Why are we still typing what’s already in the submission?

Joshu now extracts information from uploaded files into the fields an insurance portal needs to generate a quote.

A broker has a completed application, a spreadsheet of locations and supporting documents ready to go. Then they open an insurer’s portal and enter much of the same information again.

The business name, the address, the details of the risk. Much of it is already there, just waiting to be copied into another set of boxes.

This is easy to accept when it has been part of the process for years. But AI has changed what we should expect from a portal. If the information is in the submission, the software should be able to use it.

We have just launched this capability at Joshu. Users can upload any file, and Joshu extracts the relevant information into the fields the portal requires to generate a quote.

That connection matters. Pulling text out of a document still leaves someone with the job of deciding where it belongs. An address, coverage limit or business activity needs to reach the corresponding field before the quoting process can use it. That is the work this functionality takes on.

Start with what’s missing

Every insurance product has its own information requirements. A better intake experience should make those requirements easier to satisfy.

A portal should be able to use the address in an application or the locations in a spreadsheet before asking someone to enter them again. The questions that follow should focus on what is missing or needs clarification.

There will still be gaps. Documents can be incomplete, information can conflict, and some questions need a conversation. A useful portal should make those gaps easier to spot and resolve.

For a broker approaching several markets, this could make a real difference. Each market may ask different questions, but the underlying risk is the same. The information already assembled should remain useful throughout the process.

What we should expect from a portal

We think this will become an everyday expectation of insurance software. People will arrive with the files they have and expect the portal to work with them.

For carriers and MGAs, that raises a practical question about the experience they offer today: how much of the application genuinely needs to be completed by hand?

It is worth looking at the form from the broker’s side of the screen. They may have spent considerable time gathering the information before reaching the portal. A good intake process should recognize that effort and help them move forward.

Joshu’s new upload-and-extract functionality brings that approach into the quoting workflow.

There is plenty of work in insurance that calls for experience and judgment. Copying an answer from a document into a box should take up less of the day.

Want to see it working? Book a demo of Joshu’s new upload-and-extract functionality.