Life, Pension, Annuity and Health Policy Administration Systems: A Refreshed View of Functionality and Technology Trends
Abstract
Core policy administration systems continue to evolve. Increasingly, vendors are broadening their solutions to cover more lines of business and more features, and some of the older, more established solutions are beginning to modernize their technological foundation. Software as a Service is becoming a more prominent offering, although insurer adoption is still very low.
Top Celent predictions for shaping the future design of solutions, albeit with different levels of magnitude, are:
- Growth in capabilities linked to “At Retirement” propositions and healthcare as a result of the move from state to employer, from DB to DC, and accelerated by the financial crisis.
- Continued convergence with wealth management solutions for the development of platforms and more complex investment-related products.
- Increased adoption of emerging technologies around the edges of the core solutions, and early experimentation in how the use of telemetry for health propositions will work with their solutions.
- A cautious move towards SaaS to enable market agility, albeit on a private cloud basis, and within region.
- A further market contraction and consolidation resulting in the rise of a few larger regional specialists in insurance technologies.
“The market remains highly competitive with a large number of regional players,” says Nicolas Michellod, a senior analyst with Celent’s Insurance practice and coauthor of the report. “Despite some market consolidation driven by private equity and acquisitive vendors, new vendor solutions continue to enter the market built upon fresh technology foundations and targeting niches.”
“It’s increasingly important for established vendors to ensure that their solutions are not only rich in capabilities but also based upon a modern platform,” says Jamie Macgregor, senior vice president of Celent’s Insurance practice and coauthor of the report. “The trade-off between a feature-rich solution and a modern technology base is no longer acceptable for insurers looking to make an investment for the next 10 years plus. The findings within this report help to show that market is maturing. However, there is still room for improvement and for vendors to differentiate their product.”
This report provides an updated view on the technology and functionality trends in the life, pension, annuity, and health policy administration system market. The report also investigates the main functionality and technology trends across vendor solutions and makes some predictions as to how these solutions could develop.