Industry: Insurance | Services: Automation, Digital Operations, Robility®
Client Overview
One of the fastest-growing Life & Annuities insurers in the United States, this company offers a broad portfolio of income and asset protection products — from Term, Whole Life, and Universal Life to fixed, indexed, and variable annuities. As a wholesaler, they work captive and independent agents, brokers, and affinity partners to deliver innovative products and coverage for a wide array of individual protection needs.
They were also growing fast. By 2022, the insurer had aggregated $5.7 billion in gross written premium (GWP), built $113 billion in assets under management, and maintained more than 15 million in-force contracts. Their rapid expansion, fueled by 59 acquisitions, has established them as a leading player in the Life & Annuities market.
The Challenge
Reducing Operational Expenses While Improving Resilience
The insurer’s aggressive growth strategy brought scale, but also created a highly fragmented operational and technology landscape. Portfolios were spread across more than 20 legacy platforms, with no common integration framework. Manual, paper-based customer requests — from address and beneficiary changes to withdrawals, endorsements, and contact updates — were processed across disparate systems, making transactions time-consuming and error-prone.
These inefficiencies translated into higher-than-benchmark expense ratios, inconsistent service delivery, duplication of effort, and growing backlogs. Slow technology integration only compounded the problem, driving long turnaround times and a high cost of quality.
To remain competitive, the insurer needed to streamline, standardize, and digitize its operations. The mandate was clear: cut costs, reduce technical debt, and build resilience — all while enhancing the experience delivered to both policyholders and agents.
Sutherland Solution
Scaled Automation and Aggregation into Standardized Operations and Tangible Results
- Simplifying and Standardizing a Complex Landscape
Sutherland’s first priority was to untangle the complexity created by the insurer’s rapid, acquisition-driven growth. Portfolios and processes across new business, underwriting support, policy administration, servicing, and claims were seamlessly integrated. Using a unique agile framework combined with human-centric design, process value chains were standardized and consolidated, reducing variability and ensuring consistent customer service metrics across the enterprise. - Re-architecting Service Delivery
With a more consistent foundation in place, Sutherland redesigned how services were delivered. New digital service centers were established — with back-office functions based in Kochi, India, and policyholder and agent servicing anchored in a dedicated U.S. Insurance Center of Excellence. At the same time, the engagement was re-modeled on a per-transaction commercial framework, which transferred operational risk to Sutherland while delivering cost predictability and embedded efficiency benefits. - Digitizing Workflows for Scale and Resilience
Finally, Sutherland advanced the insurer’s digital transformation by automating major workflows across the policy lifecycle. Using Robility® and SUL® (Service Unification Layer), processes in new business, underwriting, servicing, and claims were digitized to enable straight-through processing and remove legacy bottlenecks. A culture of continuous improvement was reinforced through lean and automation initiatives, supported by a workforce where 20% of team members were LOMA and Six Sigma certified. Together, these measures improved efficiency, accuracy, and exception handling while laying the foundation for scalable, digital-first operations.
The Outcome
Driving Cost Efficiency with Consistent Service Excellence
By consolidating legacy platforms and embedding automation, Sutherland enabled the insurer to build a more resilient, digital-first operating model. Operating costs fell dramatically, with a 40% reduction achieved through streamlined processes and greater efficiency.
Standardized operations and straight-through digital workflows not only delivered cost predictability but also reduced operational risk under the per-transaction model. For policyholders and agents, this translated into faster, more reliable service. Turnaround times improved by 35%, and quality scores consistently reached 99.5% of benchmark goals — evidence of a stronger, more consistent customer experience.
These outcomes reflect a collaboration that has now lasted more than 15 years, underscoring the insurer’s confidence in Sutherland as a trusted long-term transformation partner.
KEY OUTCOMES
Reduction in cost of operations
Benchmark quality score consistently achieved.
Faster turnaround times across servicing, underwriting, and claims.
