04 / IBM · Open Insurance · 2022
Underwriting workbench
Policy tooling that gave underwriters a single, opinionated surface for quoting, comparison, and portfolio risk.
Role
Product Designer
Team
1 designer · 5 engineers · 1 PM · 2 domain experts
Duration
8 months
Platforms
Web application
Problem
Underwriters worked across five tools and a spreadsheet.
Quoting a commercial policy meant jumping between a policy admin system, a rating engine, a document management tool, an email thread, and a personal Excel model.
IBM's Open Insurance initiative aimed to give underwriters a single workbench — but the risk was building yet another tool that just added to the tab stack.
Process
Interview twelve underwriters, then design one surface.
01 · Job mapping
Twelve interviews across three carriers. Distilled the underwriting job into six repeated moves and one seasonal one.
02 · One surface, one object
The submission is the object. Quote, comparison, and portfolio impact are all views onto the same submission, not separate screens.
03 · Portfolio-in-context
Underwriters can see how a new policy shifts their book's risk exposure before they bind — the number that used to require an analyst's help is on the same page.
04 · Structured handoffs
Designed the referral flow to senior underwriters so context travels with the case, not as a follow-up email.
Results
Faster quotes, fewer tabs, better book decisions.
−54%
time to quote
5→1
tools consolidated
+18%
referral-flow adoption
The pilot carrier measured a meaningful reduction in average time-to-quote and consolidation of tools. The unexpected win was referrals — because context travels, senior underwriters engaged earlier and more often.
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