HDVI powers complex data workflows and builds a foundation for growth, agility and flexibility with Federato RiskOps

High Definition Vehicle Insurance (HDVI) is a data-centric MGA that uses real-time telematics to offer cutting edge commercial trucking insurance products. HDVI insures small to midsize truck fleet operators, and offers dynamic and transparent pricing, automatically reducing premiums for safer driving. This results in lower premiums, better risk mitigation, engaged drivers, and better protection for people and fleets. 

The Problem

HDVI’s approach to underwriting involves complex analyses of huge amounts of information; they pull real-time data from telematics devices installed in semi trucks to feed six different best-in-class analytical models that enable dynamic premium pricing and incentives for good driving. To power this strategy, HDVI needed a technology platform that could handle that volume of data, integrate with a wide variety of tools, and stay flexible enough to accommodate workflow changes as their strategy evolved. They also needed a platform that could simplify the underwriting workflow and empower their underwriters to deliver quotes at competitive speed despite a more complex submission analysis process than their industry peers.

“Before Federato, we spent a lot of time bouncing between disparate systems to underwrite a risk. It was a slow process; we had nine different tools storing and pulling in data, and six different analytical models that we would use to assess and price a risk, none of which could easily pass data to each other. We wanted to consolidate all of it into one workflow,” said Adam Barnett, Chief Underwriting Officer at HDVI. “We knew we needed a single interface for the underwriter, and an underlying data platform that could meet not just our current needs, but needs that change as our business evolves.”

The Solution

HDVI researched a wide variety of underwriting technologies and ultimately chose to consolidate their operations on Federato’s RiskOps platform.

“Our business is very complex, and will continue to get more complex as we continue to innovate. We had a long list of requirements, many of which were related to our aspirations for the future. We need to be able to flexibly integrate new data sources, build and implement new models, test and deploy new underwriting rules, create workflow automations, and collect data on the underwriting process itself to identify places to improve,” said Reid Spitz, President and Cofounder at HDVI. “Federato was the only technology provider that demonstrated both the capability to support our current complexity and the flexibility to support what we want to build in the future.”

The Implementation

At the start of HDVI’s implementation, existing tools like Palantir, Microsoft Dynamics, LexisNexis, and HDVI’s proprietary models, as well as data from MongoDB, custom-built data systems, Excel spreadsheets, and email, were all integrated into their Federato environment. 

With their entire prior toolkit connected, HDVI codified their underwriting process in Action Center, Federato’s workflow automation system. All five of their internal departments that need to work on a risk, including the submissions team, underwriting analysts, underwriters, business development, and fleet services, all collaborate in Federato. Once a step is complete, the submission is automatically moved to the next team in the process.

HDVI also programmed more than 30 rules into Federato during the initial configuration. Most of these were specifically tailored to increase the efficiency of their small fleets business unit.

“We used to print and hand off 50 pages of guidelines to an underwriter. Now, each time a rule is triggered within Federato, it probably saves an underwriter 10-15 minutes they would otherwise spend flipping through that stack of paper, and guarantees accuracy so the rule doesn’t get missed. And that happens dozens of times per day, saving us hours in total.”

Adam Barnett, Chief Underwriting Officer, HDVI

Over the course of the implementation, HDVI discovered multiple workflow changes that could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their underwriting process. Federato’s structured data architecture made it possible to easily and flexibly accommodate all of the changes with minimal impact to the implementation timeline.

The Results

With a single-pane-of-glass environment from which to work, underwriter efficiency improved noticeably and quickly. The automated structure by which submissions are now processed resulted in a significant improvement in speed to deliver competitive quotes, allowing underwriters more time to negotiate and collaborate with clients.

“Federato has given us the ability to measure critical business metrics we simply couldn’t track before, and really has enabled our fundamental business strategy of being a data-centric MGA.”

Reid Spitz, President and Cofounder, HDVI

This was especially true in HDVI’s small fleets business unit, which sees the most submission volume and in which speed to quote is the most competitive facet of a deal. The programming of rules relevant to small fleet submissions enabled HDVI to preprocess much of the analysis of a submission before it makes its way to an underwriter, and ensure that deals are being accurately routed to underwriters with the authority to work on them. This brought the typical time to quote a small fleet submission from one week down to just half a day.

That efficiency, combined with the technical pricing precision of HDVI’s best-in-class data modeling, has empowered their small fleets team to deliver their customers the best possible price at incredible speed.

“In the past, we typically worked deals with active dates only 10 to 15 days out. That’s not much time for a client who doesn’t meet our requirements to go and implement the necessary upgrades, like having front-facing cameras on all vehicles,” said David Reynolds, Senior Underwriting Manager for Small Fleets at HDVI. “Now, we’re working deals with active dates 20 or 25 days out. That can actually give a fleet enough time to set up the telematics equipment necessary for us to work with them. It opens up more opportunities for us, and means more fleets on the road with modern safety solutions.”

Since making strides by programming their most important small fleet submission rules, HDVI has begun experimenting with rules to open up an entirely new down-market business line by building out a ruleset to enable straight-through-processing of submissions for individual trucks and drivers via Federato. They’re also developing rules to drive efficiency in their analysis of larger fleet submissions, going far beyond typical “IF, THEN” rules.

“Federato lets us test and iterate on rules and see how much of our pipeline they would apply to before deploying them, and develop rules based on aggregate conditions in our portfolio, which empowers our underwriters to work more deals that would otherwise require lots of back and forth with their manager to approve.”

Adam Barnett, Chief Underwriting Officer, HDVI 

As HDVI’s business continues to evolve, they plan to make use of Federato’s quadrant rating system, which combines data on winnability and appetite to recommend underwriters the best possible submissions from their pipeline.

“A big part of the reason we chose Federato in the first place was its ability to capture data from the underwriting process itself and turn that into useful analytics for our team,” said Spitz. “The value we’ve seen up to this point is just the baseline of what we think modern underwriting should look like. Federato’s platform powers the AI capabilities that we see as the future for our business.”

Federato is proud to provide HDVI with a data platform that helps deliver innovative insurance products, pushing the commercial trucking industry forward and powering the company’s incredible growth.