‍Discover your winning strategy: Should you build your own Insurtech platform in-house or invest in digital transformation to enhance your agency and distribution channels through buying third-party platforms.

Here are 10 things to consider:

‍1. Launch Time and Risks to Consider: Building your insurtech platform in-house allows for tailoring to your exact needs to help improve key areas of your business whether agent performance or sales operations and minimizing the risks associated with relying on external vendors but buying Insurtech platforms allows for quicker deployment since there's no need to build from scratch, you can take advantage of their pre-built front ends or connect their functionalities with your existing platforms to reduce time-to-market and lowering the risk associated with additional development which can be a toll on your internal resources.

2. Cost-Consciousness: Ready-to-use platforms entail lower upfront costs as there are no development fees involved, making it a financially attractive option for insurance companies but building your own platform can lead to lower long-term costs as you eliminate recurring fees and retain ownership of your technology stack with the flexibility of updates and improvements based on internal requirements to help improve performance for users. 

3. Access to Industry Knowledge and Best Practices: By developing your platform internally, you have the opportunity to deeply understand your intricacies in the world of insurance and innovate based on your unique insights from internal teams and users directly but third-party insurtech platforms provide access to learnings from other companies, industry experts, and use cases to facilitating the adoption of best practices such as gamification for the agent teams, payment integrations and automation for internal users. 

4. Operational Efficiency and Cost Reduction: Integrating third-party insurtech platforms can enhance operational efficiency and reduce costs by providing speed in learning with the team of experts from the industry instead of using internal resources which can take time to figure out if you want the equipped team, quicker adaptability from brokers and agents, and avoiding the accumulation of costs associated with in-house development but you may tailor solutions to fit your workflows and business needs which can drive significant cost savings over time which is also an upside.

5. Risk Management and Security:  Building your platform in-house gives you complete control over security protocols, allowing you to implement custom measures and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements from the ground up but third-party platforms offer risk management benefits by avoiding the need to build from scratch and at the same time able to provide robust security measures and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. When considering risk, you should also opt for vendors with security verifications and certifications such as ISO, SOC and many more depending on your industry

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6. Scalability and Flexibility: Going with buying Insurtech platforms ensure scalability through customer success support, constant enhancements, and roadmap updates, relieving the burden of ownership from insurance companies. Moreover, third-party platforms are designed to integrate into your internal insurance applications and work with your environment like not storing unneeded data and access controls are logged at all times for security purposes.  Although,  building while adapting and expanding your system according to your company's growth trajectory without relying on external providers' roadmaps or limitations is a true benefit at times and the team responsible is dedicated and closer to internal business levers. 

7. Customization and Adaptability: Third-party solutions typically offer high levels of customization (85% out of the box) to adapt to regulatory changes and industry standards such as workflows, collection of data fields, input formats, API integrations, branding and white labeling or flexibility in selecting functionality modules that you want out of the box from day 1 reducing the need for extensive in-house development which may not be as customized fast enough due to being built for specific needs and functionality or limited resources at first but there will be no constraints when it comes to limitations that some third-party solutions may have.

8. Support and Maintenance: Insurtech platforms support and maintenance services vary when it comes to service times focusing on alleviating the resources required for internally developed systems but having internal support teams allows you to have full control over support and maintenance processes, ensuring immediate attention to issues and seamless integration with your existing systems which third party solutions may not have access or the knowledge on all internal systems involved. 

9. Data Security and Compliance: Internal development teams do have complete control over data security and compliance, allowing you to implement rigorous security measures and ensure compliance with industry regulations without relying on external providers' assurances while insurtech platforms address concerns around data security, privacy, and regulatory compliance through robust security measures, privacy certifications, and regular audits, offering peace of mind to insurance companies. If in search of third-party platforms then few key areas to look are ISO 27001 Certifications, customer use cases and other certifications that help drive credibility of trust.  

10. Staying Competitive: To remain competitive in the market, outsourced insuretech platform teams help enable insurance companies to stay up-to-date with industry trends and keep pace with their peers through being constantly focused and dedicated to gaining insights on the industry landscape which are then transformed into ideas to help improve the platform features. In-house development enables you to differentiate yourself in the market by offering unique features and updates tailored to your business and customers' needs if there are dedicated internal teams that truly help stay abreast of peers.

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When deciding whether to buy or build, the key is finding the right insurtech partner with a platform and team that can support and drive the performance and benefits that insurance companies need in this growing industry. It's important to choose a partner who is trustworthy, experienced, and able to enhance your current setup rather than replace it, allowing for higher scalability and growth. If building is an option, consider whether there are enough resources to build, maintain, and improve the platform as the company grows.

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