Leveraging multi-client capability & scalability for policy administration systems

A general rule regarding software applications and enterprise systems is that efficiency is gained by high volume and large-scale execution. Running operations for as many end-users as possible will lower the cost per end-user.  Standardisation plays a pivotal role in the establishment of efficient and cost-effective systems, thus this principle holds true for policy administration systems, such as Keylane’s SaaS platform Plexus, developed to optimise operations in the life and pension industry.

This presents the business case that one Business Process Operator (BPO) can serve multiple life and pension providers by operating several pension companies on the same platform. However, it is crucial to ensure that each company runs in complete isolation to maintain data integrity and security. Just like financial postings and money flow are entirely separated. A high degree of standardisation will help to ease operations and reduce costs.

However, it’s crucial to acknowledge that not all pension companies offer identical products, which means that different product structures are required to cater to each customer’s unique needs. Moreover, individual pension companies often have their own distinctive processes for generating letters and communicating with clients. It is essential that all client portals reflect the branding of their respective life and pension companies. Additionally, reporting to authorities and internal as well as external interfaces must be tailored specifically to each pension company. As a result, specific customer configurations remain necessary to accommodate these diverse requirements.

This challenge presents a significant hurdle for software providers, as they must find a way to strike a balance between a high degree of standardisation for scalability and load handling and the need for specific configurations to ensure flexibility and meet customer requirements. The solution Keylane offers to address this challenge is to run several instances of our industry platform Plexus in a highly efficient cloud orchestration environment, and use configuration management to ensure smooth deployment of customer specific configurations. This approach ensures the optimal balance between standardisation, high load and scalability combined with flexibility and specific configurability.

Our Plexus development department is currently working on a configuration management solution that empowers Business Process Operators to manage and synchronise all configuration data across Plexus instances and various environments such as Development, Test, Acceptance, Preproduction, and Production (DTAPP). The principle involves managing configurations from a master instance and distributing them to other instances using an export-import feature. Exports can be managed using a standard repository with version control, such as GIT or a similar tool. The configuration management features are accessible only to authorised users, and all changes can be monitored through an audit trail.

More information

If you are interested in learning more about this innovative concept, please don’t hesitate to contact Jacob Goltermann, Head of Product Management, at Jacob.goltermann@keylane.com