Why did CFG decide to modernize its legacy policy admin systems (PAS)? #
After two decades of strategic acquisitions Columbian Financial Group (CFG) found itself managing a number of legacy policy admin systems that housed more than 700,000 policies. The complex IT landscape that had evolved over the years was inefficient and onerous to maintain. It also didn’t lend itself to rapid product adaptations or the quick development of new products.
Those legacy systems didn’t have the flexibility of modern solutions. Product changes often required new code to be written by the vendor. And, in some cases, support for the legacy system was dwindling.
All of these legacy issues left the carrier open to challenges when market forces, consumer needs or regulations changed. The tipping point occurred when the CSO 2017 mortality tables were revealed. This first update to the tables in more than 15 years required CFG to develop new, appropriately designed and priced products within an accelerated timeframe. It would be very difficult to hit the deadline if the new products were stood up on the legacy platforms.
Instead, CFG made the strategic decision to modernize.
Oracle Insurance Policy Administration System #
The best answer to their regulatory, product and legacy IT challenges was for CFG to implement a strategic policy administration platform that would enable them to competitively administer their growing portfolio of life and annuity products.
Retirement of the legacy PAS would reduce total cost of ownership and eliminate the need for extensive code changes associated with new product development. One modern solution would increase the company’s flexibility and responsiveness to future volatility.
Given CFG’s size and IT skills, they were ideally looking for a modern system that would be easy to manage, configure and connect to both modern commercial off-the shelf-systems, plus those that CFG is continuing to develop on its own.
The system they chose was Oracle's Insurance Solution - OIPA (Oracle Insurance Policy Administration).
What challenges did CFG face in integrating its Oracle Insurance Policy Admin system? #
The new Oracle insurance solution would need to integrate with CFG’s existing underwriting, accounting, actuarial and corporate support systems. But it also need to interface with many other external systems critical to the policy lifecycle workflows.
Key integrations would need to include a variety of companies and systems linked to the approval chain, such as:
- Milliman
- MIB
- TAI
- Vignette for workflow
- ODS/Replication for downstream extracts and reporting
- EApplications and AppCapture (Equisoft/apply)
- Illustrations (Equisoft/illustrate)
- Partners for an existing service portal
Implementing the OIPA system would require significant systems integration experience and expertise, given the complexity of the legacy landscape and CFG’s overall IT infrastructure.
How did CFG select its implementation vendor? #
CFG needed an experienced implementation and integration partner with expertise in business related areas such as process analysis, complex insurance products, and calculations. The vendor had to be a veteran of OIPA integrations—a company that could successfully complete the project in the time allowed before their deadline.
In order to find the right partner and best solution, CFG engaged a consultant to conduct the RFP process and aid in vendor selection. A critical piece of the evaluation process was the completion of an evaluation study that would define how the vendor would meet CFG’s requirements, what the roadmap would look like, as well as the costs involved.
Why CFG choose Equisoft #
Equisoft emerged from the process as the clear winner:
- The company continues to be the largest, most successful OIPA integrator in the world.
- The team of more than 200 dedicated OIPA resources are responsible for 80% of all OIPA integrations globally.
- Confidence backed by Equisoft’s 16+ years of implementation experience on 50+ life, annuity, health integration projects & Data Migrations around the globe.
- Most convincing was Equisoft’s 100% OIPA implementation success rate.
Find out how the CFG and Equisoft were able to successfully implement and integrate the Oracle Insurance Policy Admin system into their IT ecosystem.
