Current studies, blogs, webinars provide a lot of information about many different initiatives and technological priorities that are presented as crucial for insurance companies in the context of digital transformation. The pandemic has taken the dynamics of digital projects to a new level and pushed the biggest traditionalists in the industry into experimentation.
At the start of the lockdown in March 2020, we had the roughest endurance test, in all industries, including insurance. A reassessment followed to re-evaluate the priorities of digital development in insurance. The pandemic has launched a number of digital initiatives, which are often a sales and marketing tool in attracting new and retaining existing customers. So it is not surprising that companies are willing to invest millions in such projects.
Open core systems
Digital trends often attract attention and such projects usually need to be launched in the short term. Are you aware of the position that core insurance information systems have in digital projects? However, the core business is based on them, and good development orientations of the core system preserves the standards and integration of the company during implementation of new digital initiatives.
It is true that core systems are out of the media focus when it comes to digital “hype”. But the opinion that core systems are secondary in the digital transformation of insurance – is a pure myth.
Core systems, even if they are not the initiators of specific digital projects, they are the ones who enable them. Core systems are the center – the intersection of many interactions with data from both internal and external sources. Such interaction is possible through the use of API technology.
In it’s essence, API technology is the controlled exposure of a particular set of data or part of the system functionality to selected external partners. So APIs can be intermediaries in accessing data, but also carriers of insurance business logic. APIs therefore form the basis for building ecosystems in which insurance companies also participate with their services and data.
When it comes to specific examples, APIs have been a dynamic segment of CUBIS system development for many years, built into its core, which has opened the possibility of insurance partnership and participation in different platforms and ecosystems, which goes beyond the insurance industry.
The application is very current in other industries as well, so the business of global players – Uber, Google, Amazon – is based on APIs. If we turn to insurance there is insurtech Lemonade, Zhong An but also traditional insurers are more boldly moving towards further development and use of APIs that allow seamless integration with other business and information systems.
This integration of insurance services usually in the first phase happens in the development of sales channels, such as expansion with the insurance offer in banking applications, Internet aggregators, electronic equipment distributors systems, mobile applications, telecoms, etc. Also such openness accelerates internal processes such as are premium collection, underwriting or claims payment.
Standardization brought by the API facilitates, unifies and accelerates the integration and connection with other business and information systems and reduces the consumption of resources. As an illustration, the CUBIS API for travel health insurance can be pointed out. It is used as a basic infrastructure in at least three completely different mobile applications, in several internet aggregators / portals and several web applications. It is a single program, which carries business logic (calculation of premiums, validation, printing of documentation, etc.), on which several applications from different industries are based. Perhaps a convenient indicator of insurance independence in such projects is that we as a software company no longer keep records of all external systems that we synchronize through the CUBIS core. The reason is that standardization through the API gives freedom to insurance companies to implement solutions in accordance with their wishes and distribution plans. And that independence is a goal in itself.
Insurance as part of digital ecosystems
There are many different technologies and initiatives focused on external digital projects. We now have digital platforms. We have new initiatives and needs for attractive user interfaces and mobile applications. We have a whole new way of looking at customer and agents interaction and many of them are very interesting initiatives.
How does your core system help enable such initiatives? Is your system open? Does it have access to APIs? Is API placement fast, standardized, and performance are good?
These are issues that need to be raised, and according to research, we know that the core, due to the type of costs and its importance to organizations, continues to develop further as one of the strong and key initiatives.
It is therefore important to ensure that your core system acts cohesively in the digital structure of company and allows you to move forward with ongoing digital projects. In your initiatives, be sure to use a system that can use and expose its capabilities through APIs – because the core system, like insurance, is not an island and must live within new ecosystems that transcend the insurance industry. Moreover, it is not a single ecosystem, but a whole new digital landscape is on the horizon. Digital projects are attractive, they must be launched quickly, so make sure your back keeps stable but open to innovation core system.
