Underwriting leaders at commercial carriers carefully monitor their portfolios and constantly define necessary adjustments to their underwriting strategies (e.g., re-balancing the product mix for some classes of risks, growing specific industry segments). That’s the relatively easy part. Translating and communicating high-level directions for ‘front line’ underwriters (i.e., underwriters assessing risks on individual accounts) to follow is typically where execution breaks down. Carriers with scale relying on large and decentralized networks of underwriters are even more exposed to this common execution challenge.

Related: Creating an underwriting information advantage through cross-functional efficiency

The art of articulating underwriting strategies is to translate high-level directions into actionable pieces of information that can be leveraged across the process of underwriting individual accounts. If done well, there is an opportunity to effectively guide every single intermediary step and decision in the underwriting process. The ultimate outcome is a perfectly executed underwriting strategy.