Modernize your TPA operations with a scalable, cloud-native blueprint for L&A

Insurers are feeling the pressure. Market volatility, regulatory shifts, rising customer demands, and nimble digital challengers are disrupting the status quo. Internally, they’re held back by legacy systems, siloed data, and rigid product structures, making speed-to-market a business imperative. Despite automation and offshoring, operational costs continue to climb, fueled by wage inflation and the complexity of managing old and new tech. The assumption that tech and outsourcing would drive down costs no longer holds true.

Here’s where WNS’ Digital Policy Administrator (DPA) fills the gap. Merging product agility with enterprise-grade execution, this cloud-native platform modernizes insurance operations without the burden of a full-scale overhaul. This report is aimed at CIOs and CFOs who are ready to break free from the legacy trap and move forward faster without breaking the bank.

A unified modern platform to manage both closed block and new products

Life and annuities (L&A) carriers often manage decades-old policies with hard-coded terms and outdated processes that are tough to adapt. As regulations shift and policy complexity grows, these legacy blocks increasingly burden operations.

WNS’ DPA system, powered by the Verisk FAST platform brings a modern, microservices-based core with no middleware or black-box constraints. The key functions of policy admin, billing, claims, and servicing run on a single, rules-driven stack. A key differentiator is how WNS combines domain expertise with FAST capabilities to manage legacy closed blocks and new products side-by-side, off the mainframe, and within a unified architecture. This enables agility and innovation while freeing insurers from managing expensive, outdated infrastructure.

For enterprise adoption, the platform offers API-first interoperability, granular role-based controls, deeper audit trails, and cloud or on-prem flexibility under managed SLAs.

Embedding intelligence into every insurance workflow

WNS’ DPA has AI as the foundation, ensuring intelligence and automation are native rather than bolted on. It also includes pre-configured capabilities such as process-orchestration accelerators, document-ingestion pipelines, and data-preparation modules. A unified analytics suite is deployed as part of the DPA solution, supporting predictive models for customer retention, underwriting triggers, and claims triage. Moreover, GenAI tools used to summarize medical records and support complaint management, enabling smarter, more responsive workflows.

A modular service stack that complements the modular tech stack

We’ve highlighted the technology’s capabilities, but powering the platform is a significant services backbone. WNS delivers voice operations from the Philippines, transactional processing from India, and actuarial and high-complexity tasks from the US, all routed through a unified workflow. With cloud data residency upheld for US carriers, clients can retain, outsource selectively, or fully offload work blocks.

This isn’t a radical delivery shift, but WNS makes it composable by blending cloud-native delivery with modular services. Insurers can go full-stack or plug in modules based on risk appetite, regulatory needs, and tech maturity. At the same time, strong vendor management is needed to prevent governance gaps, ensure integration, protect data lineage, and uphold SLAs. Without it, flexibility risks turning into friction.

Enterprises can operationalize the stack with defined RACI, capacity flex, and outcome-linked KPIs, hence preserving governance and data lineage while avoiding vendor sprawl.

Test the model before you bet the house

The proof is in the pudding. Product launches are now in 6–8 weeks (not quarters), legacy run costs are cut by 30%, and $20 million is saved annually via fraud recovery in subrogation-as-a-service. A mid-tier US carrier migrated a closed block and launched a new product line on FAST in just 10 weeks, slashing time-to-quote by over 40%. Additionally, the pricing model is flexible by policy, claim, or outcomes, while scaling outcome-based models across core admin and claims is still hard to crack. Nevertheless, it presents a strong opportunity for innovation and long-term, value-driven partnerships between TPAs and L&A carriers.

The smart play for insurers is to start with pilots. Run targeted initiatives such as closed-block migrations or focused claims programs. These efforts allow teams to validate seamless integration, ensure strong SLA performance, and demonstrate measurable KPI impact. This approach lays a solid foundation for scaling the model as a powerful TPA alternative. Along the way, it also helps establish clean, trusted data within FAST, accelerating long-term transformation.

Enterprise insurers won’t jump in blind. That’s why WNS is committed to delivering detailed migration blueprints, a proven operational track record, and clear impact metrics, giving top-tier insurers the confidence they need to move forward. Enterprises can operationalize the stack with defined RACI, capacity flex, and outcome-linked KPIs, hence preserving governance and data lineage while avoiding vendor sprawl.

The Bottom Line: WNS’ DPA offers a shot at modernizing without surrendering control—but only if the promises of composability, automation, and embedded intelligence translate into live delivery.

Before committing to full-scale adoption, CIOs and CFOs should demand proof of end-to-end workflow orchestration and outcome-aligned commercial models.

WNS is repositioning its TPA model to give enterprise insurers a cleaner, more controlled path from legacy. The proposition is engineered for operational scale with AI, automation, and analytics embedded, not appended, and a delivery spine that spans transactional, voice, and actuarial services. It’s a compelling option for carriers looking to simplify their tech estate without fragmenting service. The real test lies in how well it performs in live, high-stakes environments.