Insurers are moving quickly from asking what AI can do to asking how they can actually make it work in underwriting. But experimenting with AI is one thing. Running it reliably across an insurance business is another.

In this episode, Matthew Grant speaks with Andy Moss, GM Underwriting at Duck Creek and former Co-founder and CEO of Send, following Duck Creek’s acquisition of the underwriting technology business.

Andy explains why successful enterprise AI needs to run “on rails”, supported by the infrastructure, governance and workflows required to move beyond proofs of concept and into production. He explores how underwriting workbenches are evolving into orchestration engines and why that shift could become increasingly important as insurers begin introducing AI agents into their workflows.

The conversation also examines a growing challenge for the industry: how to preserve underwriting knowledge as experienced professionals retire. With underwriting becoming more complex, Andy argues that insurers need to codify the processes, referrals and institutional knowledge that often still exist in people’s heads, creating a technology foundation that can support both underwriters and AI.

They also discuss how insurers should approach the increasingly important question of whether to build or buy technology. Andy’s advice is simple: “Buy the commodity and build the differentiators.” Rather than recreating established systems, insurers have an opportunity to focus their development efforts on the data, processes and underwriting expertise that genuinely give them an advantage.

Finally, Andy shares the story behind Send’s acquisition by Duck Creek, how a search for growth investment became an acquisition in around 120 days and what building and selling Send taught him about the importance of assembling a team that genuinely cares about the problems customers are trying to solve.

In this episode you’ll learn:

Why enterprise AI needs to run “on rails” to succeed in underwriting
How underwriting workbenches are evolving into orchestration engines
Why AI proofs of concept can struggle to make the transition into production
How agentic AI could change underwriting workflows and automate previously manual tasks
Why capturing institutional knowledge is becoming increasingly urgent as experienced underwriters retire
How technology can codify the processes and knowledge that currently sit inside underwriting teams
Why insurers should “buy the commodity and build the differentiators”
Where internal technology teams can create the greatest competitive advantage
What bringing underwriting orchestration and core insurance systems together could enable
How Send’s search for growth funding developed into its acquisition by Duck Creek
Why Andy believes shared values and genuine commitment to customers were critical to building Send

Andy’s recommendations:

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Desert Island Discs

Read InsTech's recent report with Send on 'Underwriting orchestration engines: equipping insurers for the AI age' here.

Register for InsTech's upcoming 7 October Evening Event with Send and Duck Creek here: Bridging between the islands of automation.

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Andy Moss, GM Underwriting: Duck Creek: Why AI in underwriting needs to run ‘on rails’: Send’s next chapter with Duck Creek (416)

InsTech - insurance & innovation

Andy Moss, GM Underwriting: Duck Creek: Why AI in underwriting needs to run ‘on rails’: Send’s next chapter with Duck Creek (416)