Sutherland Helps Global Insurer Reduce OpEx Costs and Customer Service Response Time Across Multiple Geographies and Languages

Industry: Insurance | Services: Data and Analytics, Digital Operations

Client Overview

An American Bermuda-based insurer and reinsurer, this company writes specialty lines insurance covering difficult and unusual risks, reinsurance, and mortgage insurance worldwide. With operations spanning the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong, the firm serves a niche market segment while competing head-to-head with large commercial carriers.

The Challenge

Addressing Underwriting Gaps with Scalable Data-Driven Operations

As the business expanded rapidly across specialty lines, sourcing high-quality underwriting talent at scale became increasingly difficult – particularly in the US and EU markets. Especially when considering the dual challenges of meeting demanding brokers’ expectations for speed while preserving rigorous underwriting discipline and risk assessment standards.

At the same time, the increasing complexity of their portfolio was generating vast volumes of data. They knew this data could become their competitive advantage – but only with investment in modern data warehousing and analytics tools that could cleanse, de-duplicate, and conform data across enterprise, operations, and finance. Without this foundation, decision-makers risked being overwhelmed and unable to act on data at scale.

To sustain growth, the company wanted to pivot to an operating model built on globally sourced talent and Centers of Excellence for underwriting and business insights, capable of working in English and multiple EU languages. The goal was clear: achieve scalability, cost efficiency, and technical excellence while competing with larger carriers to capture profitable risks and deliver a superior broker experience.

Sutherland Solution

Building a Multi-Geo Centre of Excellence for Underwriting and Analytics

1. Centers of Excellence for Underwriting and Data
   Sutherland established a hybrid delivery model anchored by two types of Centers of Excellence:
   • Underwriting Center of Excellence — Based in India and Eastern Europe, this CoE provided tier-1 underwriting and risk assessment services for the US, EU, and London markets. Teams supported more than $100M in gross written premium (GWP) for the London and Copenhagen branches, handling complex submissions such as Statements of Values with 500–1,000 locations.
   • Data-Ops and Analytics Center of Excellence — Supporting the Chief Data Officer’s organization, this CoE delivered a wide array of financial and non-financial dashboards and reports. Built on Power BI, Snowflake, and proprietary tools, it created a scalable foundation for enterprise data management and analytics.
2. Technical and Domain Expertise Training
   To ensure underwriting quality at scale, Sutherland invested in training artifacts, self-help knowledge libraries, and a specialized curriculum. These were tailored to property & casualty (P&C) domain expertise, regional market requirements, and specialty underwriting techniques, enabling consistent, technically superior output across geographies.
3. Quality and Consistency Framework
   Sutherland implemented a robust process and quality assurance framework to safeguard delivery standards. This framework was designed to achieve “noise-free” operations, with tight quality score guidelines.

The Outcome

Driving Efficiency and Excellence in Global Underwriting

Through a partnership lasting a decade and counting, Sutherland has worked with this client to build a multi-geo hybrid delivery model that combines underwriting expertise with advanced data and analytics capabilities. The result: measurable improvements across underwriting, data, and customer interactions.. 

By establishing global Centers of Excellence and embedding domain expertise, the insurer achieved a 45% reduction in operating costs and cut submission clearance turnaround times in half. Handling times were shortened by 20%, enabling brokers to receive faster, more accurate responses.

Operational quality also reached new highs. Underwriting tasks consistently achieved 98%+ accuracy, while customer interaction audits scored 100% call quality productivity. 

Together, these improvements gave the insurer the ability to manage complex specialty portfolios more efficiently, support profitable growth, and deliver the superior service experience brokers expect.