Life Insurance Technology Development: Speed to Market and How the Pilot Approach Benefits Carriers

When it comes to life insurance software development, there’s an old adage: “beware the 2-3-4 formula.” Here’s what it means: take estimates from a vendor, cut expectations in half, triple costs, and quadruple timelines. In other words, prepare to be disappointed. 

That formula was the status quo for decades, but those days are long gone — and we have the bottom line to thank for that. The truth is, carriers can simply no longer afford to wait 12-14 months to launch a new, relatively untested product into the market. 

The state of play in the life insurance technology development space is now all about speed to market. At Bestow, for example, we can build, test, and launch a new product in about 4-6 months. How? 

The pilot approach

The pilot approach is both incremental and extremely rapid, focusing on delivering working software to stakeholders as quickly as possible in order to speed up the development pipeline and establish confidence in a product well before it hits the market. If done correctly, this approach results in a thoroughly vetted product — one that’s more proven both in terms of functionality and viability.

The value is clear, the pilot approach allows carriers to:

Get rapid proof of concept.

For some stakeholders, it can be hard to visualize a new digital product. An early pilot provides proof of concept and can keep everyone focused on the problem, and bought into the solution. Traditionally, a carrier could spend one to three months simply building consensus and gaining the right approvals to move forward and devote resources to a solution. In that time, Bestow has typically already demoed working software with stakeholders in the form of an early pilot product.

Test and learn.

A pilot approach allows carriers to demo the product themselves and even test it with a limited audience — sometimes internal stakeholders or even a controlled subset of customers or end users. It’s a low-risk way to test functionality and user response from customers, agents, or even administrators. Translation: the product is vetted before it gets to market, not just after. Bestow’s software expertise means product enhancements happen quickly, often in time for a new demo the following week. 

Capture emerging markets.

Moving too slowly means leaving money on the table. As an example, while annuities growth is still quite strong, LIMRA predicts up to a 10% dip in sales of fixed indexed annuities in 2025. If you greenlit the development of a new annuity product a few months ago and it won’t be live until Q4 of 2025, you may be looking at multiple months of wasted market opportunity. Meanwhile, Bestow’s pilot approach helps carriers launch vetted, data-driven life insurance solutions in as little as 4 months. 

“Producing a working pilot product within the first few weeks of a project lets stakeholders see and touch a proof of concept and gives developers the quick feedback they need to make informed enhancements. This approach helps us launch products in as little as 4 months.”

- Sylvia Cento, Sr. Director of Delivery Management, Bestow

Additional benefits of the pilot approach

Validate or disprove underwriting assumptions 

The pilot phase in life insurance software development isn’t just about testing product functionality (though that’s a huge benefit), it also allows carriers to evaluate their underwriting. Is the program producing the desired outcomes? Is the risk distribution as expected? Are there rules or questions that should be added or tweaked? A technology stack like the one Bestow has built can help provide real-time data during testing to answer all these questions as early as possible — as well as the agility to make needed changes in a matter of days. That latter benefit is made possible by Bestow’s sophisticated underwriting technology, with automated processes and built-in compliance. 

Reign in costs and maximize ROI

Finding an experienced tech partner with the nimbleness to properly execute the pilot approach can help carriers avoid scope creep, drive down costs, and deliver return on investment more quickly. Sure, developing a product in house is possible, but is it worth it? Think about the needed technical resources. Where are they coming from? Will they be pulled off existing product maintenance, or hired from outside the organization? Either option is costly. And will existing workstreams facilitate speed to market? We’ve seen internal timelines exceed 14 months, with budgets in excess of millions of dollars. 

Paired with the right partner, the pilot approach results in a streamlined process that doesn’t go off the rails or over budget, and more often results in a market-test product that can start generating real revenue quickly. Following this approach, Bestow helped one carrier increase final expense sales by 35% year over year, with a development timeline of just 4 months.

Putting a finer point on the need for speed

The old saying goes, “if you’re not moving forward, you're falling behind.” With regards to life insurance technology and the current market pace, there’s an argument to adding the word “quickly” to that mantra. If you’re not moving forward quickly, you’re falling behind. The market is more dynamic than ever.

Every day, competitors are gathering valuable insights about products, performance, customer preference, and market forces. 

Every day, competitors are using real market feedback to fine-tune their underwriting strategies, risk thresholds, and pricing, resulting in more data-driven life insurance solutions taking up valuable market share.

Every day, distribution partners are tightening relationships with the carriers who can best, and most quickly respond to market needs. 

The Bestow difference

At Bestow, our pilot approach is part of a commitment to delivering the right life insurance technology solutions at a speed that outpaces the market — ensuring that our partners maximize business value and can deliver on their transformational needs quickly. In a sea of insurtech solutions designed to solve one problem at a time, Bestow’s end-to-end platform can modernize the entire value chain and deliver key success in a matter of months. 

If you’re interested in learning more about how Bestow has helped carriers drive results, then we should talk.

• Launch products in just 4 months.
• Boost sales by 20%.
• Beat industry average per policy costs by 45%.

Want to start a conversation to learn more about how Bestow can help your organization? Email [email protected].