7 Policy Admin Replacement Facts
February 8, 2016 1:21 AM
Insurance technology analyst firm Strategy Meets Action analyzed 178 P&C insurance core system deals from 2014 and identified several key trends. Read on for insight from SMA partner Karen Furtado.
Everyone's doing policy
Of the 214 deals, 71% were related to policy administration, Furtado says. "The line of business support often drives the need for various policy administration solutions in the P&C market," she explains. "In general insurers have more policy solutions in production than billing or claims. "
Smaller companies want suites
"With the fundamental burden of integrating the core components lifted, they can focus more on interfaces that are critical to the business operations," Furtado says.
Larger companies go for components
"Theres been a real shift over the past five years for larger insurers to consider third-party solutions for core systems," says Furtado. "Some of these insurers might eventually end up with the full suite of components from one company, but large insurers will pursue these components based on their own timeline rather than seeking out a pre-integrated solution."
New expectations: Integrated document management
Insurers often are looking for the same capabilities in the various parts of a suite as those buying a separate component, Furtado says, One of the top emerging capabilities in a suite is document management, which involves automation of manual, paper-based processes, workflow automation, and rules management right in the policy system, she adds.
Business intelligence and analytics
Though many insurers already have a third-party BI solution, "these do not always provide the insight into the day-to-day workings of an insurers business that insurers can get from in-suite operational reporting," Furtado notes.
Distribution management
As customer interaction channels proliferate, "insurers need to be able to manage all aspects of the interaction," Furtado says.
Mobility
While mobile capability isn't in every suite, there was a correlation between how often it appears in suites and how often insurers looked for it separately. "Many insurers are not necessarily looking for mobile app but rather mobile enabled interactions," Furtado says. "But this is still a 'nice to have' capability when compared to the other mission critical capabilities of a suite."