Poor business processes can be equally problematic as poor technology for insurers when it comes to speed to market.
That's according to newly released Novarica research on speed to market for P&C and life and annuity carriers. Though tech is considered the “long pole in the tent” in the new product development, results show other factors as creating issues as well. Insurers should invest in new technology to improve the speed to market and review the complete business process of the new product's introduction and modification.
According to the report, “carriers who immediately point to IT as the culprit for long product cycles may be missing opportunities to improve by better aligning business functions to speed the research, design, and drafting phases.”
The average speed to market for life/annuity insurers is seven and a half to eight months for new projects and four to four and a half months for product modifications, according to the report. More than quarter of property/casualty insurers studied have a new product time to market of nine months or more.
Product speed to market requires collaboration from product introduction or modification to merge diverse business functions, implementation and testing on diverse technology, the company says.
“Investing in new technology is often a critical step in improving speed to market. But equally important is reviewing the overall business process of new product introduction or product modification," writes report author and Novarica president and CEO Matthew Josefowicz.
