Financial planning and analysis accelerated insights with automation at a specialty insurer

A specialty insurance and reinsurance carrier had built its reputation on being tech‑ and data‑first, with one of the strongest expense ratios in the market. As the business scaled rapidly, expectations of the finance function increased just as quickly.

Financial planning and analysis sat as a key part of the finance organisation, supporting planning, performance management, capital modelling, expense management and operational expenditure close across multiple legal entities. As scope expanded and cost pressure intensified, the team needed to deliver faster, more granular and more forward‑looking insight, without increasing cost or complexity.

When scale exposed the limits of the current model

Rapid growth placed sustained pressure on financial planning and analysis.

The function faced several structural challenges:

• No defined target operating model: roles, responsibilities and capabilities were not formally documented, with blurred accountability between onshore leadership roles and offshore support
• Fragmented data: key datasets sat outside the enterprise data platform, creating friction across reconciliations, version control and reference data management
• Heavy manual effort: Excel‑based analysis, manual preparation of regulatory reporting inputs and cumbersome review processes absorbed onshore capacity
• A reactive delivery culture: limited awareness of automation and artificial intelligence capabilities, and low confidence in modern data and analytics tooling

Without change, financial planning and analysis risked constraining decision‑making rather than enabling it.

Choosing modernisation with momentum

The organisation set out to modernise financial planning and analysis by defining a clear target operating model and using automation and artificial intelligence to free onshore time for higher‑value insight. This also needed to support the integration of an offshore provider, enabling external resources to pick up and own automated processes.

Rather than pursuing a long, theoretical redesign, the focus was on delivering tangible outcomes quickly by building real automation solutions enabled by low-code and AI to inspire the team while building a sustainable foundation for future growth.

Guiding the critical delivery choices

Baringa worked closely with leadership to shape both the target operating model and a parallel automation delivery track, translating ambition into practical, value‑led delivery.

This focused on:

• Grounding the operating model in reality: defining current and future‑state organisation design, RACI and a four‑level capability model covering core financial planning and analysis, capital management, expense management and operational expenditure close
• Prioritising value ruthlessly: focusing automation on the highest‑impact use cases and transparently pausing lower‑value initiatives
• Co‑creating solutions: working alongside finance, innovation, data engineering and offshore teams to embed ownership and avoid key‑person dependency
• Proving value early and showing, not telling: building working proofs of concept using modern data, automation and artificial intelligence tools rather than relying on slideware

This approach maintained momentum while protecting long‑term sustainability.

Turning intent into working capability

Delivery progressed across two tightly linked workstreams.

1. Financial planning and analysis target operating model

• Rapid definition of current and future‑state organisation design, including organisation charts, and capability models
• Assessed technology fit across the CFO landscape, including business intelligence, financial planning platforms, automation, artificial intelligence and the data platform
• Developed a sequenced implementation roadmap with clear benefits and timelines

2. Automation and data enablement

• Built generative-artificial‑intelligence‑enabled proof of concept for reinsurance security and counterparty review processes
• Delivered four live financial planning and analysis data marts in Snowflake, scoped rapidly using Sigma Computing
• Established real‑time data pipelines into the enterprise data platform for key FP&A datasets, including Anaplan plan data and expense actuals
• Automated management and regulatory reporting templates and new dashboards with action-driving insights taking advantage of new live feeds
• Delivered hands‑on upskilling for finance and offshore teams to build confidence in modern tooling

Work was delivered adopting the client’s Agile methodology, with frequent demonstrations of working products to drive adoption.

Tangible results in months, not years

The impact was visible quickly.

Outcomes included:

• Tangible automation delivered in under five months, replacing fragmented Excel‑based analysis with live, reconciled data sources
• Reduce month end close timelines by allowing FP&A to get ahead of reporting using live Snowflake feeds of technical and operating expense data
• A working artificial‑intelligence‑enabled proof of concept that paved the way to remove a full FTE of low‑value activity and inspire further adoption of AI
• Reduced key‑person dependency through documentation, automation and offshore enablement
• A cultural shift from reactive delivery to an active automation backlog and agile rhythm

Financial planning and analysis emerged with a clear future‑state operating model, a trusted data foundation and growing confidence in automation and artificial intelligence.

As insurance businesses scale and automation technology step-changes in capability, financial planning and analysis functions must evolve quickly to remain strategic. Combining operating model clarity with practical automation and strong data foundations can unlock capacity, improve decision quality and deliver impact in months rather than years.

Get in touch if your financial planning and analysis team is under pressure to deliver more insight without more cost, and you need a clear, practical path to modernisation.

Contact our experts in financial services