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Is The Technology You Use Improving Your Credit Rating?

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   Innovation is almost always considered in a positive light. What could be more revolutionary than anytime money? The advent of cash dispensers, now known as ATMs, made it possible for people to access cash even out of banking hours, and at the time, the convenience of it was astounding. Banks themselves reaped dividends through a lowering of costs. As communication networks improved coupled with faster payment processes, the insurance industry too hopped on to the innovation boom. One that made a big impression was the drastic reduction of processing time for insurance claims, as it moved online.  Innovation is coming at us fast, in every aspect of our lives. The U.S. Credit Rating Agencies and Insurer innovation Crediting rating agencies sat up and took a long, hard look at the impact of innovation on the long-term financial success of insurance companies. AM Best, the world’s first and also the largest credit rating agency, had indirectly included innovation through ...

7 Signs of a Legacy System - Sign 6 Might Surprise You

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  The term ‘legacy systems’ often conjures up images of bulky on-premise systems and devices that haven’t been in circulation since the early 2000s. That might not be what your current platform resembles - but does that mean your software is truly up-to-date?  A legacy system needs to be defined by the capabilities it provides your organization, not necessarily by how long you’ve had it for.  For example, rather than asking yourself, “When was my current system implemented?” you might want to ask yourself, “Does my current system empower my team to collaborate efficiently in a secure environment?” Answering these questions will alert you to whether you need to kickstart the process of legacy modernization. For a functional definition, legacy can refer to any piece of software or even an entire system that blocks or reduces an organization’s ability to grow, shift and adapt in the face of changing market dynamics. So, is it time to make the switch to a new updated system? ...

Cybersecurity Threats for Insurance Companies – Are You at Risk?

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NA Financial is probably a name you’ve heard recently. It’s the sixth-largest commercial insurance company in the USA and is also an established cyber insurance provider. It made the news on the 21st of March, 2021 when an official statement claimed that they had been a victim of a “sophisticated cybersecurity attack”. Ransomware called  Phoenix CryptoLocker  affected fifteen thousand devices, disrupted their network, and impacted corporate mail and other systems. The amount of classified information that the attackers got their hands on is still unknown, but such a data breach in insurance can often start small and go undetected for long.   Why are cybercriminals targeting insurers? Insurance companies have often found themselves in the crosshairs of cyberattacks, especially after banks implemented highly secure networks that make them harder to breach. As with any industry, reaping the benefits of big data, AI, and the internet of things (IoT), comes the risk of cy...

Why Implementations Often Cost Millions and Take 18 Months or More?

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  Picture this. You finally decide on an insurance software and are excited to transform your company’s processes with it. You’ve got your budget approved and set a clear project timeline. The twin benefits of digitization and automation are right around the corner! But, before you realize it, scope creep has set all those careful plans to naught. Now your ‘go-live’ date is months beyond the original project management timeline.  While this may sound like a worst case scenario, the harsh reality is that insurance implementation can often take upwards of 18 months and cost more money than anticipated. However, this does not have to be the case. Quick implementation of insurance software boils down to one thing: efficient planning.  Why Project Timelines aren’t met  This scenario is more common than you would expect Also Read:  The Importance of System Architecture to Shorten Customization Time   Reasons for project failure costing you millions Not defining y...

How Intelligent Process Automation in Insurance Boosts Your Bottom Line

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  The era of robotic process automation (RPA) coupled with deep learning is here and boy, is it creating waves across industries! From back-office functions to customer solutions, it has effectively turned processes around on their heads. Leading banks, hedge funds and asset managers have successfully leveraged RPA tools not only to streamline standard processes but also to save money significantly.  In insurance, especially for auto, property and casualty sectors, RPA can be used to automate a wide range of repetitive functions like document screening, claims processing and even internal underwriting processes. In fact, robotic process automation can be invaluable when it comes to functions that are prone to human mistakes, reducing duplication and error rates.  Juniper Research  on automation in the insurance industry says that almost half of all insurers will invest in RPA by 2024. Another study from  McKinsey  on digital disruption in the insurance indu...

The Importance of System Architecture to Shorten Customization Time

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  It is not difficult to find a correlation between software architecture agility and operational benefits.  In a competitive landscape where disruptive technology is constantly pushing the barriers, time-to-market can be the big differentiator.  Insurers who lack a robust tech stack with the right software architecture, integration layer architecture and platform integrations can find themselves struggling to offer the best digital capabilities.  For instance, a BCG report has found that 35% of all insurance industry applications are not “cloud ready”, making them incompatible with mobile devices - modern consumer’s device of choice.  Software architecture is the foundation that builds the system Many insurers have legacy architecture that is older than the engineers working on them. Making even small changes to these monolithic core systems, require months of regression testing.   Moving to a modern architecture requires a fundamentally different app...