No.1 US Small Commercial Insurer partners With Sutherland for Building a Growth Roadmap, Re-Claims Market Leadership

Industry: Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods | Services: Automation

Client Overview

Operating in more than 35 offices across 14 countries, this leading international Property and Casualty carrier focuses on commercial, speciality and reinsurance in the property and casualty market.

The insurer was the first in the US to sell small commercial insurance direct-to-consumer, driving a seismic shift in how business consumers purchase insurance and building a $2B portfolio globally. Already guided by Sutherland as their operating partner, this propelled the company to premium status in the US, helping them enjoy a decade of industry-leading 20%+ CAGR growth.

The Challenge

A Dual Mandate of Growth and Efficiency Against Increased Competition

The insurer had pioneered direct-to-consumer small commercial insurance, but the market was shifting. 

With new competitors entering the direct insurance space and customer expectations continuing to rise, the company could no longer rely on its early-mover advantage. To maintain its growth trajectory while protecting margins, the insurer needed to revitalize operations and evolve beyond the model that had fuelled its initial success.

The goal was twofold: drive further growth and unlock new efficiencies. Significant opportunities existed across the ecosystem to achieve both — from enhancing customer journeys and modernizing engagement channels to addressing inefficiencies in policy servicing, underwriting, and claims. The mandate was clear: design a holistic transformation that would strengthen the business from the front office through to the back.

Sutherland Solution

A Roadmap to Measurable Success, Powered by Sutherland’s Digital Solutions
Bringing unique and unmatched expertise in US-based Policy Acquisition operations with a full suite of front-to-back digital transformation solutions, Sutherland was well-placed to support this transformation.
This began with an extensive strategy consulting exercise, resulting in a 3-year transformation roadmap capitalizing on Sutherland solutions.

• Growth Enablement
  Sutherland deployed a full analytics suite to strengthen growth outcomes. This included conversion funnel analytics to track drop-offs, interaction analytics powered by Sutherland CX360® to understand intents and agent effectiveness, and churn analytics using ML models to predict attrition. Together, these tools provided actionable insights to improve lead quality, retention, and conversion. Personalized marketing campaigns, delivered through Oracle Eloqua and custom video content from Sutherland Labs, boosted cross-sell and upsell.
• CX-Led Digital Transformation
  Customer journeys were redesigned across all digital assets following a detailed heuristics evaluation of client platforms. The redesign also drew on competitive benchmarking, social media scans, and customer feedback gathered by licensed agents. A Digital Engagement Centre powered by Sutherland Connect® was launched to provide omnichannel contact center solutions, with unified desktop access, conversational AI, and agent assist. This improved consistency across touchpoints and reduced friction in customer interactions.
• Hyperautomation with Robility®
  High-volume policy servicing requests such as address changes, payment updates, and certificate issuance were automated through Sutherland Robility®. These automations cut manual workloads, reduced errors, and improved speed. The Connected Underwriting Platform was deployed to support commercial lines with adaptive ML-driven scoring. Together, these solutions lowered operational costs while ensuring accuracy in policy servicing and underwriting.
• End-to-End Integration and Licensed Agent Operations
  Sutherland combined its digital transformation with the industry’s largest pool of licensed insurance agents. These agents supported policy acquisition while integrated tools streamlined front, mid, and back-office operations. 

The result was a single ‘one-stop shop’ model aligned to growth and efficiency goals. It enabled sustainable outcomes by balancing human expertise with digital automation.

The Outcome

Measurable Gains in Growth and Efficiency

The transformation delivered measurable results across cost, customer experience, and growth. With a new, future-ready operating model, policy servicing and underwriting were digitized to improve speed and accuracy. Over three years, the insurer reduced its total cost of operations by 30%, while customers benefited from a 20% uplift in NPS, reflecting more reliable and engaging service experiences. 

On the revenue side, advanced analytics and personalized engagement directly improved conversions. A modern omnichannel engagement center created consistency across every customer touchpoint, and personalized customer engagement provided higher relevance, improving customer loyalty and satisfaction. Drop-offs in the quote-to-bind process fell by 15%, driving lead conversion to 22%, up from 15%. Marketing automation, personalized video campaigns and Insurtech partnerships further strengthened sales impact, generating a 20% increase in cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, strengthening portfolio growth. 

Together, these outcomes demonstrated the dual mandate of growth and efficiency, positioning the insurer to scale sustainably while continuing to deliver superior customer experiences.