The excess and surplus (E&S) lines industry has come out on top from both a premium and innovation standpoint over the last year, and companies such as OIP Robotics are allowing the sector to continue adapting to modern expectations.
“Although this segment is unique in how it caters to niche type risks, there are a great deal of redundant tasks,” Martina Seferovic, managing director at OIP Robotics, told Insurance Business at this year’s Insuretech Connect conference in Las Vegas.
“By implementing technology that automates data entry driven tasks, along with delegating some of the common manual tasks, innovation and creativity is sustainable,” she said. “Outsourcing those redundant tasks has proven highly beneficial to many.”
OIP Robotics helps unite insurance and technology, with products that are tailor-made for the E&S industry, as the complex and unpredictable nature of the rapidly evolving space has made it more difficult to take off-the-shelf solutions and apply them to any MGA or carrier.
“We implemented RPA, our very first solution to the market called Aries, into many UWA tasks throughout the policy lifecycle, from submission entry, up to policy endorsement,” Seferovic explained. “We also built Libra, which relieves the pain of managing the Lloyd’s contract rules, data standards, and contract compliance.
“The latest product launched is Leo, a custom-made insurance CRM that is easily integrated with all the existing insurance management systems. Leo provides the ability to create a sales strategy to help grow the book, organize the teams, track productivity, and pull up hit ratio and loss ratio reports, per UW, per state or per carrier.”
Many players in the space are still spending money on manual resources to obtain and analyze data, however, Seferovic noted that if you're able to build technology with E&S nuances in mind, you're able to sustain pace.
“We've made leaps and bounds in the development of our technology, and that's certainly attributed to our in-depth understanding of our specific business,” she mentioned. “The E&S market is experiencing shrinking capacity and increasing rates, making an underwriting profit increasingly more difficult. When our industry struggles, so do our client partners, which drives our vision for developing innovative technology.”
Seferovic highlighted that OIP Robotics focuses on overcoming clients' challenges by creating solutions that can help isolate core issues and position them to respond strategically.
“If we can help a client determine a common characteristic with trending losses, then they can adjust their appetite or pricing accordingly, to remain a viable player rather than discontinuing offering coverage completely,” she said.
OIP Robotics automation presents real-time access to the developments of policies, to support swift and flexible changes.
“Our priority is to help our clients grow profitably and consistently, whether that is through our insurance-focused technology, our expert staff of underwriting support, or a combination of both,” Seferovic added.
Seferovic also noted that the E&S sector is experiencing employee generation transformation. With young talent coming in, senior staff are outsourcing non-critical tasks but, who you outsource to is critical. This is where OIP Robotics brings insurance-educated IT people to the table.
“Our American Insurance Academy stands behind each and every employee, so tasks don’t end up with a processor who does not understand your business,” she said. “Since E&S is free from rate, rule, and form filings, unlike admitted business, we can respond quickly to trends early on in their development.”
Seferovic referenced the Great Resignation Phenomenon, where research says that 40% of employees are considering changing jobs.
“Outsourcing reduces risks of employee fluctuation,” said Seferovic. “Seven out of the top 10 most wanted jobs come from technical fields, such as IT managers, data scientists, or software developers, and we provide some of the best digitally native staff who also knows insurance.”
