About

Burns & Wilcox is a leading global insurance broker, underwriting manager, and wholesale insurance specialist, operating as part of the H.W. Kaufman Group. An international insurance organisation with more than 60 offices worldwide and over 2,000 employees. With decades of experience in the specialist insurance market, Burns & Wilcox provides tailored insurance solutions for complex and hard-to-place risks across a wide range of industries and territories.

The business specialises in commercial insurance lines including property, liability, casualty, professional indemnity, and terrorism coverage, supporting brokers, businesses, and insurers with deep underwriting expertise and market knowledge. Its sector expertise spans healthcare, construction, hospitality, logistics, real estate, retail, and sports & leisure, enabling the company to deliver specialist risk solutions across highly diverse industries.

Through its global network and specialist underwriting capabilities, Burns & Wilcox focuses on delivering responsive, data-driven insurance solutions while helping clients manage emerging risks, operational challenges, and evolving market conditions.

The Challenge

Burns & Wilcox relied on Excel-based processes to manage commercial insurance pricing and underwriting, creating a highly manual and fragmented workflow. Data had to be entered multiple times across Salesforce, Excel pricing models, and underwriting systems, increasing operational complexity and reducing efficiency.

This duplicated data handling not only consumed valuable time and resources, but also introduced greater risk of errors, inconsistent data quality, and reduced pricing accuracy. As the business continued to grow, these manual processes limited scalability, hindered profitable growth, and restricted the ability to respond quickly to changing market conditions.

The Solution

Optalitix implemented an integrated underwriting and pricing solution using Optalitix Quote and Optalitix Models, enabling Burns & Wilcox to centralise and digitise its pricing operations within a secure cloud-based environment.

The platform integrated directly with Salesforce CRM, creating a connected workflow across enquiry logging, underwriting, pricing, and risk recording. This eliminated duplicate data entry, streamlined operations, and significantly improved data quality and operational efficiency.

Key capabilities included:

• Centralised access to Property, Casualty, and Terrorism pricing models
• Integration between Salesforce CRM and underwriting systems
• Automated workflows across pricing and underwriting processes
• Improved data enrichment and pricing accuracy
• Secure storage and reporting of quote data
• Enhanced API connectivity for future integrations and services

By replacing disconnected spreadsheet-driven processes with a fully integrated digital workflow, Burns & Wilcox gained a scalable platform capable of supporting faster underwriting and more agile decision-making.

The Impact

The implementation of Optalitix Quote significantly improved productivity, efficiency, and data quality across Burns & Wilcox’s underwriting operations. By integrating Salesforce directly with pricing workflows, the business eliminated duplicate data entry and reduced operational errors while improving reporting capabilities for pricing and actuarial teams.

The new platform also strengthened connectivity and enabled advanced data enrichment services, including geomapping and catastrophe data integration, supporting more accurate pricing and underwriting decisions.

Key business outcomes included:

• 90% reduction in the time and cost required to build out pricing raters
• Improved underwriting efficiency and scalability
• Enhanced reporting and visibility across underwriting operations
• Greater pricing accuracy through enriched data sources
• Ability to process and underwrite 200+ individual properties seamlessly

The digitalisation of the quoting process created a more efficient and scalable underwriting operation, helping Burns & Wilcox support profitable growth while improving operational control and governance.

The Future

With Optalitix Quote now embedded within its underwriting operations, Burns & Wilcox has established a scalable digital foundation for continued growth and innovation.

The platform’s enhanced API capabilities and connectivity enable the business to expand its use of advanced data services, automation, and front-office underwriting integrations over time. As underwriting volumes grow and market demands evolve, Burns & Wilcox is well positioned to further enhance pricing sophistication, operational efficiency, and data-driven decision-making across its commercial insurance portfolio.

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