Send is on a roll. The insurtech company, founded by Matt McGrillis (CTO), Ben Huckel (CEO) and Andy Moss (COO), has been supplying out-of-the-box commercial insurance software since 2017, with a focus on automating tasks and consolidating the industry’s myriad data streams into a single platform which is entirely customisable depending on the needs of the user.

While the company has worked with some of the largest players in the industry, it has seen an explosion of interest in its offering since the onset of the pandemic forced a radical shift in the way we work, promoting a decisive shift in the market’s relationship with technology.

McGrillis joined the Re/insurance Lounge, Intelligent Insurer’s online, on-demand platform for interviews and panel discussions with leaders in the industry, to talk about how Send got to where it is and what the future holds for the business.

Building blocks

McGrillis has plenty of experience working with the insurance industry to improve its technological backbone.

The career technologist spent time working with the Central Services Refresh Programme for two years with AXIS Capital as UK and international solution architecture lead, before setting up Send with fellow techies in the market who spotted the potential for the venture.

McGrillis said the move was prompted by the realisation that maturing cloud computing standards would allow them to build a scalable, secure alternative system to those then in use by companies.

“We were fascinated about the idea of cloud-first architecture and how it could address one of the market’s biggest challenges—designing systems that are built for change,” he said.

“We were working on systems at the time that were built a long time ago. These legacy systems are typically siloed in nature, they can’t easily flex or scale, and it’s very hard to move data in and out.

“We knew there was a different way, an easier way. So, we created Send, and that was about four years ago.”

The company has gone from strength to strength since then, focusing on the pain point of integration and retooling clients’ splintered databases into a more usable platform, encompassing everything from catastrophe modelling to due diligence, sanctions checks and processing.

While that proposition has steadily gained favour in the market, McGrillis says the onset of the pandemic and associated changes to working practices opened the floodgates to new ideas and ways of thinking that may not have been given the light of day just a few years ago.

“If we were having this conversation two years ago, the CIOs that we were speaking to often had big ideas and were seeing good technology, but they were often met with resistance, because of the traditional ways that people have transacted insurance for the past decades,” he explained.

“The pandemic has changed everything. It has caused a change management revolution. Everyone across the world, across all sectors, has embraced new tech, including the commercial insurance sector.

“Companies today are looking for nimble insurtechs with innovative ideas to deliver that change, and in 2021 we’re seeing more interest than ever in our tech.”

Competition

McGrillis is aware that the market is becoming increasingly competitive, with numerous digital-first players entering the fray in insurance similar to the situation in the banking industry over the last few years.

While COVID-19 initially put digital transformation on the backburner, the mindset shift towards new ways of working has allowed people to rethink their strategies and the way they want to do business in the future.

For McGrillis, that means an opportunity to cement Send’s position as one of the leading underwriting workbench solution providers in the market, while focusing on delivering the efficiencies needed by their carrier clients.

“Our solution for insurers and managing general agents is that it’s all about streamlining. We offer a single platform for managing new business, renewals and endorsements—so all the information underwriters need is in one place.

“With advanced AI we’ve automated admin-heavy work and eliminated rekeying, which delivers huge efficiencies and speed,” he said.

“We believe that we’re the leading underwriting workbench platform in the market today. Not only are startups using our platform as their core system to track risks in one place, but larger commercial and specialty carriers are using it to optimise their complex operations across multiple geographies.

“It’s not hard to see why it’s been so popular—aside from streamlining operations and providing forward visibility, our customers report 50 percent reduction in processing time and 30 percent more time to focus on core work.

“Our platform really is helping to take all the stress out of the underwriting process and enable underwriters do more of the work they love,” he concluded.

Visit Send: the composable SaaS platform for commercial insurance at: send.technology

To view the full Re/insurance Lounge session click here

Image courtesy of Shutterstock / Sergey Nivens