HFS Highlight: EXL takes on the mission of crushing data silos in insurance

EXL’s data-led approach, combined with its domain expertise, has helped it achieve impressive growth in recent years, and it’s something we have discussed in our previous research. However, while this is a company-wide ethos, EXL is heavily focused on the insurance industry (it contributes almost a third of total revenues), and it’s an industry waiting desperately for somebody to guide them through digital transformation and teach them how to effectively manage their data. We recently connected with management from EXL’s Life and Annuities (L&A) and Property and Casualty (P&C) businesses to understand how they are helping their clients improve their dataflows, and we saw a significant shift in EXL’s mindset, and it features an increasingly solutions-driven approach.

The insurance industry is still lagging; digital is data and industry leaders who fail to realize this will find themselves left behind.

Every insurance carrier can point to a part of its organization that is mired in legacy technology, and as a result, has trapped data holding back operations transformation. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is embracing the digital revolution with open arms – the pandemic has even accelerated it – which means time is running out for many carriers to improve data management and invest in digital transformation. Last year we published our debut Insurance Industry Primer in which we called out the industry vertical’s struggle with digital transformation, and how carriers need to get smarter with how they leverage data across the value chain, from underwriting, to claims, and policy management services. The message remains the same; Insurance is a data-heavy industry – executives must address the inefficient data siloes which plague their businesses if they hope to keep up with the evolution of other industries and meet growing customer demands.

EXL’s insurance and analytics capabilities are undoubted, but the recent shift towards solution-driven offerings is resonating well with its insurance clients.  

We’ve written before about EXL’s deep insurance and analytics expertise, but it is the service provider’s recent investments in solutions-driven approaches that is pushing its insurance business to the next level. When we spoke to EXL’s insurance leadership team, they outlined a number of offerings such as data driven underwriting, AI powered claims and Exelia.AI. In particular, the following offerings stood out to us as starting to address the data chasm:

• AI helps insurers extract data from structured and unstructured sources and includes its own AI/NLP/ML capabilities. EXL claims the solution drives a 40-60% improvement in accuracy and a 60-70% improvement in turnaround times when digitalizing unstructured and handwritten documents, enhancing the quality of insurers data while reducing their reliance on manual labor. EXL’s domain experience with insurance-specific lexicon and ontologies is a significant accelerant here.
• Data Factory aims to create an end-to-end data management capability, from intake to reporting, which would enable quick data-driven decision making at every stage. EXL also claims that it’s Data Factory reduces data management costs by up to 25%.
• LDS captures end-to-end data flows for clients in EXL’s L&A business. This solution even has Xtrakto.AI built in to enable rapid medical evidence reviews, alongside AI/ML algorithms to create recommended decisions for referrals.
• SmartAudit is an AI/NLP fueled offering that hopes to facilitate 100% automated and integrated file reviews, regardless of complexity and data structure.

For EXL, deploying a combination of these solutions isn’t just a plan for the future, it’s something they are already doing for their clients. One of these clients, a global insurer, leverage EXL’s solutions to drive better business outcomes and customer experiences, as they said themselves:

“By identifying a custom yet scalable way to deploy NLP and ML to enhance the way we manage customer communications and data, we are creating an opportunity to dramatically improve customer experience and drive cost efficiencies.”

C-Level executive from a leading global insurer.

EXL believes it can help its insurance clients create a ‘one enterprise’ experience by developing connected dataflows.

The underwriting business is still woefully inefficient; poor data management means that underwriters are frequently left dealing with only partial or incorrect information, and spending valuable time, reviewing and cleansing spreadsheet data. While this will often leave them searching for required data from multiple different sources, it also makes the decision-making process incredibly difficult, impacting underwriting productivity and the carrier’s top-line. To combat this EXL developed it’s ‘One Enterprise’ methodology, which aims to create seamless data flows between operations and underwriting (see Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1: EXL’s “One Enterprise” experience could break data silos by creating seamless dataflows between entire organizations teams.

Source: EXL, 2021

To create the common data flows (which EXL refers to as “data loops”), EXL leverages several of its own solutions including Xtrakto.AI, Digital Invoice Processing and Digital Endorsements. It then allows each party to interact with one another in more meaningful ways; underwriters would have instant access to all required data and could make quicker decisions with the knowledge that all information is accurate. Some of the benefits beyond underwriting efficiency are outlined in the exhibit; fraud detection, focused customer servicing and better pricing decisions – all interlinked but never fully integrated from a data and processes perspective for most carriers. EXL’s insurance leadership team showed us numerous case studies of “data loops” in action, including a 40% increase in underwriting capacity for a leading London-based commercial insurer and 40%-70% improvements in efficiency and cost savings through accurate document processing for a leading global insurance broker.

Bottom Line: EXL is working hard to help its insurance clients address their data challenges through a solutions approach – and key clients are starting to reap the rewards.  

We all know that the insurance industry is plagued by inefficient data management, but for years incumbent insurers have been unable to fully address this challenge and make data an asset rather than a burden for operational processes. However, EXL has stepped up to the plate and is finally challenging its clients on their data practices, and it has developed a range of solutions that could help them create seamless data flows in both its L&A and P&C businesses, towards ultimately improving day-to-day operations.

Transformation journeys like these with significant operations overhaul are challenging for every carrier. EXL’s management team must continue pushing client success stories into the public eye to get clients buying both into their vision and execution towards data-driven insurance operations.