FirstBest Systems, Inc.
Transforming Insurance Underwriting with Agile, Data-Driven Technology

Seeking to transform its legacy underwriting challenges, a global insurance company relied on the advanced underwriting workstation solution from FirstBest Systems, Inc. (Bedford, MA). The FirstBest Underwriting Management System (FirstBest UMS®) was integrated with the insurer’s policy administration systems to support multiple lines of insurance. By removing the constraints of inefficient workflows and paper-based processes, the insurer attained a 40 percent increase in underwriter productivity (measured in annual premium per underwriter) and substantially improved its data-driven risk assessment decisions.

FirstBest was born out of a series of exercises in which the company’s founders asked insurance executives, underwriters, and agents to explore how they might transform underwriting operations if they could wave a magic wand. The exercises demonstrated a need for modern, scalable technologies to automate the underwriting process and to enhance efficiency and collaboration in front office operations.

The FirstBest founders realized that tight cooperat ion among agents, underwriters, and related professionals was essential to produce accurate, cost-effective risk evaluation— but the industry lacked a collaborative underwriting environment. Also, underwriting operations often failed to incorporate appropriate data into the risk-assessment process. To address those common pain points, FirstBest conceived and launched transformational industry solutions.

Today, under the leadership of John Belizaire, co-founder and CEO, FirstBest Systems is a leading provider of underwriting technology. Serving U.S. and international property/casualty insurance companies, FirstBest facilitates underwriting scale, process efficiencies, profitability, and service excellence for its customers. “The industry is in a new age of underwriting, and a main differentiating factor for FirstBest is innovative technology for an ‘underwriting at your fingertips’ approach—enabling collaborative workflows, deep integration to underlying systems, and access to data analytics,” according to Belizaire.

“Instead of merely extending the capabilities of disparate systems, our solutions automate highly complex underwriting practices, so insurers can control, customize, and revolutionize their underwriting processes to optimize productivity and growth. FirstBest is the only provider of a commercialized, cloud-based, and dedicated underwriting management system.”

The FirstBest Front Office Suite™ continues to transform the underwriting operations of leading insurers through five key components: FirstBest UMS, FirstBest Agent™, FirstBest AppReader™, FirstBest Mobile™, and FirstBest Insight™. FirstBest UMS is the patented flagship component, comprised of an underwriting workstation with rules-based and data-driven underwriting workflows to ensure informed teamwork among all key participants in the risk assessment process. FirstBest Agent is an agency portal and complete pointof- sale solution for managing both new business and renewals. Together, FirstBest UMS and FirstBest Agent expedite comprehensive, real-time management of the submission process, while affording visibility into intricate risk evaluation processes for both agents and insurance company underwriters.

FirstBest AppReader is an agency connectivity capability for agents and underwriters to directly upload applications into the carrier’s underwriting systems. FirstBest UMS Mobile, available for Apple iPad users, empowers underwriters and producers to stay on top of their book of business from anywhere. FirstBest Insight is the integrated analytic engine of FirstBest UMS, delivering timely and contextual underwriting analytics at the point of decision.

Infused with a culture of innovation, FirstBest continues its market-validated strategy to empower customers with agile, data-driven underwriting solutions. The company is expanding strategic alliances with leading data analytics firms (such as Verisk Analytics), to actively integrate leading-edge underwriting technology and risk intelligence. With the goal of removing “blind spots” from the multifaceted risk-evaluation process of insurers, FirstBest continues to transform the underwriting process by providing even easier access to new sources of data and analytics. FirstBest also has plans to expand globally, while adding personal lines and life and health insurance solutions to its proven capabilities in commercial lines underwriting.