Enterprise spreadsheet use in insurance is bigger and more complicated than ever. But the processes to manage it haven't kept up.
What once meant a handful of financial and actuarial workbooks now includes hundreds—sometimes thousands—of end-user computing (EUC) assets: Excel models, Access databases, and custom-built tools living outside core IT systems.
For insurers, this creates three pressing challenges:
At Coherent, we’ve worked with insurers facing this exact challenge. The most successful teams aren’t managing every spreadsheet the same way. They’re maturing how they understand and evolve them.
Here’s how leading insurers are closing the EUC visibility gap.
The first step in EUC management is discovery—building a reliable, dynamic inventory of your spreadsheets.
Every EUC initiative begins with a basic question: What do we actually have?
Most insurers begin with self-reporting. Business users share what they think might qualify as EUCs, and Risk or IT builds a central inventory.
It makes sense—you can’t govern what you can't see.
But those inventories are rarely complete, and they’re often out of date by the time they’re compiled.
That’s because:
Mature programs move beyond static lists toward observability—a dynamic, data-driven way to scan and map the spreadsheet environment. With observability, insurers can answer critical questions:
You can’t answer those questions by tracking files manually. You need a fast, scalable way to scan your spreadsheet environment, surface risks, and map model dependencies.
How Coherent helps:
Coherent Insights automates spreadsheet scanning across the enterprise, detecting hidden risks, dependencies, and data flows so insurers gain full visibility before risks escalate.
This kind of visibility isn’t about creating a perfect inventory. It’s about building a reliable, data-driven map of where critical business logic lives and what risks it carries.
That’s how top insurers focus their attention and avoid downstream bottlenecks.
Once you can see your EUCs, the next step is governance—applying the right level of control to the right files.
This is often where programs stall. Compliance teams push to apply a standard risk framework across all EUCs. That can mean evaluating every file against dozens or even hundreds of internal controls.
But that one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t reflect how different these models really are.
Some spreadsheets feed core financials. Others handle routine workflows. Treating them all the same adds complexity without reducing risk.
EUC maturity requires prioritized governance:
Without this kind of focus, governance becomes overwhelming. Business owners get bogged down in checklists. Risk teams lose time chasing low-value work. And trust in the program erodes.
Control should reinforce confidence, not create drag.
Leading insurers are streamlining control with automation:
How Coherent helps:
Coherent Control applies governance dynamically—classifying spreadsheets, embedding checks, and aligning with enterprise audit standards—without rewriting them into code.
Done right, this stage turns control into a source of clarity. Not friction.
The final stage is empowerment—giving business users speed and autonomy without sacrificing oversight.
Too often, EUC oversight becomes a burden placed squarely on business users. They’re asked to document, attest, review, and support audits on top of their actual jobs. At the same time, pulling spreadsheets away from the business isn’t realistic. Teams use Excel for a reason: it lets them move fast.
Mature programs focus on reducing effort without reducing control:
For the most critical EUCs, transformation leaders take it further: they convert spreadsheet logic into governed, API-ready services that can be reused across business lines.
Excel stays part of the process. But now it’s backed by versioning, observability, and integration. Risk and IT leaders get control. Business users get speed and autonomy. Everyone moves faster with fewer surprises.
How Coherent helps:
Coherent Spark converts spreadsheet logic into APIs—making it reusable, governed, and ready to integrate into core systems like policy admin platforms, broker portals, and underwriting tools.
Whether you’re just starting to inventory your EUCs or under pressure from regulators, you’re not alone. Insurers worldwide are tackling the same challenge.
What sets leaders apart is how they mature their approach:
Coherent’s automation and intelligence platform supports every step of this journey—discovering EUCs, governing what matters, and empowering the business without compromise.
Let’s bring clarity to your spreadsheet environment—and put control back in your hands.