.

“We're trying to make a transaction seamless and encompass allthe functions to make the transaction complete—from inspections togetting third-party data for vehicles or property, all the waythrough auto processing,” he says. “There is a lot of opportunityto make things more seamless and bring all the data onto oneplatform.”

Surplus lines typically falls behind the curve when it comes totechnology, which DeBerry attributes to the nature of thebusiness.

“It's not easy to plug something in and have it work,” hesays.

Western World has been around for nearly halfa century, but it was only four years ago that the carrierdetermined that change was in order.

“In 2008 we looked at the surplus lines marketplace and WesternWorld's place in it,” says DeBerry. “What was fascinating about thedetailed report we prepared was that one of the biggest drivers forwhere people place business through a wholesale distributor is easeof use. That's something that was never really considered,certainly for Western World and by and large for the entire surpluslines industry.”

Western World started on a technology upgrade and integrationwas one of the major keys to the project, according to DeBerry. In2010, the carrier implemented the Western World IntegratedPlatform, a full-functioning underwriting guide with rules, rates,rate-quote-bind-issue, endorsements, renewals, and a portal forwholesale agents, which allows some of the functionality to beextended to their retail agents and even to insureds.

“When we built this, integration was the key,” he says. “We'vegot hooks into every underwriting function where we can expose ourfunctionality through web services. It's seamless where our ratingor our policy issuance can be dropped into an MGA's environment sothey can leverage the maintenance we are doing and the logic thatwe've put together.”

The carrier also built in some upload/download of data into someof the common agency management systems, which DeBerry points outis more typical for admitted lines carriers than for thoseoperating in surplus lines.

“Straight-through processing is something that admitted carriershave been much further along with for years,” he says. “We wereable to bring a lot of that functionality and ease-of-use into thenon-admitted world.”

Flexibility is the key to the new system, explains DeBerry.Western World built in the ability for MGA underwriters or WesternWorld's underwriters to customize by risk and built the workflowaround that.

For the most part, Western World built the new platforminternally. A key to the platform's success was the amount of timeDeBerry and the company's lead underwriter spent upfront talkingwith MGAs and working on the design.

“We did a fairly extensive look at the vendor marketplace andthere just wasn't anything that had the specific needs we werelooking for,” said DeBerry, citing integration, underwriting, andthe flexibility that the carrier required.

DeBerry, like many IT leaders, is concerned with the futuremanagement of the IT operation.

“Are there enough people to assume seats at the head of thetable when it comes to technology and the insurance industry?” heasks “There are tremendous opportunities and a big need for us toprepare the next generation. Finding people who have enough of thattechnology experience and marry it with the business is hard to do.We're forced to change our resource pool a bit where the businessanalyst role is growing out of necessity. A lot of organizationsare going that way.”

An inside look . . .

Thad DeBerry went to college to study business and it was hisfather that convinced him that computers were the way of thefuture. So DeBerry went to the Chubb Institute to learn the ITropes.

“It was a great place to go to get started with a career,” hesays.

DeBerry ended up in the insurance sector for all but two yearsof his business career. He was with Everson National when the CIOof Western World Insurance Group retired and DeBerry was selectedas his replacement in May of 2003.

Western World is an E&S insurer operating in 48 states. Thecarrier also has a commercial auto book of business that it writesin 28 states.

“It was an interesting opportunity with an interestingorganization,” said DeBerry.

Matt Josefowicz, partner and managing director of Novarica, hadthis to say about DeBerry:

“Thad DeBerry's work at Western World Insurance Groupexemplifies the strong impact that technology can have ondistribution and growth, even in unusual lines like E&S. Theinvestment in agent/broker experience that Thad has driven over thepast several years by integrating all new business and underwritingfunctions into a unified best-of-breed application has paid hugedividends in terms of increased business volume, tighterrelationships, and even attracting new distribution partners tothis midsize specialty insurer. Thad continues to innovate theagent experience, expanding his e-business system to iPads in 2011,and exploring additional ways to leverage third-party data tostreamline the new business process.”