For Insurance Underwriters ·
What you'll accomplish
By the end of this guide, you'll be using Otter.ai to automatically transcribe agent calls, renewal conversations, and underwriting review meetings — with AI-generated summaries and action item extraction. Stop relying on handwritten notes; get a searchable record of every conversation.
What you'll need
Consent note: Many states require one-party consent (you can record without telling the other party), but others require all-party consent. Check your state's law and your firm's call recording policy before recording agent calls. When in doubt, tell the agent: "I'm going to take notes using a transcription service — is that okay?" Most agents agree readily.
Go to otter.ai and sign up with your Google or Microsoft account. The free tier gives you 300 minutes of transcription per month — enough for most underwriters' agent call volume.
Download the Otter.ai mobile app on your phone (iOS or Android) for recording phone calls.
For calls on your cell phone: Open the Otter.ai app. Tap the record button (red circle) before or at the start of the call. Hold your phone normally during the call — Otter records through the microphone.
Alternatively: Use your phone's speakerphone and place the phone near your computer with Otter open on the browser, recording through your computer's microphone.
For Teams/Zoom/WebEx calls: Install the Otter.ai browser extension. When you join a Teams or Zoom meeting, the extension automatically offers to transcribe. Click "Start Otter." The transcript appears in real time in a sidebar while the call runs.
After ending the recording, the Otter.ai app processes the transcript (usually takes 2–5 minutes). Open the transcript and look for the "Summary" tab or the AI actions:
Review the summary and action items. If action items match what was actually committed, you have a record of the conversation without taking a single note.
Copy the summary from Otter. Open your policy system or file note template. Paste the summary and clean it up — it's already in plain language and captures the key points.
For complex accounts, ask Claude or ChatGPT: "Clean up and formalize this call transcript summary for a professional underwriting file note: [paste Otter summary]." The result is a polished, professional file note in 30 seconds.
Otter saves every transcript. When you need to remember what was said about an account 3 months ago — what the agent said about the account's operations, what you agreed to — search "agent name" or "account name" in your Otter library. Find the exact conversation in seconds.
Guide created for Insurance Underwriter professionals. Tool interfaces may change.