In 2017, CSE has been awarded Model Insurer of the Year for its aspiration to achieve “the best product in the industry.” This meant they had to overcome legacy thinking and practices to re-think all the features including coverage, pricing, rules, process, and communications To do so, they sought inputs from customers and analyzed the market using two common analyses: 5 C’s and SWOT. From this point on, CSE assembled and adapted its core system.
What can insurers learn from best in class innovation initiatives?
Celent’s approach is to evaluate, at a high level, key best practices in the implementation and use of technology that a “Model Insurer” would use. The nominated insurers that display the most successful use of the key best practices within theme categories like digital, data analytics, innovation, and legacy transformation are named Model Insurers.
While this report does not present an exhaustive list of best practices or expected results, Celent has identified several common best practices such as use of industry standards, optimization of infrastructure, positioning for future reuse, automation, STP, and system integration as being integral to the success of an IT project.
CSE Insurance Group is a great example of an insurer that underwent a massive change and succeeded. They changed their management team, staff, corporate brand, product lines, technology, and culture. Underlying the change was a willingness to take risks.
“CSE admits it didn’t do everything perfectly. They made a few mistakes along the way, but they believe they did everything right to support the launch of their innovative and complete product development effort. Their willingness to question and ultimately revise how and what they do makes them a Model Insurer,” said Karen Monks, Analyst in Celent’s Insurance Practice and coauthor of this report.
On April 4, Celent also presented Model Insurer Awards to winners in the following categories:
2017 Celent Model Insurer: Legacy and Ecosystem Transformation
Legacy Replacement — Republic Indemnity
Legacy Replacement — ERS
Legacy Replacement — Insurance Corporation of British Columbia
2017 Celent Model Insurer: Data Mastery and Analytics
Better Risk Assessment — The Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts
Underwriting Improvements — StarStone Specialty Insurance Company
Predicting Climate Risk — Meteo Protect
2017 Celent Model Insurer: Digital and Omnichannel
Straight-Through Processing — CUNA Mutual Group (TruStage)
Digital New Business — Lincoln Financial
Portal in the Cloud — New York Life
2017 Celent Model Insurer: Innovation & Emerging Technologies
Peer-to-Peer Insurance Platform — Suramericana de Seguros S.A.- Wesura
Monitoring via IoT Sensors — Church Mutual Insurance Company
Reducing Fraud — Markerstudy Insurance
2017 Celent Model Insurer: Operational Excellence
Agile Transformation — Aflac
Virtual Global IT Organization — Saxon
Data Science Development Program – MassMutual
