Accenture Offers New Business, Underwriting App for Life Insurance in the Cloud

Accenture announced a cloud-based version of its life insurance new business and underwriting software. The software is now available with a Software as a Service (SaaS) licensing option.

“By offering a cloud-based deployment option, we help insurers further reduce costs by allowing them to match their underwriting processing capacity with fluctuating demand. The component delivers leading underwriting templates, rules and processes without the need to host and support a new technology system; this allows for rapid implementation and time-to-value,” said Mitchel Ludwig product line lead of Accenture Software for life insurance.

According to Accenture, features of the cloud based new business and underwriting component provide improved efficiencies and reduced costs. It includes an automated and configurable rules-based decision engine, which “enables life and annuity insurers to rapidly and consistently analyze underwriting risk, reduce the need for manual intervention, and accelerate the new business application process.”

Accenture says the engine reacts to consumers’ application responses, asks additional reflexive questions and makes underwriting decisions, including whether to “instant issue,” requests for additional information from third-party sources, or refer the case to an underwriter. The application also enables automated workflow processing and requirements tracking.

The application also acts as an underwriting workbench, allowing agents, case managers and underwriters to document, review, track and revise financial and medical underwriting requirements for policy applications. The workbench generates tasks to track required case actions and provides a consolidated view of case management data, including impairments, requirements, case notes, related application and reinsurance information.

The application can operate in any application environment and leverages ACORD-standard messaging to integrate with insurers’ existing systems. It can be delivered through the cloud or as an on-premise application.

Accenture also unveiled a new actuarial calculation engine, which is also part of Accenture Life Insurance Platform. It can be deployed as a standalone solution in support of any legacy third-party IT system.

Accenture says the calculation engine is “a highly configurable software application designed to support standard mathematical, financial, statistical and actuarial calculations that are needed to implement new complex life insurance products.”

“Accenture is working very closely with many of the world's leading life and annuity insurers,” said Daniele Presutti, managing director of Accenture Life Insurance Services. “This industry experience and knowledge has given us an advantage in building the leading processes and methodologies into our software and enabling us to anticipate market needs. We are leveraging this insight to continuously enhance Accenture Life Insurance Platform and provide a solution that helps life and annuity insurers of all sizes stay ahead of the curve.”

The engine provides a comprehensive library of calculation components, including more than 200 ready-to-use templates that define the standard calculations required to support life and annuity products. It also includes pre-configured user functions, actuarial tables and matrices, Accenture says.

The calculation engine is delivered with standard life insurance and annuity components, including more than 600 standard calculations and more than 200 pre-defined product matrices. Calculation components provide the building blocks for product definition, and users have the ability to introduce any calculation needed for product development.

Insurers also have the ability to debug and test new products using a single calculation engine for each step of the product development process. Tables, matrices and calculations can be debugged and tested once all components have been developed.

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