A new approach eases the transition to the cloud for insurers that want cloud efficiency without compromising system functionality.

There’s never been a better time for the life insurance and annuity industry to adopt the cloud for core insurance processing. That’s because insurers no longer must choose between cloud efficiencies and keeping the extensive system functionality they expect. For years, the complexity of moving insurance products, processes and functionality to the cloud impeded adoption and created a conundrum for IT leaders. They wanted the scale and cost benefits of the cloud but weren’t positioned to rebuild these capabilities to run in the cloud.

Accenture recognized years ago that the traditional “cloud-native” approach, adopted by many industries, was not ideal for life and annuity carriers. Companies like Netflix and Amazon didn’t have mission-critical systems of record with decades of data and customized capabilities. Carriers need to retain their valuable features and functionality and continually evolve their capabilities to remain competitive.

A “cloud-enabled” approach is the answer. We’ve taken this approach with the Accenture Life Insurance and Annuity Platform (ALIP), and it’s helping leading insurers quickly gain the benefits of the cloud. Three key elements of our cloud-enabled strategy create the highest level of platform flexibility that helps carriers transition and evolve — essentially futureproofing their IT environments:

1. Cloud agnostic means that insurers, committed to a specific software vendor for coding and database, are no longer locked to a specific vendor for the cloud — the result of ALIP’s single code base, combined with microservices. This combination smoothly transitions insurers to the cloud, removing the complexity of managing multiple software versions, and enables insurers to choose what they wish to put in the cloud and keep on their premises.
2. Microservices containerize the business functions and processes — technically the “macroservices” — that are essential to daily operations. This approach to microservices enables continuous innovation of these macroservices and delivers them on a continuous deployment basis.
3. Configurations drive the orchestration of business functions, which allows insurers to move to the cloud and still preserve the characteristics that differentiate their products and processes.

Insurers’ cloud strategies may vary — and they should. However, one element remains consistent. Their core systems of record are valuable and so too is their depth of functionality. We’ve created a path forward that’s helping insurers pivot wisely to the cloud by first modernizing their core systems with a configurable system that’s architected with a single code base. This path gives carriers more options as they evaluate what to move to the cloud, what to keep on premises, and how to manage a combination of both.

Learn if the time is right to put your core insurance processing in the cloud. Download our latest points of view:  Evolution Versus Revolution:  Why native cloud is not the answer … yet and Microservices: A flexible approach to deployment.

Additional reading:

Is it time to reboot your cloud strategy?, Siki Giunta, Managing director – Accenture Cloud