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Cognizant 20-20 Insights
January 2021
How P&C Insurers Can Unlock
Value from Mergers & Acquisitions
P&C insurers are likely entering a historic era of increased M&A activity
aiming to drive growth at a double-digit pace, pivot into new business models
and remain competitive. These insurers will be under pressure to realize the
projected revenue growth and cost savings through integration synergies.
Here’s how P&C insurers should complete a post-merger integration – from
strategy development and planning through execution.
Executive Summary
The property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry
has been in a sustained, saturated growth phase across
personal and commercial segments, with constant annual
growth of around 5% over the last few years.
1
Recent
economic strains on the top and bottom line created by
the COVID-19 pandemic have led the P&C industry into
uncharted territory. This, coupled with low investment
income
2
and financial market volatility, may lead insurers
to seek strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as a
means to grow – or even survive – in the years ahead.
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The P&C industry has experienced many
acquisitions over the years. However, our financial
analysis of the carriers over years of pre- and
post-acquisition found that many carriers have not
achieved both growth and cost synergies. Based
on our experience, most post-merger integrations
still take much longer than originally anticipated.
There are many obstacles in such blendings, which
have led to delays and lost synergies. Insurers
face complex decisional hurdles, typically in their
business operations and IT integrations, due to
an unclear understanding of scope, priorities,
cross-dependencies and challenges. Some of the
keys to success are having a robust integration
plan, adopting an agile approach with a focus
on minimum viable product (MVP) releases of
integrated processes or platforms, and engaging a
strategic partner to help guide the business through
the process.
This white paper will cover key aspects of post-
merger integration (PMI) and introduce a framework
based on our experiences from past programs. We
also have recommendations to help the integration
management office effectively orchestrate all
operations.
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Post-merger integration: A value multiplier
P&C insurance is a moderate growth industry with
both personal and commercial segments highly
fragmented (see Figure 1), with no dominant player
and intense competition to capture market share.
Today, along with finding new avenues for growth,
insurers must address multiple challenges such as
evolving stakeholder expectations, the rise of newer
business models from increasing penetration of
IoT devices, and impacts from the pandemic and
ransomware attacks. To outperform competitors,
many insurers seek inorganic growth by entering
new markets, regions, segments and service areas
through acquisitions. P&C M&A activity is expected
to rise as insurers strive to emerge stronger from the
pandemic.
Others – 15%
American Family – 3%
Travelers – 3%
Nationwide – 4%
Farmers – 6%
Liberty Mutual – 7%
USAA – 7%
Progressive – 9%
Geico – 12%
Allstate – 12%
State Farm – 22%
Others – 48%
New entrants &
D2C focused carriers – 7%
Super-regionals – 15%
Large personal carriers – 15%
Large commercial carriers – 15%
Others – 60% Large commercial carriers – 40%
(The Hartford, Liberty
Mutual, Travelers)
(Travelers, Zurich, Liberty
Mutual, AIG, The Hartford,
Chubb, AXA XL, CNA)
(AmTrust, Fairfax, etc.)
(Chubb, Berkshire
Hathaway, Hiscox)
(Auto-Owners, Erie Insurance,
Westfield, Cincinnati, Selective,
Philadelphia, Sentry, Hanover)
(State Farm, Farmers,
Progressive, Nationwide)
PERSONAL LINES
SMALL COMMERCIAL LINES
MID/LARGE COMMERCIAL
AND SPECIALTY LINES
2019 U.S. market share for insurance segments
Source: Cognizant analysis based on NAIC and other secondary sources
Figure 1
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Source: Cognizant analysis based on data from NAIC, annual reports and secondary sources
Figure 2
Pre- and post-merger growth and expense ratios of large P&C carriers
that went through M&A activities in the past eight years
Many multibillion-dollar deals have closed in the last
few years.
3
Our analysis of six large P&C acquisitions
over the past eight years shows mixed results on the
resultant growth and expense ratios, as shown in
Figure 2. Most carriers that improved growth have
higher expense ratios in the following years. Likewise,
most carriers that contained their expense ratios
were unable to realize accelerated growth.
Only two of the six carriers analyzed achieved both
growth and expense synergies from the M&A,
with only one of them achieving growth above the
industry average. Some of the key reasons for the
delayed and suboptimal results include:
	❙ Lack of an effective PMI strategy and a clear
execution direction aligned with the overall
business vision.
	❙ Lack of technical depth among the integration
partners, and their failing to understand and
foresee roadblocks with the typically complex
legacy processes and systems across both
organizations.
	❙ Lack of an effective governance structure
required to make decisions with execution pace,
change management, communications, early
realization of value and guidance to teams.
Many insurers will accelerate inorganic growth
through M&As as a means of expanding into
new markets (e.g., specialty, excess and surplus),
geographies (e.g., international or state-wide
expansions), industry segments and risks (e.g.,
ride-sharing providers and other sharing economy
providers), and also adopting new business
models, such as peer-to-peer insurance or episodic
insurance. The key to ensure best outcomes and
faster synergy is an effective PMI strategy – from
planning to execution.
Only cost reduction synergy
Expense ratio reduction, but with slackened GWP
Growth and cost reduction synergy
Expense ratio reduction, with increased GWP
No synergy
Increased expense ratios and decreased growth
Gross written premium (GWP) change % (three years pre-M&A to three years post-M&A)
Only growth synergy
Increased GWP but with increased expense ratio
–6.0%
–4.0%
–2.0%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
-5.0% -3.0% -1.0% 1.0% 3.0% 5.0%
Carrier A
Carrier B
Carrier C
Carrier D
Carrier E
Carrier F
Expenseratioreduction%
(threeyearspre-M&Atothreeyearspost-M&A)
1
2
9
Brand unification
❙ Corporate brand unification.
❙ Agent brand messaging.
❙ Insured/consumer brand
messaging.
Corporate services reorganization
❙ Actuarial department.
❙ Corporate finance department.
❙ HR, legal and compliance departments.
Product consolidation
❙ Products/coverages
rationalization.
❙ Rates, rules and forms
rationalization.
❙ Product development and
maintenance process
standardization.
❙ Regulatory aspects.
Real estate and facilities consolidation
❙ Real estate consolidation.
❙ Facilities management consolidation.
❙ Vendor consolidation.
Claims operations consolidation
❙ Claims organization consolidation.
❙ Claims process standardization.
❙ Claims service center consolidation.
Underwriting operations
consolidation
❙ Underwriting organization consolidation.
❙ Risk appetite & pricing rationalization.
❙ Process standardization.
❙ Reinsurance contract finalization
& process standardization.
IT/systems rationalization
❙ Business applications/systems rationalization.
❙ Desktops and enterprise software consolidation.
❙ Infrastructure consolidation.
❙ IT vendors/contractors consolidation.
Distribution channel
integration
❙ Channel conflict resolution.
❙ Compensation structure.
❙ Agent service center.
Policyholder services operations consolidation
❙ Policy management and billing organization consolidation.
❙ Policy management process standardization.
❙ Billing process standardization.
❙ Customer service center consolidation.
8
4
3 7
5
6
10
Integration Management Office
Strategy, planning, program and
change management.
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Source: Cognizant
Figure 3
Key business, operations and IT integration dimensions for holistic integration
Charting the building blocks for effective integrations
A PMI may span multiple geographies, product
groups and business units. This results in a breadth
of integration activities across business areas and
operating models including organizational structure,
products, distribution channels, people, processes
and technologies – such as applications, end-user
services, servers and databases. A successful
integration needs to ensure that all dimensions
(business, operations, IT and infrastructure) are
holistically integrated. An unclear rationalization
and integration strategy will result in lost synergies
and delayed implementations. For example,
challenges arriving at a consensus on the clearance
processes across business groups have delayed
many submission/intake system integrations. Our
P&C insurance PMI framework, as shown in Figure
3, includes the key dimensions and subdimensions
that insurers need to consider and decide upon to
ensure they realize holistic integration and planned
synergy benefits.
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Navigating the PMI journey
Combining these dimensions in an actionable
plan is critical to success. When setting timelines
for integration and deciding on best approaches,
the decisions made will vary depending on the
combining cultures and the intended business
objectives around the acquisition. Figure 4 depicts a
representative phase-wise approach to integration,
calling out the key challenges and expected business
values captured. Additionally, the integration phases
need not always be linear. Insurers can opt to run
workflows in parallel with an agile mindset. For
example, insurers may stage their IT consolidation
by starting with end-user computing consolidation
and then address application consolidation after the
business process integration is complete. Integrating
business operations and IT are the most challenging
and time-consuming but are key to realizing
synergistic value.
Phase-wise categorization of the key dimensions across business, operations
and IT integration stages
Source: Cognizant
Figure 4
Complexitylevelofintegration
Phase 3:
IT/Systems
Phase 2:
Distribution,
underwriting,
claims, and
policyholder
services
Phase 1:
Brand,
products,
corporate
services, and
real estate
Examples: Policy administration application rationalization, claims
application rationalization, billing application rationalization.
Business Case: Cost synergies from reduced IT maintenance cost,
reduced integration cost, improved business process efficiency.
Challenges: Program planning, skilled resource availability,
business SME availability, integration complexity, conversion
complexity.
Examples: Underwriting organization structure design, UW roles
and responsibilities definition, FNOL process and business rules
standardization, claims call center operations consolidation.
Business Case: Revenue synergies through cross-sell/up-sell
from better product portfolio, revenue synergies from additional
sales by becoming a top carrier in agent’s book of business, cost
synergies from process/skills integration.
Challenges: Channel conflict, agent-underwriter relationship,
underwriting culture, relocation of service center personnel.
Examples: Logo and tagline design, media placement, product
application/forms design, job band and title integration, email
standardization, server/data center consolidation, facilities
management consolidation.
Business Case: Cost synergies from FTE reduction, facilities
reduction, vendor consolidation.
Challenges: Brand dilution, managing agent/customer
perceptions, employee engagement, cultural alignment,
labor issues.
Synergy value
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Key Learnings from
Successful PMIs
Business functions differ widely in their level of integration complexity. Adding to these
complexities are business interdependencies, innate challenges with the current technology
and cultural differences. Figure 5 depicts key learnings across functions from our recent
experiences integrating business operations and applications.
Key PMI learnings across business functions, working with leading P&C insurers
Source: Cognizant
Figure 5
Function Key question(s) for insurers Our learnings
Submission/
clearance
What should be the scope of clearance
across my segments?
Carriers can decide between providing a common clearance (for customer,
broker, risk) against the one segment of their business (small, mid-size, large,
specialty) or build a common clearance across the enterprise.
Underwriting Should I move underwriting to a common
underwriting platform or retain the
existing underwriting tools/platforms?
The complexities and change management associated with consolidating
underwriting tools/platforms are higher, though they provide better
effectiveness and efficiency.
Policy
administration/
servicing
Should I consolidate my policy
administration systems and migrate
historical data?
Policy administration consolidation typically has a huge impact on business
case and should be prioritized. Policy migration can be done at renewals.
Claims Should I consolidate my claims systems
and migrate historical data?
Claims provides better potential for consolidation sooner than other business
applications. Different options and strategies exist to manage open claims,
long-term claims and closed claims.
Reinsurance Should the reinsurance treaties be
consolidated to a common system?
Reinsurance complexity is driven by line of business (number of treaties,
facilities, etc.). Target solution should be defined early, but “manual” solutions
can work short term.
Reporting How can I provide consolidated business,
operational reporting and analytics?
Consolidated reporting solution is often complex and involves sourcing and
combining data from multiple sources. Short-term tactical reporting solutions
often require manual consolidation.
Finance How can I consolidate premium,
receivables accounting functions and
close financial periods?
Consolidation of financial systems usually happens prior to consolidation
of policy/UW and claims platforms, as executives look at consolidating the
premium reconciliations. Accounting to be streamlined across merged entities
and close financial periods accurately in a timely manner.
Quick Take
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Source: Cognizant
Figure 6
Key roles and responsibilities of the IMO
IMO: Ensuring success through holistic integration
strategy, planning and execution
The integration management office (IMO) plays
a vital role in integration success, as it manages
strategy, planning and execution. This office
represents the “home base” that orchestrates all
efforts across diverse groups. It is responsible
for establishing program standards, governance,
reporting, change management and measuring KPIs
to assess integration program outcomes. An IMO
requires representation from all the business and
IT groups involved. Playbooks, skills, methodologies
and tool kits must be cross-leveraged when
progressing through the many acquisition initiatives.
Figure 6 defines the key roles and responsibilities of
an effective IMO.
Strategy and planning Program management Business case management
	❙ Road-map and rollout sequence.
	❙ Foundational planning.
	❙ Develop and manage program
timelines.
	❙ Standardization of hand-off
processes/activities.
	❙ Develop and manage business case:
benefits  cost.
	❙ Measure progress and deviation.
	❙ Transition services agreement (TSA)
management.
Risks and dependency
management
Integration services
Infrastructure 
end-user computing
	❙ Risks and issues management.
	❙ Dependency tracking and
management.
	❙ Develop key integrations between
systems.
	❙ Review data dependencies and
requirements.
	❙ End-user device and network
enablement.
	❙ Manage infrastructure migration and
data center consolidation.
Change management Foundational work/planning Multidisciplinary tracks
	❙ Change management impact
assessment, strategy and plan.
	❙ Comprehensive rollout ,
communication and adoption plan.
	❙ Product definition by business unit/
profit center.
	❙ Brokers, agents and office
rationalization.
	❙ Product, policy, underwriting, claims,
finance, reinsurance, actuarial,
reporting.
	❙ Conversion and migration.
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The IMO should ensure proper coverage and
oversight of all integration components and help
teams deliver on time and within budget. Guiding
IMO principles include:
	❙ Manage the cultural shift. Never easy, fostering
change can introduce anxiety and confusion
across management levels and departments
in both organizations. This often leads to
higher attrition, particularly in functions such
as underwriting, claims and finance. Managing
employee expectations through effective
change management and strategic and timely
communications is critical. Retaining employees
in key roles such as underwriters, claims adjusters
and actuaries needs special attention as they
may be anxious about their future and the impact
of change.
	❙ Follow an agile path. Successful integration
planning and execution needs to be agile to
deliver value incrementally and quickly and to gain
stakeholder trust. Two key considerations include:
	 Business and IT need to approach and execute
integration with an MVP mindset, which
focuses on incremental business integration
and value delivery. The IMO must ensure
this focus by being the central organization
that manages the MVP scope and ensures
the mission stays on track. Scenarios such
as functional enhancements at the portfolio
level can derail the integration’s scope and
timeliness. Tying changes to what is absolutely
needed for integration (vs. enhancements) and
ensuring teams remain steadfast to complete
integration objectives will help organizations
realize their PMI goals.
	 Keep the scope and assumptions flexible, with
room to make adjustments along the way.
For example, regulatory changes, channel
resistance and geographic differences often
lead to unforeseen requirement changes.
These types of complex issues – especially
those related to multinational needs (currency,
language) – can impact integration plans.
Creatively resolve challenges through workflow
changes. Managing changes, communications
and rollout through the IMO will enable teams
to focus on their committed milestones.
All options need to be evaluated through an
execution lens, and the role of a strategic MA
partner is not just to define the strategy and plan
but to bring learnings from prior integrations,
customize approaches and lead execution with
an agile mindset. For example, one insurance
MA MVP addressed claims-system integration,
while another MA focused first on policy-
administration consolidation. A clear agile plan
needs to be devised during due diligence.
	❙ Manage scope through integration phases.
Conduct the integration in phases based on
parameters such as business appetite, speed-to-
market, team availability and required change
management. Manage scope closely and treat
integration and transformation requirements
differently. In a recent acquisition, the acquiring
carrier focused on integrating the applications
and business processes to get to one unified
state of integration, while planning how to make
that united approach futuristic, through digital
transformation in distribution. Approaching
integration with undiluted attention helps prevent
teams from switching contexts and contributes to
completing the committed integration goals on
time and within budget.
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	❙ Establish rollout and adoption plan. Once the
execution work is divided into releases and waves,
devise an effective adoption plan. Starting in an
area with maximum resistance will most certainly
stall the program with paralysis-by-analysis. To
avoid such, within each wave leverage a “will vs.
ease-of-bill” approach (see Figure 7) to ensure
steps along the journey don’t fall victim to any
delays in decision-making. Recommendations
include:
	 Identify the key integration supporters who
are eager to embrace change and can act
as change agents. For example, business
functions with inefficient workflows are more
open to adopt change. Leverage these quick
wins to inject confidence and break the initial
change inertia with the other business units.
	 Unleash IT capabilities in phases, and
incrementally add business value to secure
business support. Establish federated services
to streamline business processes impacted
by the integration of business applications.
This will help minimize disruption until the
applications are rationalized. For example,
a central service, such as a federated policy
service, would help downstream systems such
as claims, finance and reporting systems to
obtain the required policy information and
support continued service to customers and
internal users, until the policy systems get
rationalized.
Source: Cognizant
Figure 7
Example of a will vs. ease-of-bill analysis when planning the journey
❙ Ready to accelerate.
❙ Higher level of support.
❙ Pipeline for next round
of funding.
❙ Low level of support.
❙ Calculated risks.
❙ Art of the possible.
❙ Finish strong.
❙ Start here with believers.
❙ Break inertia.
❙ High level of support.
❙ Quick wins.
❙ Proof of concepts.
❙ Keep accelerating.
❙ Moderate support.
❙ Gather momentum.
❙ Amalgamate followers.
Will(willingnesstosupport)
Ease of bill (availability of funding)
$
$
$
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	❙ Set measures, monitor KPIs and communicate.
The IMO must establish program standards,
governance, methods, tools and KPIs to assess
the complete integration program. Use reporting
dashboards and policy standards to provide
assurance, transparency and quality control.
Scrutinize all work streams to ensure they are
in line with the integration guiding principles.
Communication forums are established for
different levels through which the program
progress, challenges and milestones are
constantly communicated, updated and
monitored. Enforce change management
through approval governance.
	❙ Manage change costs in the cloud. For large
PMIs, changes will inevitably surface new needs
and threaten to halt various workflows. To more
effectively address change scenarios, the IMO
should encourage teams to manage activities
via cloud platforms. The cloud options range
from building short-term, interim solutions
for the integration through strategic business
applications . Moving applications into the cloud
brings many benefits, allowing businesses to
pay for only what they use and gain agility, faster
services and additional economies of scale. This
translates to more efficient cost management and
reduces CapEx. During the PMI, it is imperative
to retain and archive all data and applications.
Subscription-based cloud archival solutions
save infrastructure costs significantly. Rent
services for migration, which can accelerate the
merger without a huge investment to purchase
additional products. During PMI journeys, legacy
applications tend to live longer than anticipated.
Managing the application with a cloud solution
provides alternate ways to attain cost efficiencies:
	 Move the data center and migrate the legacy
apps from on-premises to cloud, resulting in
operational cost reductions.
	 Archive the data onto the cloud when the
applications shut down, making the data
highly reliable while driving the restoration
costs down.
	 Build any new solution for PMI on the cloud,
resulting in rapid build-out of environments
shortening the test cycle across applications.
	❙ Track synergies and key financials including
the transition service agreement. The IMO
must meticulously track key metrics such as cash
flow, internal rate of return, and net present value
to monitor spending and cost overruns. After the
deal closes, almost every acquisition requires a
transition service agreement (TSA) to maintain
business continuity. The IMO plays a key role in
drafting a TSA that encompasses all scenarios
for running the business and developing the
governance policies and process to monitor the
provision of transition-related service agreements.
Procurement, IT, infrastructure, and finance and
accounting are just a few functions ripe for TSA
synergies. Also, tracking TSAs helps manage
day-to-day deliveries, resolve conflicts, ensure
invoice payments are made, identify cost-saving
opportunities, and monitor program progress
and performance.
	❙ Establish advisory councils. Many successful
integrations adopt advisory councils, which are
set up by the IMO. In a recent acquisition, the IMO
established governing councils with multilevel
representation from key business units such
as product and underwriting, finance, claims,
actuarial and IT. The IMO leveraged these councils
to strengthen project management capabilities,
share best practices, review approaches, ensure
milestones are met and encourage continuous
improvements.
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The path forward
A successful integration will unleash significant
value as the united business expands its portfolio
and digital capabilities. As carriers progress in
making deals, they should consider these critical
success factors:
	❙ Address PMI feasibility and complexity and the
resources required when evaluating deal business
cases and identifying potential synergies.
	❙ Identify the required elements of a PMI strategy
and key decision points.
	❙ Foster a post-merger mindset that envisions the
end state, and follow a phased approach across
business functions, operations and IT, starting with
an MVP implementation.
	❙ Empower a central IMO that will manage and
oversee all integration components, as well as track
the progress of PMI activities, manage risks and
change, and communicate progress.
	❙ Involve an ecosystem of strategic partners to
support the integration, from strategy definition
through planning and execution. Early in the
process, choose a partner that offers business
consulting and implementation expertise.
Endnotes
1	 “COVID-19 to test US PC insurance industry’s resilience in 2020 and beyond,” SP Global Market Intelligence, 2020,
www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/research/covid19-to-test-us-pc-insurance-industry-s-resilience-in-
2020-and-beyond.
2	 “PC insurers’ investment income under ‘strain,’” insurancebusinessmag.com, 2020,
www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/breaking-news/pandc-insurers-investment-income-under-strain-230549.aspx.
3	 “Axa completes $15B acquisition of XL Group, ratings upgraded,” businessinsurance, 2018, www.businessinsurance.com/
article/00010101/NEWS06/912323959/Axa-completes-$15B-acquisition-of-XL-Group,-ratings-upgraded#.
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About the authors
Agil Francis
Consulting Leader and Partner, Property  Casualty Insurance Practice
Agil Francis leads Cognizant’s PC Insurance Advisory Practice, where he focuses on business and digital
transformation. He has helped develop leading industry solutions and tools to address underwriting, claims
and risk mitigation critical to personal and commercial insurers. He is a senior leader and strategist with
broad expertise in assessing business and operations challenges, developing strategies and delivering
results. Agil brings extensive experience in driving innovation and change for business transformation. He
and his team have been leaders in identifying how new business models and technologies such as AI, IoT and
blockchain can transform insurance products and processes. His specialties include digital transformation,
operating model design, distribution, underwriting and claims transformation, and post-merger integration.
He was selected as Consulting Magazine’s Top 25 Consultants of 2019. Agil has authored several white papers
on emerging business and technology trends and articles in leading publications such as Harvard Business
Review, Best’s Review, Digital Insurance and Reactions. He can be reached at Agil.Francis@cognizant.com |
www.linkedin.com/in/agil-francis-86322537.
Vikas Jain
Director and Principal, Insurance Practice, Cognizant Consulting
Vikas Jain has 20 years of management consulting experience in the insurance industry and advises on
strategy, operations and transformation issues across underwriting, claims and distribution functions. He is a
senior leader in the PC Consulting Practice with broad expertise in transforming business and operations,
developing strategies and leading large transformation programs. His specialties include post-merger
integration, operating model transformation and digital transformation. Vikas has authored several white
papers around trends in the PC industry. He can be reached at Vikas.Jain@cognizant.com |
www.linkedin.com/in/ vikas-jain-b02a0724.
Sridhar Devarajalu
Consulting Manager, Insurance Practice, Cognizant Consulting
Sridhar Devarajalu has more than 12 years of experience in the PC insurance domain. He has experience in
defining solution approaches and providing competitive intelligence for insurance carriers globally to address
problems covering insurers’ digital transformation strategy, customer experience management and process
transformation. Sridhar holds a post-graduate diploma in general management from the XLRI School of
Business. He can be reached at Sridhar.Devarajalu@cognizant.com | www. linkedin.com/in/sridhardevaraj.
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Vinodh Stanley Stephen
Consulting Manager, Insurance Practice, Cognizant Consulting
Vinodh Stanley Stephen, a Consulting Manager focused on the insurance industry, has worked with senior
insurance executives across North America and the Asia-Pacific region. His consulting experience includes
business transformation advisory, post-merger integration strategy, innovation advisory, digital strategy,
process transformation, operating model redesign, platform modernization and business case development.
He has also conceptualized innovative solutions and published in the digital insurance space. Vinodh has a
master’s degree in management from the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR). He also
holds certifications from AICPCU and CII. He can be reached at Vinodhstanley.Stephen@cognizant.com |
www.linkedin.com/in/vinodh-stanley-stephen-50206218.
Aravind Rengarajan
Techno-Functional Engagement Leader, Cognizant
Aravind Rengarajan has 16 years of experience in PC insurance, currently leading a large MA program.
He has helped deliver large-scale programs, building teams across the globe with on-time quality
deliverables. He and his team consult and deliver software solutions in an agile way, delivering value
incrementally. A hands-on leader, Aravind’s specialties include agile transformation, digital transformation,
cloud migration, post-merger integration, AWS cloud DevOps and architecting solutions to emerging
challenges. He can be reached at Aravind.Rengarajan@Cognizant.com |
www.linkedin.com/in/aravind-rengarajan-30086622/.
© Copyright 2021, Cognizant. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
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About Cognizant Insurance
Cognizant’s Insurance Practice, one of our largest industry verticals, partners with insurers to evolve their business and technology landscapes and enable
end-to-end digital transformation. Thirty-three of the top 50 U.S. insurers and seven of the top 10 global insurers rely on us to help manage their technology
portfolios, comprising their life, annuities, and property and casualty insurance lines. From large-scale core system renovation to cutting-edge technologies
like AI/ML, advanced analytics, blockchain and automation, we partner with enterprises to envision and build the digital insurer of the future. Learn more by
visiting www.cognizant.com/insurance.
About Cognizant
Cognizant (Nasdaq-100: CTSH) is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, transforming clients’ business, operating and technology
models for the digital era. Our unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build and run more innovative and efficient businesses.
Headquartered in the U.S., Cognizant is ranked 194 on the Fortune 500 and is consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world. Learn
how Cognizant helps clients lead with digital at www.cognizant.com or follow us @Cognizant.
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How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions

  • 1. Cognizant 20-20 Insights January 2021 How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions P&C insurers are likely entering a historic era of increased M&A activity aiming to drive growth at a double-digit pace, pivot into new business models and remain competitive. These insurers will be under pressure to realize the projected revenue growth and cost savings through integration synergies. Here’s how P&C insurers should complete a post-merger integration – from strategy development and planning through execution. Executive Summary The property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry has been in a sustained, saturated growth phase across personal and commercial segments, with constant annual growth of around 5% over the last few years. 1 Recent economic strains on the top and bottom line created by the COVID-19 pandemic have led the P&C industry into uncharted territory. This, coupled with low investment income 2 and financial market volatility, may lead insurers to seek strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&As) as a means to grow – or even survive – in the years ahead.
  • 2. 2 / How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights The P&C industry has experienced many acquisitions over the years. However, our financial analysis of the carriers over years of pre- and post-acquisition found that many carriers have not achieved both growth and cost synergies. Based on our experience, most post-merger integrations still take much longer than originally anticipated. There are many obstacles in such blendings, which have led to delays and lost synergies. Insurers face complex decisional hurdles, typically in their business operations and IT integrations, due to an unclear understanding of scope, priorities, cross-dependencies and challenges. Some of the keys to success are having a robust integration plan, adopting an agile approach with a focus on minimum viable product (MVP) releases of integrated processes or platforms, and engaging a strategic partner to help guide the business through the process. This white paper will cover key aspects of post- merger integration (PMI) and introduce a framework based on our experiences from past programs. We also have recommendations to help the integration management office effectively orchestrate all operations.
  • 3. 3 / How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights Post-merger integration: A value multiplier P&C insurance is a moderate growth industry with both personal and commercial segments highly fragmented (see Figure 1), with no dominant player and intense competition to capture market share. Today, along with finding new avenues for growth, insurers must address multiple challenges such as evolving stakeholder expectations, the rise of newer business models from increasing penetration of IoT devices, and impacts from the pandemic and ransomware attacks. To outperform competitors, many insurers seek inorganic growth by entering new markets, regions, segments and service areas through acquisitions. P&C M&A activity is expected to rise as insurers strive to emerge stronger from the pandemic. Others – 15% American Family – 3% Travelers – 3% Nationwide – 4% Farmers – 6% Liberty Mutual – 7% USAA – 7% Progressive – 9% Geico – 12% Allstate – 12% State Farm – 22% Others – 48% New entrants & D2C focused carriers – 7% Super-regionals – 15% Large personal carriers – 15% Large commercial carriers – 15% Others – 60% Large commercial carriers – 40% (The Hartford, Liberty Mutual, Travelers) (Travelers, Zurich, Liberty Mutual, AIG, The Hartford, Chubb, AXA XL, CNA) (AmTrust, Fairfax, etc.) (Chubb, Berkshire Hathaway, Hiscox) (Auto-Owners, Erie Insurance, Westfield, Cincinnati, Selective, Philadelphia, Sentry, Hanover) (State Farm, Farmers, Progressive, Nationwide) PERSONAL LINES SMALL COMMERCIAL LINES MID/LARGE COMMERCIAL AND SPECIALTY LINES 2019 U.S. market share for insurance segments Source: Cognizant analysis based on NAIC and other secondary sources Figure 1
  • 4. 4 / How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights Source: Cognizant analysis based on data from NAIC, annual reports and secondary sources Figure 2 Pre- and post-merger growth and expense ratios of large P&C carriers that went through M&A activities in the past eight years Many multibillion-dollar deals have closed in the last few years. 3 Our analysis of six large P&C acquisitions over the past eight years shows mixed results on the resultant growth and expense ratios, as shown in Figure 2. Most carriers that improved growth have higher expense ratios in the following years. Likewise, most carriers that contained their expense ratios were unable to realize accelerated growth. Only two of the six carriers analyzed achieved both growth and expense synergies from the M&A, with only one of them achieving growth above the industry average. Some of the key reasons for the delayed and suboptimal results include: ❙ Lack of an effective PMI strategy and a clear execution direction aligned with the overall business vision. ❙ Lack of technical depth among the integration partners, and their failing to understand and foresee roadblocks with the typically complex legacy processes and systems across both organizations. ❙ Lack of an effective governance structure required to make decisions with execution pace, change management, communications, early realization of value and guidance to teams. Many insurers will accelerate inorganic growth through M&As as a means of expanding into new markets (e.g., specialty, excess and surplus), geographies (e.g., international or state-wide expansions), industry segments and risks (e.g., ride-sharing providers and other sharing economy providers), and also adopting new business models, such as peer-to-peer insurance or episodic insurance. The key to ensure best outcomes and faster synergy is an effective PMI strategy – from planning to execution. Only cost reduction synergy Expense ratio reduction, but with slackened GWP Growth and cost reduction synergy Expense ratio reduction, with increased GWP No synergy Increased expense ratios and decreased growth Gross written premium (GWP) change % (three years pre-M&A to three years post-M&A) Only growth synergy Increased GWP but with increased expense ratio –6.0% –4.0% –2.0% 0.0% 2.0% 4.0% 6.0% -5.0% -3.0% -1.0% 1.0% 3.0% 5.0% Carrier A Carrier B Carrier C Carrier D Carrier E Carrier F Expenseratioreduction% (threeyearspre-M&Atothreeyearspost-M&A)
  • 5. 1 2 9 Brand unification ❙ Corporate brand unification. ❙ Agent brand messaging. ❙ Insured/consumer brand messaging. Corporate services reorganization ❙ Actuarial department. ❙ Corporate finance department. ❙ HR, legal and compliance departments. Product consolidation ❙ Products/coverages rationalization. ❙ Rates, rules and forms rationalization. ❙ Product development and maintenance process standardization. ❙ Regulatory aspects. Real estate and facilities consolidation ❙ Real estate consolidation. ❙ Facilities management consolidation. ❙ Vendor consolidation. Claims operations consolidation ❙ Claims organization consolidation. ❙ Claims process standardization. ❙ Claims service center consolidation. Underwriting operations consolidation ❙ Underwriting organization consolidation. ❙ Risk appetite & pricing rationalization. ❙ Process standardization. ❙ Reinsurance contract finalization & process standardization. IT/systems rationalization ❙ Business applications/systems rationalization. ❙ Desktops and enterprise software consolidation. ❙ Infrastructure consolidation. ❙ IT vendors/contractors consolidation. Distribution channel integration ❙ Channel conflict resolution. ❙ Compensation structure. ❙ Agent service center. Policyholder services operations consolidation ❙ Policy management and billing organization consolidation. ❙ Policy management process standardization. ❙ Billing process standardization. ❙ Customer service center consolidation. 8 4 3 7 5 6 10 Integration Management Office Strategy, planning, program and change management. 5 / How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights Source: Cognizant Figure 3 Key business, operations and IT integration dimensions for holistic integration Charting the building blocks for effective integrations A PMI may span multiple geographies, product groups and business units. This results in a breadth of integration activities across business areas and operating models including organizational structure, products, distribution channels, people, processes and technologies – such as applications, end-user services, servers and databases. A successful integration needs to ensure that all dimensions (business, operations, IT and infrastructure) are holistically integrated. An unclear rationalization and integration strategy will result in lost synergies and delayed implementations. For example, challenges arriving at a consensus on the clearance processes across business groups have delayed many submission/intake system integrations. Our P&C insurance PMI framework, as shown in Figure 3, includes the key dimensions and subdimensions that insurers need to consider and decide upon to ensure they realize holistic integration and planned synergy benefits.
  • 6. 6 / How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights Navigating the PMI journey Combining these dimensions in an actionable plan is critical to success. When setting timelines for integration and deciding on best approaches, the decisions made will vary depending on the combining cultures and the intended business objectives around the acquisition. Figure 4 depicts a representative phase-wise approach to integration, calling out the key challenges and expected business values captured. Additionally, the integration phases need not always be linear. Insurers can opt to run workflows in parallel with an agile mindset. For example, insurers may stage their IT consolidation by starting with end-user computing consolidation and then address application consolidation after the business process integration is complete. Integrating business operations and IT are the most challenging and time-consuming but are key to realizing synergistic value. Phase-wise categorization of the key dimensions across business, operations and IT integration stages Source: Cognizant Figure 4 Complexitylevelofintegration Phase 3: IT/Systems Phase 2: Distribution, underwriting, claims, and policyholder services Phase 1: Brand, products, corporate services, and real estate Examples: Policy administration application rationalization, claims application rationalization, billing application rationalization. Business Case: Cost synergies from reduced IT maintenance cost, reduced integration cost, improved business process efficiency. Challenges: Program planning, skilled resource availability, business SME availability, integration complexity, conversion complexity. Examples: Underwriting organization structure design, UW roles and responsibilities definition, FNOL process and business rules standardization, claims call center operations consolidation. Business Case: Revenue synergies through cross-sell/up-sell from better product portfolio, revenue synergies from additional sales by becoming a top carrier in agent’s book of business, cost synergies from process/skills integration. Challenges: Channel conflict, agent-underwriter relationship, underwriting culture, relocation of service center personnel. Examples: Logo and tagline design, media placement, product application/forms design, job band and title integration, email standardization, server/data center consolidation, facilities management consolidation. Business Case: Cost synergies from FTE reduction, facilities reduction, vendor consolidation. Challenges: Brand dilution, managing agent/customer perceptions, employee engagement, cultural alignment, labor issues. Synergy value
  • 7. 7 / How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights Key Learnings from Successful PMIs Business functions differ widely in their level of integration complexity. Adding to these complexities are business interdependencies, innate challenges with the current technology and cultural differences. Figure 5 depicts key learnings across functions from our recent experiences integrating business operations and applications. Key PMI learnings across business functions, working with leading P&C insurers Source: Cognizant Figure 5 Function Key question(s) for insurers Our learnings Submission/ clearance What should be the scope of clearance across my segments? Carriers can decide between providing a common clearance (for customer, broker, risk) against the one segment of their business (small, mid-size, large, specialty) or build a common clearance across the enterprise. Underwriting Should I move underwriting to a common underwriting platform or retain the existing underwriting tools/platforms? The complexities and change management associated with consolidating underwriting tools/platforms are higher, though they provide better effectiveness and efficiency. Policy administration/ servicing Should I consolidate my policy administration systems and migrate historical data? Policy administration consolidation typically has a huge impact on business case and should be prioritized. Policy migration can be done at renewals. Claims Should I consolidate my claims systems and migrate historical data? Claims provides better potential for consolidation sooner than other business applications. Different options and strategies exist to manage open claims, long-term claims and closed claims. Reinsurance Should the reinsurance treaties be consolidated to a common system? Reinsurance complexity is driven by line of business (number of treaties, facilities, etc.). Target solution should be defined early, but “manual” solutions can work short term. Reporting How can I provide consolidated business, operational reporting and analytics? Consolidated reporting solution is often complex and involves sourcing and combining data from multiple sources. Short-term tactical reporting solutions often require manual consolidation. Finance How can I consolidate premium, receivables accounting functions and close financial periods? Consolidation of financial systems usually happens prior to consolidation of policy/UW and claims platforms, as executives look at consolidating the premium reconciliations. Accounting to be streamlined across merged entities and close financial periods accurately in a timely manner. Quick Take
  • 8. 8 / How P&C Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers & Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights Source: Cognizant Figure 6 Key roles and responsibilities of the IMO IMO: Ensuring success through holistic integration strategy, planning and execution The integration management office (IMO) plays a vital role in integration success, as it manages strategy, planning and execution. This office represents the “home base” that orchestrates all efforts across diverse groups. It is responsible for establishing program standards, governance, reporting, change management and measuring KPIs to assess integration program outcomes. An IMO requires representation from all the business and IT groups involved. Playbooks, skills, methodologies and tool kits must be cross-leveraged when progressing through the many acquisition initiatives. Figure 6 defines the key roles and responsibilities of an effective IMO. Strategy and planning Program management Business case management ❙ Road-map and rollout sequence. ❙ Foundational planning. ❙ Develop and manage program timelines. ❙ Standardization of hand-off processes/activities. ❙ Develop and manage business case: benefits cost. ❙ Measure progress and deviation. ❙ Transition services agreement (TSA) management. Risks and dependency management Integration services Infrastructure end-user computing ❙ Risks and issues management. ❙ Dependency tracking and management. ❙ Develop key integrations between systems. ❙ Review data dependencies and requirements. ❙ End-user device and network enablement. ❙ Manage infrastructure migration and data center consolidation. Change management Foundational work/planning Multidisciplinary tracks ❙ Change management impact assessment, strategy and plan. ❙ Comprehensive rollout , communication and adoption plan. ❙ Product definition by business unit/ profit center. ❙ Brokers, agents and office rationalization. ❙ Product, policy, underwriting, claims, finance, reinsurance, actuarial, reporting. ❙ Conversion and migration.
  • 9. 9 / How PC Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights The IMO should ensure proper coverage and oversight of all integration components and help teams deliver on time and within budget. Guiding IMO principles include: ❙ Manage the cultural shift. Never easy, fostering change can introduce anxiety and confusion across management levels and departments in both organizations. This often leads to higher attrition, particularly in functions such as underwriting, claims and finance. Managing employee expectations through effective change management and strategic and timely communications is critical. Retaining employees in key roles such as underwriters, claims adjusters and actuaries needs special attention as they may be anxious about their future and the impact of change. ❙ Follow an agile path. Successful integration planning and execution needs to be agile to deliver value incrementally and quickly and to gain stakeholder trust. Two key considerations include: Business and IT need to approach and execute integration with an MVP mindset, which focuses on incremental business integration and value delivery. The IMO must ensure this focus by being the central organization that manages the MVP scope and ensures the mission stays on track. Scenarios such as functional enhancements at the portfolio level can derail the integration’s scope and timeliness. Tying changes to what is absolutely needed for integration (vs. enhancements) and ensuring teams remain steadfast to complete integration objectives will help organizations realize their PMI goals. Keep the scope and assumptions flexible, with room to make adjustments along the way. For example, regulatory changes, channel resistance and geographic differences often lead to unforeseen requirement changes. These types of complex issues – especially those related to multinational needs (currency, language) – can impact integration plans. Creatively resolve challenges through workflow changes. Managing changes, communications and rollout through the IMO will enable teams to focus on their committed milestones. All options need to be evaluated through an execution lens, and the role of a strategic MA partner is not just to define the strategy and plan but to bring learnings from prior integrations, customize approaches and lead execution with an agile mindset. For example, one insurance MA MVP addressed claims-system integration, while another MA focused first on policy- administration consolidation. A clear agile plan needs to be devised during due diligence. ❙ Manage scope through integration phases. Conduct the integration in phases based on parameters such as business appetite, speed-to- market, team availability and required change management. Manage scope closely and treat integration and transformation requirements differently. In a recent acquisition, the acquiring carrier focused on integrating the applications and business processes to get to one unified state of integration, while planning how to make that united approach futuristic, through digital transformation in distribution. Approaching integration with undiluted attention helps prevent teams from switching contexts and contributes to completing the committed integration goals on time and within budget.
  • 10. 10 / How PC Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights ❙ Establish rollout and adoption plan. Once the execution work is divided into releases and waves, devise an effective adoption plan. Starting in an area with maximum resistance will most certainly stall the program with paralysis-by-analysis. To avoid such, within each wave leverage a “will vs. ease-of-bill” approach (see Figure 7) to ensure steps along the journey don’t fall victim to any delays in decision-making. Recommendations include: Identify the key integration supporters who are eager to embrace change and can act as change agents. For example, business functions with inefficient workflows are more open to adopt change. Leverage these quick wins to inject confidence and break the initial change inertia with the other business units. Unleash IT capabilities in phases, and incrementally add business value to secure business support. Establish federated services to streamline business processes impacted by the integration of business applications. This will help minimize disruption until the applications are rationalized. For example, a central service, such as a federated policy service, would help downstream systems such as claims, finance and reporting systems to obtain the required policy information and support continued service to customers and internal users, until the policy systems get rationalized. Source: Cognizant Figure 7 Example of a will vs. ease-of-bill analysis when planning the journey ❙ Ready to accelerate. ❙ Higher level of support. ❙ Pipeline for next round of funding. ❙ Low level of support. ❙ Calculated risks. ❙ Art of the possible. ❙ Finish strong. ❙ Start here with believers. ❙ Break inertia. ❙ High level of support. ❙ Quick wins. ❙ Proof of concepts. ❙ Keep accelerating. ❙ Moderate support. ❙ Gather momentum. ❙ Amalgamate followers. Will(willingnesstosupport) Ease of bill (availability of funding) $ $ $
  • 11. 11 / How PC Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights ❙ Set measures, monitor KPIs and communicate. The IMO must establish program standards, governance, methods, tools and KPIs to assess the complete integration program. Use reporting dashboards and policy standards to provide assurance, transparency and quality control. Scrutinize all work streams to ensure they are in line with the integration guiding principles. Communication forums are established for different levels through which the program progress, challenges and milestones are constantly communicated, updated and monitored. Enforce change management through approval governance. ❙ Manage change costs in the cloud. For large PMIs, changes will inevitably surface new needs and threaten to halt various workflows. To more effectively address change scenarios, the IMO should encourage teams to manage activities via cloud platforms. The cloud options range from building short-term, interim solutions for the integration through strategic business applications . Moving applications into the cloud brings many benefits, allowing businesses to pay for only what they use and gain agility, faster services and additional economies of scale. This translates to more efficient cost management and reduces CapEx. During the PMI, it is imperative to retain and archive all data and applications. Subscription-based cloud archival solutions save infrastructure costs significantly. Rent services for migration, which can accelerate the merger without a huge investment to purchase additional products. During PMI journeys, legacy applications tend to live longer than anticipated. Managing the application with a cloud solution provides alternate ways to attain cost efficiencies: Move the data center and migrate the legacy apps from on-premises to cloud, resulting in operational cost reductions. Archive the data onto the cloud when the applications shut down, making the data highly reliable while driving the restoration costs down. Build any new solution for PMI on the cloud, resulting in rapid build-out of environments shortening the test cycle across applications. ❙ Track synergies and key financials including the transition service agreement. The IMO must meticulously track key metrics such as cash flow, internal rate of return, and net present value to monitor spending and cost overruns. After the deal closes, almost every acquisition requires a transition service agreement (TSA) to maintain business continuity. The IMO plays a key role in drafting a TSA that encompasses all scenarios for running the business and developing the governance policies and process to monitor the provision of transition-related service agreements. Procurement, IT, infrastructure, and finance and accounting are just a few functions ripe for TSA synergies. Also, tracking TSAs helps manage day-to-day deliveries, resolve conflicts, ensure invoice payments are made, identify cost-saving opportunities, and monitor program progress and performance. ❙ Establish advisory councils. Many successful integrations adopt advisory councils, which are set up by the IMO. In a recent acquisition, the IMO established governing councils with multilevel representation from key business units such as product and underwriting, finance, claims, actuarial and IT. The IMO leveraged these councils to strengthen project management capabilities, share best practices, review approaches, ensure milestones are met and encourage continuous improvements.
  • 12. 12 / How PC Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights The path forward A successful integration will unleash significant value as the united business expands its portfolio and digital capabilities. As carriers progress in making deals, they should consider these critical success factors: ❙ Address PMI feasibility and complexity and the resources required when evaluating deal business cases and identifying potential synergies. ❙ Identify the required elements of a PMI strategy and key decision points. ❙ Foster a post-merger mindset that envisions the end state, and follow a phased approach across business functions, operations and IT, starting with an MVP implementation. ❙ Empower a central IMO that will manage and oversee all integration components, as well as track the progress of PMI activities, manage risks and change, and communicate progress. ❙ Involve an ecosystem of strategic partners to support the integration, from strategy definition through planning and execution. Early in the process, choose a partner that offers business consulting and implementation expertise. Endnotes 1 “COVID-19 to test US PC insurance industry’s resilience in 2020 and beyond,” SP Global Market Intelligence, 2020, www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/research/covid19-to-test-us-pc-insurance-industry-s-resilience-in- 2020-and-beyond. 2 “PC insurers’ investment income under ‘strain,’” insurancebusinessmag.com, 2020, www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/breaking-news/pandc-insurers-investment-income-under-strain-230549.aspx. 3 “Axa completes $15B acquisition of XL Group, ratings upgraded,” businessinsurance, 2018, www.businessinsurance.com/ article/00010101/NEWS06/912323959/Axa-completes-$15B-acquisition-of-XL-Group,-ratings-upgraded#.
  • 13. 13 / How PC Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights About the authors Agil Francis Consulting Leader and Partner, Property Casualty Insurance Practice Agil Francis leads Cognizant’s PC Insurance Advisory Practice, where he focuses on business and digital transformation. He has helped develop leading industry solutions and tools to address underwriting, claims and risk mitigation critical to personal and commercial insurers. He is a senior leader and strategist with broad expertise in assessing business and operations challenges, developing strategies and delivering results. Agil brings extensive experience in driving innovation and change for business transformation. He and his team have been leaders in identifying how new business models and technologies such as AI, IoT and blockchain can transform insurance products and processes. His specialties include digital transformation, operating model design, distribution, underwriting and claims transformation, and post-merger integration. He was selected as Consulting Magazine’s Top 25 Consultants of 2019. Agil has authored several white papers on emerging business and technology trends and articles in leading publications such as Harvard Business Review, Best’s Review, Digital Insurance and Reactions. He can be reached at Agil.Francis@cognizant.com | www.linkedin.com/in/agil-francis-86322537. Vikas Jain Director and Principal, Insurance Practice, Cognizant Consulting Vikas Jain has 20 years of management consulting experience in the insurance industry and advises on strategy, operations and transformation issues across underwriting, claims and distribution functions. He is a senior leader in the PC Consulting Practice with broad expertise in transforming business and operations, developing strategies and leading large transformation programs. His specialties include post-merger integration, operating model transformation and digital transformation. Vikas has authored several white papers around trends in the PC industry. He can be reached at Vikas.Jain@cognizant.com | www.linkedin.com/in/ vikas-jain-b02a0724. Sridhar Devarajalu Consulting Manager, Insurance Practice, Cognizant Consulting Sridhar Devarajalu has more than 12 years of experience in the PC insurance domain. He has experience in defining solution approaches and providing competitive intelligence for insurance carriers globally to address problems covering insurers’ digital transformation strategy, customer experience management and process transformation. Sridhar holds a post-graduate diploma in general management from the XLRI School of Business. He can be reached at Sridhar.Devarajalu@cognizant.com | www. linkedin.com/in/sridhardevaraj.
  • 14. 14 / How PC Insurers Can Unlock Value from Mergers Acquisitions Cognizant 20-20 Insights Vinodh Stanley Stephen Consulting Manager, Insurance Practice, Cognizant Consulting Vinodh Stanley Stephen, a Consulting Manager focused on the insurance industry, has worked with senior insurance executives across North America and the Asia-Pacific region. His consulting experience includes business transformation advisory, post-merger integration strategy, innovation advisory, digital strategy, process transformation, operating model redesign, platform modernization and business case development. He has also conceptualized innovative solutions and published in the digital insurance space. Vinodh has a master’s degree in management from the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR). He also holds certifications from AICPCU and CII. He can be reached at Vinodhstanley.Stephen@cognizant.com | www.linkedin.com/in/vinodh-stanley-stephen-50206218. Aravind Rengarajan Techno-Functional Engagement Leader, Cognizant Aravind Rengarajan has 16 years of experience in PC insurance, currently leading a large MA program. He has helped deliver large-scale programs, building teams across the globe with on-time quality deliverables. He and his team consult and deliver software solutions in an agile way, delivering value incrementally. A hands-on leader, Aravind’s specialties include agile transformation, digital transformation, cloud migration, post-merger integration, AWS cloud DevOps and architecting solutions to emerging challenges. He can be reached at Aravind.Rengarajan@Cognizant.com | www.linkedin.com/in/aravind-rengarajan-30086622/.
  • 15. © Copyright 2021, Cognizant. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission from Cognizant. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. Codex 5918 About Cognizant Insurance Cognizant’s Insurance Practice, one of our largest industry verticals, partners with insurers to evolve their business and technology landscapes and enable end-to-end digital transformation. Thirty-three of the top 50 U.S. insurers and seven of the top 10 global insurers rely on us to help manage their technology portfolios, comprising their life, annuities, and property and casualty insurance lines. From large-scale core system renovation to cutting-edge technologies like AI/ML, advanced analytics, blockchain and automation, we partner with enterprises to envision and build the digital insurer of the future. Learn more by visiting www.cognizant.com/insurance. About Cognizant Cognizant (Nasdaq-100: CTSH) is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, transforming clients’ business, operating and technology models for the digital era. Our unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build and run more innovative and efficient businesses. Headquartered in the U.S., Cognizant is ranked 194 on the Fortune 500 and is consistently listed among the most admired companies in the world. Learn how Cognizant helps clients lead with digital at www.cognizant.com or follow us @Cognizant. World Headquarters 500 Frank W. Burr Blvd. Teaneck, NJ 07666 USA Phone: +1 201 801 0233 Fax: +1 201 801 0243 Toll Free: +1 888 937 3277 European Headquarters 1 Kingdom Street Paddington Central London W2 6BD England Phone: +44 (0) 20 7297 7600 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7121 0102 India Operations Headquarters #5/535 Old Mahabalipuram Road Okkiyam Pettai, Thoraipakkam Chennai, 600 096 India Phone: +91 (0) 44 4209 6000 Fax: +91 (0) 44 4209 6060 APAC Headquarters 1 Changi Business Park Crescent, Plaza 8@CBP # 07-04/05/06, Tower A, Singapore 486025 Phone: + 65 6812 4051 Fax: + 65 6324 4051