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Navigating the Low Code Revolution in Insurance: Balancing Efficiency with Underwriting Integrity

22 May 2025

If you have ever bought something from a small business on Shopify, then you have experienced low code technology as a consumer. At its best, low code unlocks the ability to create user interfaces and simplifies the use of APIs. With drag-and-drop visuals, even individuals without any programming knowledge can build a website, including one with basic transactional services.

However, when applied to insurance, the situation becomes more complex. The promise of low code is certainly enticing – allowing businesses to take control back from IT departments and software vendors while enabling faster product launches. Yet, for any business where underwriting is at its core, significant risks emerge.

Underwriting large risks is fundamentally different from selling T-shirts online. It is not even comparable to offering simple travel insurance with just a handful of rating factors. At the heart of any decision to use simplified programming lies a crucial trade-off: balancing control, assumptions, and the potential limitations of technology.

For insurers, the constraints imposed by low code platforms can have a profound impact on profitability. The core of sustainable and profitable underwriting lies in insurers’ proprietary rules and rates. Their business model—their “secret sauce”—depends on unique insights and precise adjustments to rating tables. Relying on a drag-and-drop platform to manage thousands of rating permutations can be risky. If not carefully controlled, such an approach could lead to significant underwriting losses. Complex insurance products require thoughtful design, strict governance, and the right tools to maintain full control.

Fortunately, there is a middle ground. Low code platforms like ProductWriter support underwriters and product managers to develop and launch new products in a manageable manner without depending entirely on IT departments. As one broker aptly put it, if you can handle a nested “IF” formula in Excel, you can build in ProductWriter. This means that no specialised coding knowledge is required, allowing pricing and underwriting teams to take ownership of the process.

With low code platforms like ProductWriter, underwriting tables and machine learning remain at the forefront, where they belong. Unlike some low code platforms that may oversimplify underwriting logic, some can support underwriters’ expertise rather than diminishing it. Additionally, platforms like ProductWriter provide robust product testing and governance checks. Maintaining an audit trail and documented peer reviews of underwriting rates, rules, and decisions ensures compliance with regulatory standards and allows insurers to investigate unexpected rating outcomes when necessary.

With continuous advancements in machine learning and workflow automation, low code platforms will continue to simplify complex processes while integrating new tools to enhance underwriting. ProductWriter has been designed to work with these solutions, optimising operations and enabling underwriting teams to work more efficiently.

This digital evolution is here to stay, empowering underwriters across large insurers and specialist MGAs to operate with greater speed and agility. However, amid the buzz and excitement surrounding low code technology, it is essential to remember that underwriting integrity, governance, and rigorous testing must always remain paramount.

If you want to understand how we can help you rapidly deliver products to market using ProductWriter, visit our page here or contact the team at [email protected]

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