The challenge

The MGA’s requirement for a data analytics platform came from a need to better understand their portfolio business and improve communication with their capacity provider.

The company was also serious about staying ahead of the competition and wanted to aim for business excellence when recording and analysing data.

It was found that the team was lacking significantly in data and MI and were in search of a seamless solution which would help them spot trends before they became an issue and take corrective action ahead of time.

In addition, due to the shortfall of technical capabilities in the team such as knowledge of SQL, they wanted a system that any underwriter would find easy to use.

Basic spreadsheets as work-arounds

Before taking on GIROUX, the MGA team was using basic spreadsheets to track quotes but they were aware that it was not a viable solution in the long term.

A new IT system was on the roadmap for the company but they decided to focus initially on the data analytics requirements as they were likely to inform the scope of the IT platform going forwards.

There was much manual rekeying of data needed and therefore a risk of human error in recording the correct information.

One aggregation report in particular would take between 3-4 weeks to produce, because it involved many rounds of compiling, analysing and checking data.

GIROUX was independently reviewed

The MGA commissioned an independent review of the company’s data analysis needs. GIROUX’s combination of a cutting-edge analytics platform and experienced consultancy services came out top.

Collaborative implementation process

Implementation consisted of a series of workshops hosted by GIROUX to understand the data and business processes of the property insurer. They would then work incrementally in 2-week sprints, launching new updates and improving them on an ongoing basis.

The MGA team already had busy day jobs dealing with brokers and clients and so the development side of the business would otherwise have been neglected.

GIROUX’s consultants worked closely with the MGA's team to translate their needs into what the platform would be able to deliver. GIROUX’s extensive experience in insurance and data helped lighten the load considerably for the MGA team.

Following implementation, GIROUX provides ongoing support and training to all users on sophisticated report building.

Time saving benefits

Company-wide, the implementation of the GIROUX analytics platform has demonstrated the value of data discipline when it comes to preparing and formatting data ready for input into systems.

There is no longer the need to rekey data into several places as it now comes from a single source and is updated everywhere that is needed. In addition, this has reduced the risk of human error and data discrepancies.

The aggregation report that used to take weeks can now be generated at the click of a button, saving countless hours of work throughout the year.

In the longer-term the MGA is now working on a single IT system which can ‘talk’ directly to the GIROUX platform, without the need for human intervention when it comes to uploading information.

Huge improvements to capacity provider relationship

As a result of these improvements, the company benefits have been plentiful. Along with freeing up time for the team to concentrate on client-facing activities, the capacity provider relationship has improved considerably.

Now that the MGA is able to demonstrate a thorough process when it comes to their ability to report on a range of risks and risk aggregations, it is enabling them to access higher underwriting authority from their capacity provider and bring in additional reinsurance capacity. In turn, they will be able to access larger risks and start to build a bigger book of business.

The GIROUX platform integration will enable the MGA to stand head and shoulders above the competition and raise the bar for industry data analysis and reporting.

It is always difficult to predict where future losses will come from, but having a large, diversified portfolio will help the MGA to weather any future storms with more confidence.

Furthermore, the property insurer is now able to look at past performance in more detail by noticing trends from certain sub-sets which have performed better or worse over the years and demonstrate to their underwriter that they have a high-quality, robust portfolio.