Overcoming Legacy Technology: The Future of Insurance Innovation

Earnix Research Insights: Challenges Posed by Legacy Technology 

Legacy technology can also lead to significant challenges in many different facets of an insurer’s business. According to our latest research report, insurers identified the following as the most pressing challenges posed by legacy systems.   

• Inflated costs: While the thought of purchasing new technology or even upgrading various systems may seem to be expensive, continuing to rely on outdated systems actually costs more. Research from PwC found that, on average, 70% of an insurer’s annual IT budget is spent maintaining legacy systems.  

• Lack of flexibility: In our annual survey, we asked respondents what their single most challenging aspect they faced with legacy systems. The top answer was “lack of flexibility,” which demonstrated their difficulty using existing systems to support more innovative strategies, such as developing highly personalized offers for individual customers.  

• Lack of internal resources: This point is often overlooked, but it is a major concern for insurers today. As older systems continue to age, many have a hard time training internal employees or even retaining existing staff with the specialized skills needed to support workarounds and other inefficient processes to make existing systems work.  

• Difficulty attracting and hiring top talent: Related to the point above, insurers may also have a hard time finding, attracting, and hiring the next generation of technical talent. Highly skilled employees want to work on cutting-edge technology – the “cool stuff” – not supporting yesterday’s technology or performing “this is how we’ve always done it” processes.  

• Slow time to market: Let’s face it: Older technology just isn’t as flexible, as nimble, or as fast as modern insurance systems. As a result, it’s not uncommon for pricing or rating teams to need weeks or even months to get new updates into production. While this might have been acceptable in the past, these timeframes put insurers at risk of falling behind competitors who can deploy updates in market much faster.  

• Compliance changes: When we took it a step further, we asked insurers which of their operational challenges (related to legacy technology) were the most difficult to fix or improve. The top answer: Reacting to changing regulations and complying with increasingly stringent requirements.   

• Cybersecurity: Not surprisingly, cybersecurity may also be an issue, since these systems often lack the controls and defenses needed to defend against constantly evolving cyber threats and sophisticated cyberattacks.   

The good news? A modern insurance system can successfully overcome these challenges. These systems take advantage of cutting-edge technologies to reduce costs, provide much-needed flexibility, and streamline internal processes. All of this helps insurers quickly adapt to market changes, comply with evolving regulations, and even improve their ability to attract top talent to maximize the use of the new technology.  

The Benefits of Modern Insurance Technology 

Today’s insurance technology delivers advanced capabilities that allow insurers to overcome all the challenges posed by legacy systems. Unlike older technologies that tend to require extensive resources to maintain and operate, modern systems are designed from the ground up to optimize operational efficiency through the use of automation and streamlined processes.  

And by moving to cloud-based solutions and more scalable infrastructure, insurers can successfully move beyond expensive, hard-to-manage systems to focus on investing in technologies that offer greater flexibility, adaptability, and speed. In doing so, they can move away from inefficient, costly workarounds and implement real-time updates and enhancements without delays.  

One of the primary advantages of modern insurance systems is their ability to support personalized, data-driven strategies. With the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics, insurers can offer highly tailored products and services to individual customers. This enhances customer satisfaction and engagement while empowering insurers to innovate more effectively.  

The ability to analyze vast amounts of data in real time allows insurers to create dynamic pricing models in regions where regulations allow, assess risk more accurately, and respond to customer needs with greater agility. Such capabilities are nearly impossible with legacy systems, which are often rigid and unable to support complex, customer-centric strategies. 

Embracing Modern Insurance Technology 

Insurance companies can’t afford to keep relying on yesterday’s systems that slow them down, increase costs, and limit their ability to compete. By adopting modern insurance technology, they can gain the flexibility, automation, advanced analytics, and AI-driven strategies to streamline internal operations, deliver personalized customer experiences, and achieve other critical objectives. 

Those insurers who make the transition now can stay a step ahead of the competition and better position themselves to drive long-term success in an increasingly competitive digital insurance marketplace.  

Explore More Industry Insights 

To learn more about how today’s leading insurers feel about legacy technology as well as the opportunities posed by modern, innovative insurance solutions, download the Earnix 2024 Industry Trends report today.