Historically, underwriting has been pivotal to the entire insurance industry. (Shutterstock)

Underwriters are charged with the essential job of analyzing and assessing risk so that insurance policies are priced appropriately.

Ironically though, there's been some recent discussion about a shift away from the underwriter, with technology driving this shift. Certainly, technology has taken over formerly human tasks in underwriting, as it has in many roles across industries. In areas where the underwriting process is straightforward — for example, in personal lines where key data points include the insured's age or whether he is a smoker— a lot can be automated. Automation technology can even go so far as to rate and price the policy and send back a quote, all without a human ever having to touch it.

However, there are a significant number of instances in which the underwriter's job is far too complex for simple automation to take over. In commercial lines, technology and humans work together in the most efficient configuration to ensure that carriers write an optimal combination of both volume and quality of business.

The critical commercial underwriter

Arguably, the underwriter is the backbone of insurance. Her memory contains a bank of information and reason gained from years of experience, and it is vital to pricing risk accurately. For the foreseeable future, the world of commercial underwriting will include decisions and considerations that only experienced humans can accurately make.

Take this fictitious example of a clock factory. The underwriter charged with pricing the policy looks at the factory building to make sure everything is up to code and meets spec. She ensures all the clock-making equipment is in good repair, and that all the employees are following safety procedures. She looks at the delivery vehicles coming in and out of the building and makes sure they're in good working order, and that they're following a maintenance schedule.

All of this may be managed with technology; however, what technology might not "think" to consider is the biomedical research facility next door. An experienced underwriter will know to add this to the risk when pricing a policy. This is a simplified example, but it illustrates the unknowns that can't be anticipated and modeled until their effects, or those in similar situations, have been experienced and analyzed.

While this type of nuanced human analysis is not easily replicated by technology, the underwriter's job can be complemented by technology. That is to say that machine learning, artificial intelligence and data mining, for example, are all technologies that help humans to be more effective, as they bring more data into the underwriting process faster than ever, which helps underwriters to make more informed decisions, and make them faster. Essentially, technology makes humans available to do what humans do best (thinking and reasoning), while technology does the rest.