Six reasons insurance business and IT leaders have increasingly embraced cloud-based platforms.

The value proposition of cloud-based platforms emphasizes scalability, reliability and distribution across zones and regions. According to Craig Lowery, Vice President Analyst at Gartner, the resilience of the cloud is on display like never before.3 The cloud infrastructure enables insurers to add new computing resources orders of magnitude faster. This means you’re looking at hours (sometimes minutes!) to add new environments or processing power with the cloud compared to days or weeks with physical infrastructure. Additionally, cloud platforms are highly suitable for experimentation with new products and services thanks to shorter deployment timeframes.

Adopting a cloud-based platform allows you to focus on what you do best by freeing up resources -- people, physical space, and IT budget -- that would otherwise be consumed with supporting on-premises implementations.

Software as a Service has emerged as “the dominant paradigm” in the P&C Policy Admin Systems Market partly due to the great advantages this model offers when it comes to maintenance and upgrades.4 SaaS models enable the software vendor to handle ongoing maintenance and more easily apply incremental enhancements and upgrades to the system with less disruption than irregular upgrades to on-premises systems.

With a cloud-based system worries around capacity and scalability are diminished. You’ll only use the computing power you need when you need it and can upscale computing resources at any given time to meet a spike in demand or to keep pace with the growth of your business.
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For example, in the days following a hurricane an insurer might need additional computing resources to process CAT claims. With the cloud, these resources can come online and be moved offline as needed. This helps avoid the need to acquire too much capacity that will sit idle the majority of the time.

With cloud-based platforms and SaaS, pricing is based on computing resources consumed — and it flows up and down based on usage. This means you’ll only pay for what you actually use.

With only an internet connection and a suitable device required, it’s easy to achieve anytime, anywhere access and support increasing remote work models. Hyperscale providers like AWS have enviable security and uptime records allowing you to trust the system no matter where you are. Geographic distribution of the AWS cloud infrastructure also offers simplified and affordable disaster recovery no matter the size of your enterprise. This component is critical when dealing with disasters over an extended period of time.