Data migration is the vital step to have a more simplified architecture landscape
Most insurance companies have too many similar core insurance applications. Managing more products with the same IT-system is cheaper. But first you have to migrate all the data from one system into another. Since, for most insurers, this is not something they do regularly, data migration specialists should guarantee that this is done in a structural, controlled, and predicable way.
As in several sectors, the insurance sector saw and still sees a lot of take-overs and mergers. Today in the Belgium market, we witness an increased activity on portfolio and underlying core insurance systems that are bought and sold between insurance compagnies. In those new companies the different products are managed from different platforms. Simply put : the potential advantages of the merger are oppressed by complexity and double work.
Many insurers are seeking to reduce their Core insurance systems which means that they need to migrate all data about contracts and customers from one system to another. With fewer IT-systems for the different kinds of contracts, you can concentrate your efforts. A legal change for example, only must be implemented once instead of in several systems. And we all need to be agile, don’t we?
But of course, you want fewer IT problems, not more, so the change has to go smoothly. You need to be sure all data from the old system(s) fits perfectly into the new one. This is where data migration comes in.
Iterative wave-based planning
Since most insurance companies are only confronted with data migration from time to time, many of them call on thewave to assist them during this critical project. Therefor thewave compiled, based upon experience, an approach with different steps, so as to be sure nothing goes wrong.
The approach is end-to-end, so it starts with an assessment: all the drivers influencing a data migration are considered. The next step is defining the approach and working out the migration strategy and planning. From then on, the real work can start: data is transformed, enriched, and loaded. A specially designed data migration platform supports this. After thorough testing, the regular use can start, and is evaluated.
This is only a brief summary of a standard data migration. In reality, every project is different. Every problem that is different needs a different solution. This is where the experience and know-how of thewave comes in. Of course, in close cooperation with the insurance company and its collaborators, since data migration is part of a broader change that has to be embedded. Communication is crucial.
We help insurance companies where they don’t have the people or the expertise for a smooth transition. Because data migration doesn’t only need to be done perfectly, it also needs to be done in time and with a controlled budget.
