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Initial Meeting (17 Nov 2025)

EF Technology Landscape

The business operates on two trading models: electronic (~10% of revenue) and manual (~90% of revenue). The manual process, which constitutes the majority of the business, is time-consuming, relationship-driven, and relies on significant manual administration. The central system of record is Acturis.

We're seeking opportunities to automate low-value, repetitive administrative tasks. This will free up the team to focus on high-value activities: building relationships with clients and insurers, providing expert advice, and growing the business. Three key areas have been identified for optimisation, listed in order of priority.

Prioritised Areas for Optimisation

1. The Renewals & Re-marketing Process

This was identified as the most significant time-sink for the team.

  • Current Process: When a policy is due for renewal, the team manually contacts multiple insurers (often up to 10) to "re-market" the business and secure the best terms for the client. This involves a high volume of back-and-forth emails and phone calls, generating quotes and questions. All communication and documentation must be manually filed against the client's policy in Acturis.
  • Potential for AI/Automation:
    • Quote Aggregation & Analysis: An AI tool could monitor incoming emails, automatically extract quotes and key terms from different insurers, and present them in a summarised, comparable format. This would eliminate the need for staff to manually dig through email threads to compare offers.
    • Communication Automation: Streamline the initial outreach to multiple insurers for renewal quotes.
    • Automated Filing: Improve the process of logging all renewal-related communication, reducing administrative overhead.

2. Initial Risk Capture & Data Entry

This is the foundational step for all new business and is currently a major manual bottleneck.

  • Current Process: The team receives client information in various unstructured formats (e.g., filled-out PDFs, previous insurer's documents, survey reports, notes from a phone call). An employee must then manually interpret these documents and type the information into the structured fields within Acturis. This is time-consuming and prone to human error.

    Update from James Liddell (Associate Director): Client-completed proposal forms are only used ~5% of the time. In 95% of cases, the team gathers information directly over phone/Teams calls and inputs it into Acturis in real-time. Acturis then generates proposal forms FOR insurers FROM the data entered. This means the primary workflow is: unstructured information → manual phone/Teams discussion → manual data entry into Acturis → automated prop form generation for insurers.

  • Potential for AI/Automation:

    • Intelligent Document Processing: A system could be developed to "read" various document types (PDFs, scans, etc.), automatically identify and extract the relevant information (e.g., property value, address, previous claims), and populate the corresponding fields in Acturis, likely via an API.
    • Voice-to-Text & Data Extraction: For information gathered via phone calls, a system could transcribe the conversation and then extract the key data points, turning a 10-minute call into structured data ready for review and import. This is particularly relevant given 95% of risk capture happens via phone/Teams calls.
    • Real-time Acturis Integration: During live calls, AI could suggest field values or auto-populate fields based on conversation context, reducing typing burden while maintaining human oversight.

3. Submission Presentation to Insurers

Improving the quality and convenience of the information package sent to insurers can strengthen relationships and lead to faster, more favourable responses.

  • Current Process: After data is entered into Acturis, the system can generate a standard Word document submission. This is then reviewed and sent to underwriters.
  • Potential for AI/Automation:
    • Optimised Submission Generation: The AI-driven data capture from step #2 could flow directly into creating a perfectly formatted, consistent, and comprehensive submission package.
    • Risk Highlighting: AI could analyse the submission data and automatically highlight key points or potential red flags for the underwriter, making their job easier and demonstrating a higher level of professionalism.

Next Steps

  1. Technical Discovery with Acturis: The immediate priority is to understand the technical integration capabilities of Acturis. TH will ask your account manager to connect the TD with a technical contact to discuss API access and the feasibility of automating data entry.
  2. Workflow Deep Dive: TH has scheduled time for TD to spend with EF team members to observe the renewal and new business workflows in more detail.
  3. Explore Insurer Perspective: Discover from key insurer contacts what an "ideal" submission looks like from their end to inform the design of any new output format.

Follow-up Notes from TH

4. Claims Process (Additional Priority Area)

The claims process should also be examined as a potential optimization area. It's admin-heavy, involving many emails exchanged over long periods of time.

Potential for AI/Automation: * Email management and tracking throughout claim lifecycle * Status updates and timeline monitoring * Communication summarization * Automated filing and documentation

Action: Include claims workflow in observation sessions, particularly focusing on email volume and timeline management.

5. Real-time File Audit & Staff Alerts

Acturis has developed a file audit programme that EF is about to embed. TH is interested in AI-based real-time monitoring that could alert staff when required actions are missed or incomplete.

Potential for AI/Automation: * Real-time monitoring of file completion status * Proactive alerts when tasks are overdue or steps skipped * Quality control checks before submission * Automated checklists and compliance verification

Note: This builds on Acturis's existing audit capability but adds proactive, real-time intervention rather than retrospective review.

Action: Investigate Acturis file audit API/webhooks during technical discovery call.

6. Debt Chasing & Payment Management

TH identified debt chasing as a "great area for improvement." Currently consumes 5-10 minutes of every Monday meeting discussing debtors. The process involves multiple manual chase cycles across different stakeholders.

Current Process:

  • Clients have 14 days to pay invoices
  • Bookkeeper does initial chases at 0, 7, and 14 days
  • After 14 days, handed over to client handler (better relationship for chasing)
  • Insurers typically want payment within 30 days, most tolerate up to 60 days
  • Team doesn't consider it urgent until hitting 30 days, but all chase activity is "wasted time"
  • Business risk: clients going off cover if payment lapses

Potential for AI/Automation:

  • Automated payment reminders at key intervals
  • Smart escalation based on account history and payment patterns
  • Predictive alerts for high-risk late payments
  • Automated status reporting for Monday meetings
  • Integration between client payments and insurer payment schedules
  • Flagging accounts approaching insurer deadlines to prevent lapse of cover

Action: Observe Monday meeting debtor review process and interview bookkeeper/finance team about current workflow.

Organisational Structure

This diagram shows the current team structure and reporting lines within the brokerage.

graph TD
    TH[TH - Managing Director]

    TH --> OpsDir[Operations Director]
    TH --> FD[Finance Director]
    TH --> PA1[Private Account Handler 1]
    TH --> PA2[Private Account Handler 2]
    TH --> CommLead[Commercial Team Lead]

    OpsDir --> AH1[Account Handler 1]
    OpsDir --> AH2[Account Handler 2]
    OpsDir --> AH3[Account Handler 3]
    OpsDir --> AH4[Account Handler 4]
    OpsDir --> Claims[Claims Specialist]

    FD --> Accountant[Accountant]

    CommLead --> CommAH[Commercial Account Handler]

    style TH fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style OpsDir fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style FD fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px

Team Summary: - Total headcount: 14 - Direct reports to MD: 5 (Ops Director, FD, 2 Private Account Handlers, Commercial Team Lead) - Account handling capacity: 8 people (2 private, 2 commercial, 4 general) - Support functions: Finance (2), Claims (1), Operations management (1)

Stakeholder Relationship Diagram

This diagram illustrates the key entities involved in the business and the nature of their relationships with each other, placing the Brokerage at the center of all interactions.

graph LR
    Client -- "Pays Premium & Provides Information" --> Brokerage;
    Brokerage -- "Advises & Places Risk" --> Client;

    Brokerage -- "Submits Risk & Pays Net Premium" --> Insurer;
    Insurer -- "Provides Quotes, Cover & Pays Commission" --> Brokerage;

    Brokerage -- "Manages all data via" --> Acturis;

    Insurer -- "Provides Electronic Trading Products via" --> Acturis;

    style Brokerage fill:#f9f,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px
    style Client fill:#bbf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px
    style Insurer fill:#ccf,stroke:#333,stroke-width:1px

New business submission (Risk Capture Process)

This flow illustrates the journey from initial client contact to placing the business, highlighting the primary manual data entry bottleneck.

sequenceDiagram
    participant Client
    participant Broker
    participant Acturis
    participant Insurer

    Client->>Broker: 1. Sends unstructured info (PDF, email, call notes)

    Note right of Broker: **Pain Point #1: Manual Bottleneck**<br/>Team must interpret and manually type<br/>all data into the system. High risk of error.

    Broker->>Acturis: 2. Manually enters client & risk data
    Acturis-->>Broker: 3. Stores data

    Broker->>Acturis: 4. Generates a "Market Presentation" document

    Broker->>Insurer: 5. Emails submission to underwriter(s)
    Insurer-->>Broker: 6. Replies with questions and quote

    Broker->>Client: 7. Presents final quote for approval

Policy Renewal & Re-marketing Process

This flow shows the complex and communication-heavy process of renewing an existing policy, which was identified as the single biggest opportunity for efficiency gains.

sequenceDiagram
    participant Broker
    participant Acturis
    participant Insurer A
    participant Insurer B
    participant Insurer C
    participant Client

    Broker->>Acturis: 1. Retrieves existing client data for renewal

    Broker->>Insurer A: 2. Sends submission
    Broker->>Insurer B: 2. Sends submission
    Broker->>Insurer C: 2. Sends submission

    loop High Volume of Communication
        Insurer B-->>Broker: Asks questions
        Broker-->>Insurer B: Responds
        Insurer C-->>Broker: Asks different questions
        Broker-->>Insurer C: Responds
    end

    Note right of Broker: **Pain Point #2: Communication Overload**<br/>Managing multiple conversations and<br/>manually comparing varied quotes is<br/>highly time-consuming ("slogging").

    Insurer A-->>Broker: 3. Quote A
    Insurer B-->>Broker: 3. Quote B
    Insurer C-->>Broker: 3. Quote C

    Broker->>Client: 4. Presents best renewal option after analysis