Everything you need to know about hiring and managing offshore Underwriting Support Specialist professionals for your team.
Looking to hire a Underwriting Support Specialist? Let's talk!
Insurance underwriting is getting more complex by the day, and your underwriters are drowning in paperwork. Between policy applications, risk assessments, medical records, and compliance documentation, the administrative burden keeps growing while the actual underwriting work suffers. Here’s what most insurance companies don’t realize: you don’t need your expensive, highly trained underwriters spending hours on data entry and document verification. That’s exactly where dedicated underwriting support specialists come in, and why so many insurers are building full-time support teams in the Philippines.
What Real Underwriting Support Actually Looks Like
Let’s talk about what underwriting support specialists actually do all day, because it’s way more than just filing documents. These professionals handle the entire pre-underwriting workflow, from initial application review and data extraction to medical record summarization and third-party correspondence. They’re the ones who chase down missing information, verify employment details, coordinate with medical providers for additional records, and ensure every application meets your submission standards before it ever reaches an underwriter’s desk. The best part? Philippines-based specialists bring serious expertise to the table. They understand ACORD forms inside and out, know their way around major insurance platforms like Duck Creek and Guidewire, and many have experience with US insurance regulations including HIPAA compliance and state-specific requirements. You’re getting people who’ve worked with major US and UK insurers for years, not entry-level data processors.
The efficiency gains are pretty incredible when you get this right. According to recent industry research, insurance companies that implement dedicated underwriting support teams reduce their average policy processing time by 43 percent. Think about what that means for your business. Your underwriters can focus on actual risk assessment and decision-making instead of administrative tasks. Your applications move through the pipeline faster.According to a 2025 white paper by Linqura, early adopters of AI-powered underwriting platforms report 70 % reductions in underwriter time spent on administrative tasks.1. That’s fewer compliance issues, fewer customer complaints, and way less rework down the line.
Looking to hire a Underwriting Support Specialist? Let's talk!
Why Philippines-Based Teams Make So Much Sense
There’s a reason why major insurance companies have been building underwriting support teams in the Philippines for over a decade now. First, you’ve got a massive pool of professionals who genuinely understand insurance operations and Western business practices. These aren’t generic virtual assistants; they’re specialists who’ve processed thousands of policies for companies just like yours. The English proficiency is exceptional (the Philippines ranks consistently high in global English proficiency indexes), and the cultural alignment with US and Australian business practices means communication flows naturally. Plus, the time zone advantage is real. While your local team sleeps, your Philippines team is processing applications, so underwriters arrive to clean, complete files ready for review.
Cost efficiency obviously matters too, but it’s about smart resource allocation, not just cheaper labor. Your fully loaded cost for a Philippines-based underwriting support specialist runs about 60 to 70 percent less than a US-based employee in the same role. But here’s what really matters: you’re not compromising on quality. These professionals often hold insurance-related certifications, understand industry-specific software, and bring years of experience from working with international insurance markets. They know the difference between term and whole life applications, understand medical underwriting requirements, and can navigate complex commercial insurance documentation.
- Application intake and initial review for completeness and accuracy
- Medical record retrieval, summarization, and APS coordination
- Risk assessment documentation and third-party report management
- Policy data entry into underwriting systems and quality assurance checks
- Compliance documentation preparation and regulatory filing support
Building Your Dedicated Support Team
Setting up a successful underwriting support operation isn’t just about finding people who can follow procedures. You need professionals who understand the nuances of insurance underwriting and can adapt to your specific processes. KamelBPO specializes in building these dedicated teams, and we’ve learned what makes the difference between basic support and truly transformative operational improvement. Your team becomes an extension of your underwriting department, learning your risk appetite, understanding your product portfolio, and even recognizing patterns that might indicate potential issues. They’re not contractors who come and go; they’re full-time employees dedicated to your business, building institutional knowledge that becomes more valuable over time.
The transformation happens faster than most companies expect. Within the first month, your underwriters start noticing cleaner applications and fewer missing documents. By month three, processing times drop significantly and your underwriters report spending more time on actual underwriting decisions. Companies often tell us their biggest surprise is how quickly their Philippines team becomes indispensable, handling increasingly complex support tasks and even identifying process improvements the local team hadn’t considered. One client recently shared that their underwriting support team now handles 75 percent of the pre-underwriting workflow, allowing their senior underwriters to increase their daily policy reviews by almost double.
Look, the insurance industry isn’t getting any simpler, and the volume of applications isn’t slowing down. But you don’t have to keep burning out your underwriters with administrative work or watching good applications sit in queue for weeks. Building a dedicated underwriting support team in the Philippines gives you the operational capacity to handle growth without proportionally increasing your costs. It’s about working smarter with your resources and giving your underwriters the support they need to do what they do best. The companies that figure this out now are the ones that’ll be ready for whatever the insurance market throws at them next.
