Axe Group announced the expansion after claiming it "saturated" the opportunities for its insurance software product in Australia and New Zealand
Australian insurance software provider Axe Group has launched in the US and Canada, throwing down the gauntlet to established players in the market like Oracle and Accenture.
The firm initiated the move after receiving sponsorship from the Pennsylvania State government and the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
Believing the insurance industry has lost agility in recent times because of old and unreliable technology systems, Axe Group will first target insurers along the East Coast of both countries, where it feels it can have the biggest impact.
CEO Martin Stewart said: “The insurance industry, particularly when it comes to customer experience, has fallen behind other sectors in innovation and disruption and is definitely overdue for a shake-up.
“We’ve had a very positive response from our Australian clients, we have clients regularly comment on the speed of completing projects end-to-end, not to mention the cost and time savings that have been made once implemented.
“A specific example recently from one of our large financial services clients reported a 75% improvement in efficiency, freeing up its staff to do things that are more proactive.
“We’re very confident we can achieve the same level of success in the US and Canadian markets.”
Legacy software holding back growth
Insurance software refers to the programmes used to process applications, conduct policy administration tasks and manage claims.
Despite the range of improved software using innovations like AI to speed up processes, many insurance companies still work with outdated systems.
Chris Hampshire, vice president of international claims specialist Gallagher Bassett, believes this is one of the biggest issues holding back growth in the market, touting insurtech as the answer.
Speaking on Best TV, an information service hosted by global ratings agency AM Best, he said: “The insurance companies have done a good job of amassing information about their clients and policyholders but a lot of the systems out there are old and antiquated.
“Insurtech devises systems and processes that will help the legacy insurers.
“Legacy brokers will be able to go through their information from a data analytics standpoint and transfer it to their clients, as well as get information back from their clients.”
Axe Group’s Axelerator software
Axelerator, not to be confused with AXA Philippines’ investment product of the same name, is an insurance process management suite designed to work across all major areas of insurance, including general, life and reinsurance.
It allows insurers to manage policies, claims and their own risk transfer arrangements with reinsurance firms within a single platform.
Axelerator uses the same foundations, or “code base”, across all its products, meaning users can adapt it to their needs and introduce new products at pace.
The firm claims its software works across several platforms, including PCs, laptops, mobiles and tablets, with or without internet access.
Among the biggest players in the insurance market using Axelerator are German reinsurance giant Hannover Re and pan-Asian life insurance firm AIA Group.