The ability to innovate, respond to changing customer needs, and seize new market opportunities is essential for success in insurance sales. However, many carriers are caught in a dangerously slow cycle. Launching a new product or making a simple change to an existing one - like adjusting a rider or a discount - can take months, sometimes up to a year. In a market that demands speed, this pace is more than just an inconvenience; it threatens market share, customer satisfaction, and long-term profit.
The root of the problem often lies in an organization’s technology stack. There is a heavy reliance on hard-coded rules within outdated Policy Administration Systems (PAS). This traditional model stifles agility.
However, a powerful solution is emerging: insurance product configurator software. This technology is changing how insurance companies operate, turning product development from a lengthy IT ordeal into a quick process driven by business experts. If your organization wants to lead, understanding how a product configurator - often powered by a robust business rules engine - can speed up your time to market is essential for survival.
The Slow Lane: Why Traditional Product Development Fails
To truly understand the power of a modern product configurator, we need to look at the inefficiencies in traditional product development.
The Compounding Effect of Technical Debt
For decades, insurers relied on hard-coded rules. Developers carefully programmed every product rate, underwriting guideline, and policy feature directly into the application’s source code. While stable at first, this approach creates "technical debt."
- Lack of Flexibility: Each change requires custom development work.
- High Risk: "Spaghetti code" means a small change in one area (e.g., a premium adjustment) can cause unpredictable bugs elsewhere.
- IT Bottlenecks: Business users must wait for IT cycles to implement even minor updates, turning simple market responses into complex projects.
The Relay Race of Disconnected Teams
The traditional process resembles a clumsy relay race.
- Product Team: Defines the concept in a document.
- Actuarial Team: Develops complex pricing models in separate spreadsheets.
- Underwriting Team: Defines risk rules in yet another document.
- IT Team: Attempts to translate these disparate documents into code.
Each handoff creates friction. A detail in a business requirement can easily get lost in translation, resulting in a final product that is a shadow of the original vision.
The Fast Track: How Product Configurator Software Changes the Game
A modern insurance product configurator centralizes and digitizes the entire product definition process. It serves as a "Single Source of Truth," ensuring product logic is consistent across all channels - whether a customer is getting a quote on a mobile app or an agent is binding a policy in their portal.
Business Empowerment Through No-Code/Low-Code Innovation
The key feature of modern configurator software is its ability to democratize product development. It shifts power from IT to the domain experts.
- Actuaries can model complex rating algorithms directly in the system.
- Product Managers can create new bundles and test variations in real-time.
- Underwriters can adjust risk rules without writing a single line of code.
This is the No-Code Revolution. A product manager can log in on a Monday, create a new coverage option, model its effects, and present a working prototype by the afternoon. What once took weeks of specifications now happens in hours.
Enabling Mass Personalization
In today's market, one-size-fits-all is dead. A product configurator enables insurers to offer highly personalized policies. Instead of rigid offerings, carriers can create flexible packages where customers choose their own coverage limits, deductibles, and add-ons. This hyper-personalization boosts customer satisfaction and conversion rates.
Ensuring Compliance and Audit Readiness
When product logic is scattered across spreadsheets and legacy code, proving compliance is a nightmare. Answering a regulator's question like, "Why was this premium charged two years ago?" can take days.A configurator solves this by versioning every rule. It creates a clear, unalterable audit trail. You can instantly revert to prior versions or prove exactly what logic was active at any specific point in time.
Integration: The Central Nervous System of Insurance IT
A modern product configurator is not an island. Its true strength comes from seamless integration via APIs. It acts as a central engine that feeds data to:
- Policy Administration Systems (PAS): For binding and servicing.
- Sales Portals: For real-time quoting and visual representation of products.
- CRM Systems: For unified customer data.
Consequently, a change made once in the configurator - such as a new discount for safe drivers - is instantly available and accurately calculated across the entire ecosystem.
Higson by Decerto: A Next-Generation Solution
Among the available solutions, Higson - Insurance Product Configurator - stands out as a premier insurance product configurator and business rules engine. Designed specifically for the complexity of insurance, Higson addresses common industry bottlenecks.
- Ultra-Fast Calculation: Its engine processes complex rating logic in milliseconds, ensuring instant quotes even for complicated commercial bundles.
- Business-First Interface: It provides a user-friendly environment where business users can manage product logic, pricing, and commissions without IT intervention.
- Multi-Channel Consistency: Higson supports creating variations for different channels (e.g., direct vs. broker) within a single unified setup, reducing maintenance efforts.
Implementing a tool like Higson allows insurers to significantly shorten their time-to-market and regain full control over their product strategy.
Practical Applications for Carriers and MGAs
Insurance Carriers
Carriers can use configurators to break free from legacy cycles. They can launch parametric insurance products (where payouts are triggered by data events) or usage-based insurance (UBI) models quickly, adjusting pricing factors in real-time as telematics data comes in.
Managing General Agents (MGAs)
MGAs operate in a fast-paced environment where niche expertise is king. Configurator software allows them to:
- Launch custom products quickly without heavy IT infrastructure.
- Tailor coverages to specific market niches instantly.
- Scale operations without adding headcount, as automated underwriting rules handle routine cases.
Conclusion: From Liability to Leadership
The move from hard-coded rules to a flexible insurance product configurator is a strategic imperative. It shifts the paradigm from one where technology limits business ambition to one where technology enables it.
Shifting from a months-long marathon to a weeks-long sprint allows an organization to move at the market's pace. In this era of digital change, companies that hold onto rigid systems risk stagnation. Those that embrace modern configuration tools will not just compete; they will shape the future of the insurance industry.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is an insurance product configurator?
An insurance product configurator is a software tool that allows insurers to define, manage, and modify insurance products without writing code. It uses a central repository to store rules for pricing, underwriting, and eligibility, enabling business users (like actuaries and product managers) to launch new products faster.
How does a product configurator improve time-to-market?
By removing the need for hard-coding rules into legacy systems, a product configurator eliminates IT bottlenecks. Business teams can configure and test new products or changes in a visual interface, reducing launch timelines from months to weeks or even days.
Can a product configurator integrate with legacy systems?
Yes. Modern product configurators, such as Higson, are designed with API-first architectures. They act as a calculation and rules engine that sits on top of or alongside legacy Policy Administration Systems (PAS), injecting agility into older infrastructure without requiring a full "rip and replace."
What is the role of a Business Rules Engine (BRE) in insurance?
A Business Rules Engine (BRE) is the core technology within a product configurator. It executes the logic - such as "If the driver is under 25, increase premium by X" - separating this logic from the application code. This allows for complex decision-making (underwriting, pricing) to be automated and easily modified.
Why is "No-Code" important for insurance product development?
No-Code platforms empower domain experts (actuaries, underwriters) to implement their business requirements directly into the system. This eliminates translation errors between business and IT teams, ensures the final product matches the strategy, and significantly speeds up the innovation cycle.
Ready To Elevate Your Insurance Software?
Connect with us today to learn more.
Subscribe to receive the latest blog posts to your inbox every week.
