1. Modularity
The value chain of life insurance companies is subject to a wide range of expectations and requirements. Modern core systems must therefore satisfy various stakeholders.
On the one hand, there is a need for competitive products and product innovations and, on the other hand, for cost-effective processes. In addition, there are requirements from the areas of law, compliance and risk management.
Flexible product models can be one solution. These must be able to completely map today's product world and its business transactions and at the same time be future-proof.
If you continue to consistently think of modularity, algorithms, products and processes can all be decomposed. The result is a quasi modular system. The parts of the modular system must then be integrated into a clear technical model. Attributes and methods require clear technical designations.
This results in the following advantages:
- The core system does not exist only as a monolith.
- Nor does it consist entirely of implemented code.
- Reusability of recurring business transactions and product characteristics.
But what concrete benefits do these advantages offer?
- For example, a modular system can be modeled in Eclipse by employees with expertise, but no programming knowledge. Keyword: "The Programming Actuary"
- From the point of view of the internal control system (ICS), this avoids head monopolies and sovereign knowledge. This is an objective that is also frequently cited in the context of tenders.
- The sustainable reuse of recurring product characteristics and business transactions leads to shorter time-to-market lead times and economies of scale.
- There is also a substantial and complete time-to-market completion, as not only the tariffs, but also all related business transactions are already fully available at market launch.
- A necessarily creative "definition of ready" with an actual degree of completion below 100%, which is due to market pressure and causes the backlog to swell ever further, is a thing of the past.
2. Platform independence
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket." Why take unnecessary lump risks? Multi-vendor support and the use of open source software is now the market standard.
Java technology, for example, offers independence from individual operating systems. Customers should be able to choose between different providers. This applies to databases as well as to application servers.
3. High integration capability
Connection of external systems:
Modern LV systems must be easy to integrate into the existing system environment. As a rule, various peripheral systems must be connected. Typically, these are the following system types (excerpt):
- DWH-systems
- Partner systems
- Printing- and textsystems
- Commission systems
- IAM systems
- Mailbox systems
- Collection/disbursement systems
- Workflow systems
- Reporting systems to government agencies
Integration of vendor-specific systems with each other:
Many providers offer, in addition to a portfolio and benefit system for life insurance from the aforementioned peripheral systems, their own solutions and combine them into their own system landscapes and suites. Here it is important how clearly the functional scope of individual systems is delimited from each other in order to avoid complexity and redundancies. There should also be a common technological substructure, such as a common framework, to improve maintainability.
4. Mathematical approach
That isn't the only way of doing it. However, some are more efficient and future-proof than others. The further development and modularization of modern IT systems for life insurance companies today enables a level of granularity that did not exist in the past. Nowadays, depending on the design of the systems, you can store very differentiated calculation bases at various points in the structure tree. This applies not only to main and supplementary insurance policies, but also to policy changes such as co-payments, benefit and premium dynamics, premium increases, annuity factors, etc. There are various mathematical approaches for calculating different premium and benefit developments, such as the recursion formula in addition to the usual present value approaches. Here, each insurance company must assess for itself which approaches it prefers.
Would you like to learn more? We would be happy to advise you personally on core systems and digitalization in life insurance. Make an appointment now with our expert Stephan Müns.