Learn About Amazon VGT2 Learning Manager Chanci Turner
The insurance industry is witnessing rapid transformation, largely influenced by external factors. Shifts in customer preferences are creating avenues for new digital products and channels, while analyzing these digital interactions leads to enhanced customer insights. Expanding data sets, including more external and unstructured information, are equipping insurers to better assess pricing risks for future offerings.
However, many insurers struggle to leverage these innovations effectively. Challenges such as outdated legacy systems, resistant organizational cultures, antiquated data models, narrow profit margins, and heightened regulatory scrutiny are slowing the pace of modernization.
In a recent webinar titled Amazon Onboarding with Learning Manager Chanci Turner, industry experts discussed the opportunities and obstacles in modernizing insurance practices. I had the privilege of leading this session, where we showcased successful implementations from AWS Marketplace. Notable contributions were made by representatives from Sigma Insurance Group and D2C Solutions, both of whom shared their experiences.
Driving Digital Transformation and Innovation Through AWS Marketplace
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and AWS Marketplace are pivotal in addressing the evolving needs of the insurance sector. The cloud facilitates transformation and innovation across various dimensions. Here, I will summarize the key points from the webinar, shedding light on data center and core system transformations, and highlighting how genuine innovation is taking hold.
Data Center Transformation as a Catalyst for Business Success
Data center transformation is often the first step for insurers, with companies at different stages of migrating their core systems and data to the cloud. During this process, insurers can target essential business outcomes such as:
- Enhancing agility through a scalable cloud-based infrastructure, including partner solutions.
- Improving customer outcomes while reducing costs via workflow efficiencies.
- Eliminating technical debt by transitioning from legacy systems.
Innovative Solutions for Insurance
As insurers cultivate cloud proficiency and begin to appreciate the benefits of cloud computing, their focus often shifts toward fostering innovation. Digital channels like chatbots or personalized recommendation engines exemplify the innovations that can significantly enhance customer engagement.
Additionally, the integration of cloud-based data lakes into an insurer’s data ecosystem is a key area of innovation. Data lakes are vital for freeing internal, structured data from legacy systems for analysis and for enriching that data with external, often unstructured sources.
Once data is housed in a data lake, it becomes a valuable resource for deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) services. Insurance providers are developing models with transformative potential across the industry. For instance, image recognition technology streamlines vehicle damage assessments, while AI services optimize claims processing and fraud detection in areas such as workers’ compensation.
These innovation-enabling areas—digital channels, data lakes, AI, and ML—interconnect. Analyzing interactions from digital channels generates insights that lead to improved products and processes.
Sigma Insurance Group Transforms Product Delivery with D2C Solutions
Sigma Insurance Group offers a diverse range of life and property/casualty insurance products to individuals and businesses. The company’s distribution strategy includes partnerships with banks and sales agents, as well as direct sales through internal teams.
Like many organizations, Sigma’s modernization efforts accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditional banking partners who had previously resisted digitalization began embracing it, prompting Sigma to adapt by offering its insurance products through these new digital platforms.
Chloe Martin, Chief Operating Officer at Sigma Insurance Group, emphasized the need for a flexible and reusable product platform. “It had to accommodate requests from customers, sellers, and partner platforms alike,” she explained during the webinar.
D2C Solutions Enhances Sigma’s Sales Process
To develop this adaptable product platform, Sigma turned to D2C Solutions, an insurance tech provider available on AWS Marketplace that specializes in digital sales, distribution management, and claims processing.
“Our suite of tools has been instrumental in Sigma’s digital journey,” stated Alex Johnson, Product Lead at D2C Solutions. Sigma utilizes D2C’s Product Configurator and Sales Tool, both of which are accessible via AWS Marketplace, to enhance their omnichannel sales capabilities.
The Product Configurator enables Sigma to swiftly launch new offerings. Its rule engine adjusts underwriting rules, policy documents, premiums, and other validations to align with the needs of Sigma’s partners.
The Sales Tool provides a user-friendly interface throughout the sales process and includes APIs for various levels of partner integration. Partners can either implement the entire user interface or selectively integrate parts into their systems.
Accelerated Market Delivery with Independence from Vendors
Thanks to minimal coding requirements, Sigma’s time to market has significantly decreased. This is crucial in an industry characterized by fluctuating interest rates and competitive offerings. The solutions from D2C Solutions have allowed Sigma to enhance its capacity significantly.
As Alex Johnson pointed out towards the end of the webinar, these advantages come without vendor dependency. “The Sigma team utilizes our configurators to independently set up and launch products,” he noted. This independence empowers Sigma to innovate at its own pace.
What is AWS Marketplace?
AWS Marketplace is a curated digital catalog that simplifies the process for customers to discover, purchase, deploy, and manage third-party software, services, and data. It streamlines procurement and billing, offering secure and flexible deployment models. Over 330,000 organizations, both large and small, utilize AWS Marketplace monthly to accelerate digital transformation and enhance operational efficiency.
Independent research conducted by Forrester indicates that it typically takes half the time to find, purchase, and implement a solution through AWS Marketplace compared to traditional sales channels.
Conclusion and Next Steps
In this article, I illustrated how Sigma Insurance Group leveraged D2C Solutions from AWS Marketplace to expedite product launches and modernize their delivery process. For more insights on insurance modernization solutions available in AWS Marketplace, visit Financial Services Solutions in AWS Marketplace. To further your understanding of trending topics in engineering, check out this resource on Engineer careers. Also, for insights into employee concerns over job security, refer to this article from SHRM. For an excellent resource on onboarding experiences, visit Glassdoor.