Boston, MA (Mar. 26, 2019) – Insurers are under pressure to seize new market opportunities or to “fast follow” competitor offerings. IT is often viewed as the “long pole in the tent” but new research indicates that poor business processes can be just as much of a problem as poor technology.
In two new Research Council Studies, Speed to Market for Property/Casualty Insurers and Speed to Market for Life/Annuity Insurers, research and advisory firm Novarica provides high-level benchmark information on product introduction and modification speed, and analysis of which factors correlate to faster or slower total cycle times.
Average speed to market is seven or eight months for new products, three or four for modifications. These average times are broadly similar across lines, but individual companies vary from less than two months to more than nine.
When technology is a problem, it’s a big problem. IT isn’t always the “long pole” for speed to market, but when it is, it has a big impact on longer product times.
Almost all life carriers still run on legacy technology. This is a technical barrier to faster product speed, but it also makes business alignment crucial.
Early IT involvement is a key factor. Including IT at the table during the product ideation phase is consistently associated with faster time to market.
Product speed to market is consistently among the top priorities for insurers. Product introduction or modification requires collaboration between diverse business functions, as well as implementation and testing on disparate technology systems.
IT is often seen as a major impediment to speed to market due to long implementation and testing cycles. Technology can be a factor, but it’s one among many; carriers who wish to improve speed to market also need to consider overall business processes and the stage at which IT is included. Bringing IT into the process early is correlated with faster speed to market.