Streamlining Underwriting with Smarter UI at Roxwrite
How I reduced time-to-decision for underwriters by centralizing data sources and automating insight surfacing.
Impact
50% fewer clicks to decision
Timeline
2 Months from Research to Implementation
Resources
3 Devs
1 UX Designer
Context
Roxwrite is used by underwriting teams across 10 companies to handle KYC, KYB, and loan decisioning. It integrates with 5 major data providers—FMCSA, SOS, FCS, Lexis Nexis, and more—to surface business intelligence.
Before my involvement, data lived in separate tabs. Underwriters had to manually pull, download, and read each report, hunting for key insights buried in PDFs and fragmented UI.
The Problem
Disjointed tabs for each data provider
High cognitive load from manual report reviews
No clear way to surface red flags like bankruptcies or criminal records
User workflow = click → wait → download → scan → switch tab → repeat
Underwriters had to read through sizable reports to find insights.
The Challenge
How do you take 5 different data sources with varying formats and structures, and present them in a way that helps underwriters make faster, more confident decisions?
Before: The Fragmented Experience
Roxwrite is used by underwriting teams across 10 companies to handle KYC, KYB, and loan decisioning. It integrates with 5 major data providers—FMCSA, SOS, FCS, Lexis Nexis, and more—to surface business intelligence.
Before my involvement, data lived in separate tabs. Underwriters had to manually pull, download, and read each report, hunting for key insights buried in PDFs and fragmented UI.
The Hidden Cost
While this interface looked organized, underwriters spent most of their time clicking between tabs, downloading PDFs, and manually scanning for red flags. A single underwriting decision could involve 10+ tab switches and multiple document downloads.
My Solution
Goal: Reduce friction in underwriting workflows by centralizing data and surfacing what matters.
All-in-One Dashboard
Designed a consolidated view where underwriters can pull all reports in one click—no more tab hunting.
Automated Summary Section
Introduced a smart summary panel that reads reports and highlights:
🔴: Critical issues (e.g. bankruptcies, criminal records)
🟠: Cautionary data
🟢: Clean findings
Customizable Insights
Interviewed underwriters and realized insight priorities varied. Some cared about ownership structure, others about prior violations. Built a flexible summary engine that aggregates all key metrics, letting users focus on what matters to them.
After: The Consolidated Experience
Here's the redesigned interface—all data sources consolidated into one view with smart summarization and automated risk insights surfaced prominently.
Summary and Insights View
Reads the requested reports and comes back with alert signals.
Summary
SOS Filings
Active
FMCSA
Satisfactory
Business Verification
Satisfactory
Business Background
Check
Not Found
Owner Verification
Verified
Owner Background
Check
Not Found
UCC Filings
4 Filings
Insights
Safety Rating
Satisfactory
Insurance
Satisfactory
Watchlist
No Hits
Criminal History
Verified
Bankruptcies
Not Found
Liens
Not Found
Overview
Joins all relevant information gathered in the user research face and surfaces what matters the most.
How I Got There
Deep User Research
I spent 2 weeks watching Session Recordings on PostHog. I watched underwriters across 3 different companies. I watched their workflow, timed their time to decision, and documented every click, tab switch, and PDF download.
Key Finding:
The average underwriter was making 47 clicks and switching between 8 different tabs to complete a single application review.
Data Source Analysis
I mapped out all 5 data providers and their report structures. Each had different formats, different ways of flagging issues, and different levels of detail.
Challenge: How do you create a unified summary when each data source has its own way of presenting risk indicators?
Rapid Prototyping and Testing
I built 3 different approaches to the consolidated dashboard and tested them with actual underwriters using real (anonymized) data.
Winner: The sidebar summary approach tested 40% faster than the tabbed approach and 60% faster than the modal-based design.
Smart Implementation
Rather than rebuilding everything, I worked with the engineering team to create a new summary layer that sits on top of the existing data integrations.
Smart Move: This approach let us ship in 6 weeks instead of 6 months, while still delivering the consolidated experience users needed.
Results
50% Reduction in Decision Time
Average time from application start to underwriting decision dropped from 12 minutes to 6 minutes per application.
85% Fewer Tab Switches
Underwriters went from an average of 8 tab switches per application to just 1-2, dramatically reducing cognitive load.
40% Improvement in Risk Detection
The automated summary highlighting caught 40% more potential red flags that were previously missed in manual PDF reviews.
Increased Revenue
The UI improvements led to better report adoption and increased confidence in underwriting decisions, which directly impacted revenue through more accurate risk assessment and faster processing times.