For insurers, navigating the market of life and pension policy administration system vendors remains a difficult task. Celent profiles a majority of the life and pension insurance administration systems available in the Asia-Pacific region today.

In a new report, Asia-Pacific Policy Administration Systems 2012: Life and Pension ABCD Vendor View, Celent looks at the policy administration systems available to life insurers in the Asia-Pacific region. The report is part of a series on policy administration systems (PAS) in Europe, the United States, and Asia.

As a group, vendors continue to make significant investments in their core policy administration systems. These solutions are becoming more capable (deeper functionality); smarter (better reporting and analytics); and more connected (SOA and Web services become the standard). The market is also evolving due to acquisitions and partnerships, solutions development, and alternative delivery models.

There is no single best policy administration solution for all insurers. There are a number of good choices for an insurer with almost any set of requirements.

“Insurers seeking a new core policy administration system should begin the process by looking inward,” says Wenli Yuan, Senior Analyst with Celent's Asian Financial Services group and author of the report. “Next, insurers should seek to understand and weigh the capabilities of each vendor and each solution.”

The Asia-Pacific IT vendor landscape is increasingly difficult to navigate and, for insurers, the selection of a PAS requires the analysis of different parameters that have all their importance. Celent recommends that insurers define and rank their own priorities when reviewing this important question.

This report is not intended to provide an insurer with all the tools they need to choose the “right” policy administration system, though it can help an insurer take the first steps towards shortening a long list.

Celent profiles 21 policy administration systems in Asia Pacific, with 9 full profiles and 12 limited profiles, using its ABCD Vendor View, which is a standard representation of a vendor marketplace designed to show at a glance the relative positions of each vendor in four categories: Advanced technology, Breadth of functionality, Customer base, and Depth of client services.