Intelligent Underwriting
An underwriting platform that transforms fragmented data into structured insights helping underwriters move from intake to decision with greater speed, clarity, and confidence.
ROLE
Lead Product Designer
SCOPE
0→1 underwriting web platform design
TIMELINE
Q2 2022
SUMMARY
What if underwriting decisions were guided, not fragmented?
The team had previously built an underwriting solution to streamline risk assessment and decision-making. As we explored further, it became clear that fragmented data was slowing everything down. What began as an MVP evolved into a more ambitious system turning scattered inputs into structured, actionable insights. By centralizing submission data and layering in third-party signals, the platform provides a unified view of risk, enabling faster and more confident decisions.
As Lead Product Designer, I led the end-to-end design process, shaping strategy, driving key design decisions, and guiding a junior designer through structured feedback and critique.
What this lead to...
60%
reduced cycle time
25%
improved quote-to-bind ratio
~99%
faster quote generation
PROBLEM
How might we create a unified, data-rich workspace that improves efficiency, highlights meaningful insights, and enables faster, more confident risk assessments?
OUTCOME
A unified system for faster, insight-driven underwriting
Centralized submission workspace
Bring all submissions, documents, and data into a single view for easier tracking and prioritization.
Data insights dashboard
Provide a consolidated view of performance, risk distribution, and operational metrics.
Guided underwriting workflows
Structure the decision process step-by-step to reduce cognitive load and improve consistency.
SOLUTION
A unified underwriting workspace
A unified underwriting platform that brings together submission data, insights, and decision workflows, helping underwriters move faster with greater clarity and confidence.
I designed a set of interconnected modules and worked closely with cross-functional teams to deliver complex systems, such as the rule engine and document ingestion. Alongside this, I built a scalable design system aligned with Accenture’s brand, introduced role-based experiences, and created a modular insights framework with 40+ widgets to support flexible decision-making.
DEEP DIVE
Balancing clarity, flexibility, and system constraints
Underwriters weren’t lacking data; they were overwhelmed by it. They referenced multiple sources for their risk assessment. The challenge was making key signals immediately visible without losing depth.
Making workflow progress visible
Underwriters lacked visibility into submission progress and next steps, leading to delays and repeated back-and-forth. I introduced a structured workflow with a stepper and contextual cues, making progress, dependencies, and actions visible at a glance. This reduced ambiguity and helped teams stay aligned throughout the process.
Choosing structure over visual flexibility
Information was inconsistently laid out, making it difficult to scan and compare key details. I explored both a bento-style layout and a grid-based system, but chose the grid to introduce consistency while still allowing controlled flexibility. This made key information easier to locate and reduced the cognitive effort required to interpret complex data.
Balancing flexible layouts with engineering constraints
The initial goal was to support an organic layout where widgets could vary in size based on the data. However, engineering constraints required introducing a t-shirt sizing system to standardize layouts. The comparative analytics widget became an outlier, forcing a lock mechanism that limited customization. To resolve this, I redesigned it into a smaller bullet graph, aligning it with the grid and removing layout restrictions. This trade-off reduced flexibility but resulted in a more scalable and implementable system.
RETROSPECTIVE
What this project taught me
Designing for decision-making, not just data
In underwriting, the challenge isn’t access to data, it’s making sense of it. Structuring information to highlight what matters most was critical in enabling faster, more confident decisions.
Balancing automation with control
While automation improved speed, maintaining human oversight ensured trust and accountability in high-stakes decisions.
Evolving systems through iteration
From initial workflows to enhanced rule engines and document ingestion, the system evolved through continuous feedback, refining how insights were surfaced and acted upon.
Resume
srivats.rao@gmail.com
© 2020 Srivatsa Rao