Insurance Is a Long Term Play – An Update With Dell

When we last analyzed Dell Services’ insurance BPO capabilities as part of the Blueprint, we commented on the key strengths as well as challenges that it had relative to our view of market needs and the competition. One of the strengths was the presence of significant service delivery capabilities in the US, giving it a leg up on local knowledge (e.g. regulatory compliance) and client proximity. Dell has scale in its insurance operations, with 1600 FTEs between the US, India and the Philippines. Dell also has its LifeSysTM core administration platform for the administration of life insurance processes, supporting clients on New business, Policy maintenance and Claims along with Accounting, Mailroom and Regulatory compliance services. It has also cultivated additional partnerships to help insurance BPO clients get the right process and technology mix (e.g. iPipeline partnership to automate agent selling, processing and administrative tasks, Benefit Focus for Combined Billing across multiple plan and policy types).

However, Dell Services has primarily gained experience in life and annuities in the US while other providers have diversified across other segments and geographies. Its mainframe business platform is ageing versus the competition, and clients have taken note. Clients we spoke to also cited the need for a refresh in other technology levers such as workflow systems. The key takeaways from our site visits and discussions with Dell’s insurance team are presented in this PoV. They address many of these challenges and reinforce many of the strengths for the service provider as it grows out its insurance business.