Gartner Report: Insurers Should Deploy Rules Engines for Underwriting

Posted by Guest Blogger, Ian Turvill.

James and I, along with our colleagues in Fair Isaac's insurance consulting practice, are often asked about the application of a range of tools, such as rating engines, product configurators, and (our favorite) rules engines, within the property and casualty industry.

So it was great to see some of our thinking validated in a recent report from Gartner.  ("A Guide for Using Rule Engines, Rating Engines and Product Configurators for Property and Casualty", August 9, 2006.)

Let me get right to the point with one of the three major recommendations from the report.  Gartner indicates that insurers should:

"Deploy a BRE to make decisions that are complex and that have a significant financial impact in areas such as underwriting, where rules can change frequently due to risk appetite or catastrophe scenario, and in areas of high compliance risk like renewals, cancellations and claims. This will enable better speed to market, avoidance of adverse risk selection and lower loss expense."

(With added emphasis from me in bold.)

Enough said.