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Optimizing Voluntary Strategy via Realigned TPA Engagement and argeted Investments Given the growth of the voluntary market, traditional group insurers need a robust framework to implement their voluntary strategy, to allow optimal leverage of third-party administrators and to avoid the unsuccessful, endless cycles of continued investments into IT modernization programs. 
T 
Executive SummaryGrowth in the voluntary/worksite market in recent years has been noteworthy as compared to the traditional group market that is nearing stagnancy. Such attractive growth has caught the attention of group insurers, leading them to hone their voluntary business and IT strategies and make forays into the voluntary market. However, a detailed study reveals that insurers are challenged by people/skill-set deficiencies, convoluted processes and outdated IT topology, limiting their ability to launch new, innovative and competitive voluntary products. These entry bar- riers are making it difficult for them to enter this space, let alone to gain first-mover advantage over their competitors. Outsourcing their voluntary products to third- party administrators (TPAs) to support key administrative business functions seems to be the most obvious choice for insurers to overcome the impediments for a quick entry into the vol- untary market. However, what’s also needed is a 
strategy for optimizing TPA usage and bringing voluntary products back in house once the antici- pated performance threshold is reached. In an attempt to meet this intention, however, insurers are finding themselves in a Catch 22 situation in which they are perpetually and unsuc- cessfully investing in IT modernization programs, amid rising TPA costs. This white paper analyzes these current state impediments and the TPA engagement model — including its deficiencies — and reveals how tar- geted investments through a robust voluntary framework could help insurers overcome current limitations and achieve the desired speed-to- market without being constrained by large initial capital outlays. For the purposes of this paper, we have limited our analysis to traditional group insurers with vol- untary offerings such as life, disability, accident, long-term care, etc.; healthcare products or insur- ers carrying these products were not considered. • Cognizant 20-20 Insightscognizant 20-20 insights | september 2014
c 2 ognizant 20-20 insights 
Voluntary Market Growth Drives 
Traditional Group Insurance Shift 
The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) 
for voluntary life and disability products space 
has reached almost 8% over the past six years1 
(see Figure 1), while the group life and disability 
employer-paid insurance products space grew at 
only 1% annually. 
The high growth of the voluntary market is pri-marily 
driven by employers’ increased focus on 
benefit cost containment (which alone accounted 
for ~30% of employees’ compensation pack-ages2), 
an increase in disability incidence rates 
(that increased approximately 10% over the last 
20 years3) and unemployment. 
It has been found that an estimated 68% of 
employees (i.e., an approximate 78 million 
prospects4) do not own a voluntary product. Fur-thermore, according to a Prudential Insurance 
survey,6 roughly 52% of brokers who are cur-rently selling voluntary products expect increased 
demand for these benefits over the next five 
years. These numbers speak for themselves — the 
large pool of available prospects, along with the 
growing optimism among brokers and employers, 
indicate that the voluntary market is poised for 
sustainable growth in the future. 
In addition, with the introduction of public/private 
exchanges, an aging workforce and demand-ing 
Generation Z9 customers, it is natural that 
insurers will be forced to launch newer and more 
innovative products into the market quickly to 
stay relevant in the market space. 
To stay ahead of the 
game, many insurers 
are undertaking diverse 
initiatives to enhance 
product speed-to-mar-ket, but are facing 
challenges in doing so. 
Among the key factors 
impeding some insurers’ 
ability to expand volun-tary product offerings 
is the outdated legacy 
IT landscape which 
makes it difficult for 
them to meet current 
business objectives, let 
alone launch new volun-tary products. To overcome these hurdles, group 
insurers are engaging with TPAs to realize and 
implement their voluntary strategies. 
The Voluntary Market Opportunity 
2008 
$ IN BILLIONS 
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
Group Life & Disability V 2000 2010 CAGR oluntary Life & Disability 
0 
5 
10 
15 
2010 
2011 
2012 
20 
25 
30 
35 
40 
Life DI Accident Cancer/CI Dental HI/Supp Med 
0 
500 
1000 
1500 
7.18% 3.25% 1.5% 2.9% 1.19% 16.89% 
52% 
44% 
39% 
21% 
48% 
2013 
2018 
Employer Perspective: Increase in 
Importance of Voluntary (2013-2018) 
Voluntary Product: 
Ten-Year Growth Rate 
Percentage of Brokers Believing Demand for 
Voluntary Will Increase in the Next Five Years Traditional vs. Voluntary: 
Five Year Growth Rate for Life and Disability 
Sources (clockwise from top left): GenRe Insurance Annual Market Report (2008–2013)5; Eastbridge Consulting 
Report (2012)7; Prudential Seventh Annual Study of Employee Benefits Today & Beyond (2012)6; Towers Watson 
Voluntary Benefits and Services Survey (2013)8 
Figure 1 
Among the key 
factors impeding 
some insurers’ ability 
to expand voluntary 
product offerings is 
the outdated legacy IT 
landscape which makes 
it difficult for them to 
meet current business 
objectives, let alone 
launch new voluntary 
products.
cognizant 20-20 insights 3 
People, Process and Technology 
Deficiencies Enhance TPA Engagement 
In the past, most insurers engaged in a multiyear 
business process-as-a-service (BPaaS) model 
with TPAs, typically tasking them with sales, 
quotes and claims adjudication/disbursement 
processes. But now, amid strong growth in the 
voluntary market, insurers are increasingly rely-ing 
on TPAs in the areas of policy administration, 
billing/payment processing, enrollment, customer 
service and member data management. 
The black blocks in Figure 2 indicate the areas 
where most insurers depend extensively on TPAs. 
Greater TPA engagement is required by insur-ers to quickly launch voluntary products and to 
overcome internal challenges such as people/ 
skill-set deficiencies, convoluted processes and 
outdated IT topology. 
Resource Skill-Set Deficiency 
Insurers are facing increased difficulty employ-ing 
resources with key skill sets for launching 
and managing their voluntary products. As the 
market shift continues, we anticipate that this 
gap will further widen primarily due to high 
unemployment rates and aging baby boomers 
who will begin to retire in the next few years 
and leave behind vacant jobs. This void will be 
prominent in areas such as advanced data ana-lytics, consumer behavior analysis and prediction, 
marketing communications at individual insured 
level, risk classification, billing, enrollments and 
claims services. 
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 
aforementioned skilled occupations are expected 
to grow by an approximate 25% by 2022.10 
This suggests that as the market matures and 
makes way for voluntary products, there will be 
an increased need for insurers to act on their 
resource skil-set deficit to prevent the supply/ 
demand gap from growing deeper. 
Sales & 
Distribution 
Underwriting 
& Quote 
Ongoing 
Management 
& Services 
Claims 
Training Sales Team Actuarial Analytics 
Policy Administration 
(Eligibility, etc.) 
Claims Initiation & 
Adjudication 
Distribution 
(Enrollment Strategy) 
Rating & Pricing 
Determination 
Billing/Payment 
Processing 
Claims Processing 
Sales Proposal Generation Enrollment 
Payment 
Disbursements Sold Case/ 
Case Installation 
Customer Service 
Audit & Reserve 
Management 
Member Data Management 
Reporting 
Figure 2 
Group Benefits Value Chain: The Role of TPAs 
U.S. Insurance Workforce Projected 
Changes, 2012 to 2022 
Source: Employment Projections Program, U.S. Depart-ment of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012 to 
2022)10 
Figure 3 
Claims Adjusters, 
Examiners and 
Investigators 
Underwriters 
Operations 
Research 
Analysts 
Actuaries 
4% 
-6% 
27% 26%
cognizant 20-20 insights 4 
Convoluted Processes 
Changing market dynamics, continued neglect of 
IT infrastructure development, shifting consumer 
needs and changing state and federal regula-tions 
have led to substantial amounts of manual 
work-arounds. Needless to say, 
these convoluted processes 
have led to problems such as 
increased turnaround time, 
reduced efficiency, increased 
operating costs and, conse-quently, decreased customer 
satisfaction. 
Superior customer service is 
paramount for a successful 
voluntary strategy, but these 
complex and challenging pro-cesses reduce insurers’ operational efficiency, 
thereby impeding their ability to embrace a cus-tomer- centric approach. These challenges cannot 
be met purely by IT modernization; they must be 
viewed in conjunction with sourcing and process 
optimization strategies. 
Impeding IT Topology 
Most group insurers understand that their 
group benefits business operates on a subopti-mal 
legacy IT topology with limited functionality 
from a capability and usability perspective. Addi-tionally, these environments lack the ability to 
seamlessly integrate with new-age software, 
undercutting key business objectives, let alone 
the ability to launch new voluntary products. 
Moreover, group insurers realize that the existing 
topology requires significant upgrades to support 
new voluntary products in house and to power 
faster time-to-market with such products. 
Inherent TPA Engagement 
Model Impediments 
Although insurers are turning to TPAs to resolve 
their people, process and technology challenges, 
their multiyear engagements with TPAs to admin-ister products and to bridge the gap in the short 
run is rife with inherent problems resulting from 
a lack of service differentiation, high service fees 
(as the number of insured lives grows), and inabil-ity to up- and cross-sell products. 
High TPA Cost 
Every service that is sourced to a TPA has steep 
cost consequences. As insurers increase their 
TPA engagement and source their policy manage-ment and services processes, they incur higher 
costs, sometimes as high as 6% of the premium, 
for products sold by TPAs. This cost is further 
loaded with expenses incurred through training, 
redundant processes for reporting, etc. In time, 
as the participation rates increase and products 
ascend the maturity curve, TPA costs multiply 
exponentially. According to our experience, the 
TPA engagement costs start low, but as the prod-ucts mature the cost could grow exponentially in 
five years, costing as much as $10 million to $15 
million annually.11 
Challenges with Up- and Cross-Selling 
To attain profitability and stay ahead of the 
competition, insurers must explore up- and cross- 
selling opportunities. To achieve this, extensive 
analytical research should be conducted at the 
member level, to study consumer behavior and 
then tailor their sales strategy/product offerings 
as required. As insurers engage TPAs to admin-ister new voluntary products, exploring up- and 
cross-selling opportunities with their existing vol-untary customers, challenges are emerging. They 
include: 
• Inability of customer service representatives 
(CSRs) to up- and cross-sell — and emphasize 
potential savings — due to lack of overall 
customer data. 
• Unavailability of member-level data: Missing 
member-level data as a result of product 
sourcing to TPAs is 
a huge roadblock 
for insurers seeking 
to analyze customer 
trends and launch new 
improved products 
that can bridge the 
sales gap. 
Lack of Service 
Differentiation 
Customer dissatisfaction 
due to lack of service 
differentiation has been 
a major pain point for 
insurers. A lack of direct 
contact with end customers short-circuits insur-ers’ ability to provide best-in-class customer 
service. Typically, TPAs who manage adminis- 
Challenges cannot 
be met purely by 
IT modernization; 
they must be viewed 
in conjunction 
with sourcing and 
process optimization 
strategies. 
As insurers increase 
their TPA engagement 
and source their policy 
management and 
services processes, 
they incur higher 
costs, sometimes as 
high as 6% of the 
premium, for products 
sold by TPAs.
cognizant 20-20 insights 5 
tration services of multiple insurers tend to use 
standard practices and procedures. This causes 
insurers to lose out on service differentiation with 
voluntary products, where customers seek more 
information and expect better service, depending 
on the type of product purchased (i.e., disability, 
dental, life or accident). 
Unsuccessful IT Modernization and Insurers’ Inability to Decouple from TPAs 
Most insurers have realized that having many 
TPAs to service voluntary products is problematic. 
As a result, some have embarked on extensive 
three-to-five-year IT modernization programs 
to eventually bring their products back in house. 
The idea: Complete the technology upgrade so 
that after the product reaches its desired state 
of maturity, it can be reverse-integrated, saving 
TPA costs. 
However, based on our observations, most IT mod- 
ernization programs either fail to meet end- state 
objectives, or only partially meet them. Based on 
our experience working with leading group insur- 
ers, we have found that out of seven insurers 
analyzed, not a single insurer that initiated an IT 
modernization strategy has been able to achieve 
its desired outcome. Four of the seven insurers 
stopped their strategic projects due to either lack 
of funding and/or budget reallocation toward 
other high-priority strategic initiatives that took 
precedence; the remaining insurers subsequently 
changed their corporate strategic direction. 
These failing IT modern- 
ization programs have put 
additional pressure on insur- 
ers. As insurers launch new 
voluntary products to stay 
relevant and competitive, 
they find themselves in an 
endless and vicious cycle 
of outsourcing new product 
launches to TPAs to enhance 
time-to-market on one hand 
and to invest in IT upgrades 
on the other. In addition, 
insurers are bound to find 
that bringing their products 
back in house is an arduous task due to cost 
and schedule overruns of their multimillion-dol- 
lar IT modernization programs. Eventually, these 
challenges will lead to misalignment of insurers’ 
voluntary strategy. 
Given ongoing people, process and technology 
deficiencies, coupled with the inherent issues 
of TPA engagement, insurers need a robust vol- 
untary framework to overcome the continuing 
misalignment of their voluntary strategies and 
failure of their IT modernization programs. 
Insurers are bound 
to find that bringing 
their products 
back in house is an 
arduous task due 
to cost and schedule 
overruns of their 
multimillion-dollar 
IT modernization 
programs. 
UW/Actuarial 
Business Process 
Skill Set 
Reengineering 
Development 
PEOPLE PROCESS 
TECHNOLOGY 
Train Sales 
Teams 
MDM 
Quoting 
Systems Systems 
Upgrade 
Support Portals 
Enhance 
Web 
Suggested Voluntary Framework 
Figure 4
cognizant 20-20 insights 6 
Framework for Successful 
Implementation of Voluntary Strategy 
While there is no doubt engaging TPAs is an apt 
approach, insurers should attempt to bring volun- 
tary products in house sooner rather than later, to 
more fully reap economic benefits while enhanc- 
ing their competitive status. 
To achieve this, they must rethink and realign 
their voluntary strategy to overcome their people, 
process and technology shortcomings and accel- 
erate time-to-market without incurring huge 
initial capital outlays. 
Our proposed framework recommends invest- 
ments in key focus areas such as resource skill sets, process reengineering, technology upgrades 
in the areas of member data management, quot- 
ing, support systems and Web portals (see Figure 
4, previous page). 
Honing Internal Skill Sets to Optimize TPA 
Engagement 
Marketing, selling and administering voluntary 
products requires specialized skill sets such as 
consulting, consumer behavior analysis, predic- 
tive modeling, underwriting based on experience 
data and servicing individual members. Over- 
all, while insurers keep their voluntary products 
with TPAs through the short term, they should 
train and retain their internal resources on afore- 
mentioned skill sets so they can better handle 
voluntary products. A special focus should be 
placed on in-house and TPA sales skill sets, in- 
house underwriting (UW)/actuarial and in-house 
and TPA administrative skill sets. 
• Sales skill sets: > > In house: As insurers develop new voluntary 
products and divert their focus toward mar- 
ket research, brand messaging and advertis- 
ing, they have a greater need to train their 
sales and marketing teams to leave their tra- 
ditional group mind-set, conduct competi- 
tor analysis, study consumer behavior and 
market trends and, more importantly, bet- 
ter understand voluntary products and their 
benefits. They should also be equipped with 
consultative and advisory skill sets to edu- 
cate individual prospects. > > TPA: While the product is still handled by a 
TPA, there is an added advantage for insur- 
ers to conduct additional training on their 
voluntary products, educating resources 
on identifying prospects to enable up- and 
cross-selling. > > Actuarial and underwriting skill sets: 
This nascent and price-sensitive voluntary 
market challenges underwriters’ abilities to 
better classify the risk associated with each 
member. As indicated earlier, by 2022 there 
will be a great surge in demand for under- 
writers and actuar- 
ies according to the 
U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics.10 To suc- 
cessfully meet this 
demand, group insur- 
ers should proactively 
change their recruit- 
ment strategies and 
invest in training their 
existing workforce 
for these profiles. Un- 
derwriters need to 
be equipped with the 
ability to assess risk 
at the individual member and group levels, especially with the limited consumer (mem- 
ber) data that they might possess at the 
time of sale. 
Additionally, due to the increased use of pri- 
vate/public exchange platforms to connect 
insurers’ voluntary products with prospec- 
tive customers, there is a greater need for 
underwriters and sales teams to collabo- 
rate on more effective pitches. This can be 
achieved only if both teams hone their core 
skill set and, simultaneously, “stand-in-the- 
shoes” of the agents/brokers, and vice versa. 
Process Deficiencies: Process Reengineering to 
Improve Operational Efficiency and Customer 
Experience 
Insurers should study their existing as-is pro- 
cesses, couple their findings with performance 
objectives and trends, construct gap analyses 
and frame future-state to-be processes. Future- 
state processes should focus on a reduction in 
cost, cycle time and error rate while, at the same 
time, improving the overall customer experience. • Business process reengineering (BPR): Most 
group insurers’ IT infrastructures are riddled 
with inefficiencies leading to higher process 
overhead costs and numerous customer 
service pain points (e.g., missed SLAs, excessive 
call-handling time, etc.). These hurdles restrict 
insurers’ abilities to fully tap the growth oppor- 
tunities present in the voluntary space. For 
the people- and document-intensive group 
insurance landscape, process reengineering is 
Underwriters need 
to be equipped with 
the ability to assess 
risk at the individual 
member and group 
levels, especially with 
the limited consumer 
(member) data that 
they might possess at 
the time of sale.
cognizant 20-20 insights 7 
an ideal solution to overcome existing inflexibil- 
ities, improve customer service, generate oper- 
ational improvements and yield savings. Sales 
and distribution, UW and policy Implementation 
and other administrative functional areas (e.g., 
billing, enrollments) should also be assessed 
for process reengineering opportunities. 
Improving IT Landscape to Meet Short-, 
Long-Term Goals 
The following targeted IT investments can help 
insurers attain the desired speed-to-market and 
mitigate risks as they move to enhance their com- 
petitive position in the voluntary products space. 
• Member data management: The ability to 
house member-level data and perform data 
analytics has become a prerequisite for tra- 
ditional group insurers seeking to enter the 
voluntary market. To enable this, insurers 
should establish an 
effective member data 
management (MDM) 
strategy and invest 
to build an intelligent 
data warehouse to 
better price, report 
and service individual 
members. Also, to 
better up- and 
cross-sell, extensive 
analytical research 
should be conducted 
at a member level to study consumer behavior 
and tailor voluntary product offerings. MDM 
would serve as an input to various teams: > > Product and marketing teams: Enable the 
product team to build products and market- 
ing to create campaigns that better address 
specific census demographic market needs 
instead of one-product-fits-all. > > Underwriters: Research anti-selection 
trends and adjust pricing accordingly. > > Actuaries: Perform analytical evaluation of 
the current in-force policy book to anticipate 
future incidence trends and enable develop- 
ment of more sophisticated pricing models 
that ensure rate accuracy and persistency 
such that the product prices remain fair and 
competitive. > > Service teams: To enable better billing and 
enrollment services at the individual mem- 
ber level. 
• Quoting: Insurers should aim to equip brokers, 
sales analysts and underwriters with tools and 
technology to generate quotes quickly and ac- 
curately. To achieve this, insurers need to en- 
hance or build a new quoting system that fo- 
cuses on reducing turnaround time and allows 
the broker/customer to receive quotes online. 
Key capabilities that should be taken into con- 
sideration include the ability to support the 
new voluntary pricing model, pre-populate 
data from a request for proposal (RFP), lever- 
age claims experience to a structured format 
where possible, format/manipulate census 
data in the system and set up plans based on 
RFP and straight-through processing for the 
renewal of micro (two to nine members) and 
small (10 to 99 members) market segments 
through batch rating and quoting of policies. 
• Support systems: Insurers should focus on 
modernizing systems/operations that address 
customer services such as enrollment, billing 
and claims. Although these systems are not 
on the critical path to enhance time-to-market 
strategy, they are an absolute requirement for 
gaining a competitive edge in the market. 
• Web portals to enable self-service: Our study 
found that there is an imminent need for 
insurers to develop high-performance self-ser- 
vice Web portals that are well integrated with 
other business functions such as marketing, 
customer service, billing and claims to enhance 
the overall customer experience. Key consumer 
capabilities to consider are: > > Broker: Self-service capabilities such as 
online registration, downloading or order- 
ing forms and marketing materials and reports, viewing commissions and case sta- 
tus tracking. > > Employer: Self-service capabilities such 
as loading eligibility information, viewing, 
setting up and making payments, viewing 
claims status, changing details and selection, 
seeing benefit ratios and generating health 
and wellness reports. > > Employee: Self-service capabilities such as 
enhanced enrollment capabilities, changing 
beneficiaries, verification of benefits, sub- 
mitting and viewing claims status and gen- 
eral product education. 
Future-state 
processes should 
focus on a reduction 
in cost, cycle time 
and error rate while, 
at the same time, 
improving the overall 
customer experience.
cognizant 20-20 insights 8 
Looking Ahead 
With growth in the voluntary market expected to 
accelerate, insurers should consciously decide to 
optimize their voluntary operating models, which 
includes IT modernization, TPA engagement and 
sourcing. Moreover, with renewed focus on IT 
investments in their group businesses, it is impor-tant that TPA and IT strategies are aligned. Unless 
changes are made, insurers will find the increas-ing 
operating/TPA costs unmanageable. Hence, 
the scene is set for traditional group insurers to 
implement their voluntary strategies by using the 
defined framework. 
Apart from allowing insurers to achieve their vol-untary objectives of enhanced time-to-market 
and ability to effectively bring products back in 
house, this framework allows insurers to reap 
benefits such as improved efficiency, better cus-tomer service and increased participation and 
conversion rates. 
To ensure the successful implementation of a 
voluntary framework, insurers should first 
undertake a current state business/IT process 
assessment, define key economic objectives and 
draw end-to-end business process flows to iden-tify and segregate key process inefficiencies, 
system capabilities issues and skill-set issues to 
enable subsequent, but targeted, business and IT 
investments. 
Footnotes 
1 “Voluntary Benefits Sales Grow 9 Percent as Employers Navigate Impact of Affordable Care Act.” LIMRA Survey, March 2014, www.limra.com/Posts/PR/Industry_Trends_Blog/LIMRA_Survey__Voluntary_Bene-fits_ Sales_Grow_9_Percent_as__Employers_Navigate_Impact_of_Affordable_Care_Act.aspx. 
2 “Employer Cost for Employee Compensation — March 2014,” Bureau of Labor Statistics News Release, 
June 11, 2014, www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf. 
3 Testimony by Steve Goss, “Social Security Testimony before Congress,” Social Security, December 2, 2011, www.ssa.gov/legislation/testimony_120211.html. 
4 Eastbridge Consulting, “Eastbridge’s U.S. Worksite/Voluntary Sales Report Finds Takeover Sales Increased Again in 2012,” Business Wire, May 28, 2013, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130528005964/en/ 
Eastbridge%E2%80%99s-U.S.-WorksiteVoluntary-Sales-Report-Finds-Takeover. 
5 GenRe Insurance Annual Market Reports from 2008 to 2012. 
6 “The State of Group Voluntary Benefits,” Prudential Seventh Annual Study of Employee Benefits Today & Beyond, 2012, www.prudential.com/media/managed/The_State_of_Voluntary_Benefits.pdf. 
7 “Trends in Voluntary Employee Benefits,” Eastbridge Consulting, Society for Human Resource Manage-ment Presentation, 2012, http://www.shrm.org/multimedia/webcasts/Documents/12lowerre_2.pdf. 
8 “Voluntary Benefits and Services Survey, A Fresh Look at Enriching Core Benefit Plans,” Towers Watson, 
August 2013, www.towerswatson.com/en-US/Insights/IC-Types/Survey-Research-Results/2013/07/Volun-tary- benefits-and-services-survey. 
9 Generation Z is one name used for the cohort of people born after the Millennial Generation, from the mid-to-late 1990s through today, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z. 
10 “Employment by detailed occupation 2012 and projected 2022,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Depart-ment of Labor, December 19, 2013, www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_102.htm. 
11 TPA expense calculation was based on our analysis of various group insurers’ reports and several assump-tions 
such as a TPA fee of $4-6 PEPM, up to 1,000 sold cases in five years and 2-3 million lives enrolled.
About the Authors 
Ramprasad Yamijala is a Senior Manager within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Insurance Practice. 
He has 15 years of management consulting and IT experience in the insurance industry, where he has 
advised client senior management on top strategy, operations and technology issues. Ramprasad can 
be reached at Ramprasad.Yamijala@cognizant.com. 
Srikanth Gongala is a Senior Consultant within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Insurance Practice. 
He has eight years of business consulting and program management experience in the insurance indus- 
try. Srikanth specializes in group and individual insurance. He can be reached at 
Srinivasasrikanth. Gongalavenkata@cognizant.com. 
Aarti Devarajan is a Consultant within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Insurance Practice. She has six 
years of business consulting and IT process experience in the insurance industry, specializing in group 
benefits and annuities. Aarti can be reached at Aarti.Devarajan@cognizant.com. 
About Cognizant’s Insurance Business Unit 
Cognizant is a leading global services partner for the insurance industry. In fact, seven of the top 10 
global insurers and 33 of the top 50 U.S. insurers benefit from our integrated services portfolio. We help 
our clients run better by driving greater efficiency and effectiveness, while simultaneously helping them 
run differently by innovating and transforming their businesses for the future. Cognizant redefines the 
way its clients operate — from increasing sales and marketing effectiveness, to driving process improve-ments and modernizing legacy systems, to sourcing business operations. 
About Cognizant 
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process out-sourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 75 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 178,600 employees as of March 31, 2014, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: 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 
Email: inquiry@cognizant.com 
European Headquarters 
1 Kingdom Street 
Paddington Central 
London W2 6BD 
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7297 7600 
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7121 0102 
Email: infouk@cognizant.com 
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#5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road 
Okkiyam Pettai, Thoraipakkam 
Chennai, 600 096 India 
Phone: +91 (0) 44 4209 6000 
Fax: +91 (0) 44 4209 6060 
Email: inquiryindia@cognizant.com 
© Copyright 2014, 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 
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Optimizing Voluntary Strategy via Realigned TPA Engagement and Targeted Investments

  • 1. Optimizing Voluntary Strategy via Realigned TPA Engagement and argeted Investments Given the growth of the voluntary market, traditional group insurers need a robust framework to implement their voluntary strategy, to allow optimal leverage of third-party administrators and to avoid the unsuccessful, endless cycles of continued investments into IT modernization programs. T Executive SummaryGrowth in the voluntary/worksite market in recent years has been noteworthy as compared to the traditional group market that is nearing stagnancy. Such attractive growth has caught the attention of group insurers, leading them to hone their voluntary business and IT strategies and make forays into the voluntary market. However, a detailed study reveals that insurers are challenged by people/skill-set deficiencies, convoluted processes and outdated IT topology, limiting their ability to launch new, innovative and competitive voluntary products. These entry bar- riers are making it difficult for them to enter this space, let alone to gain first-mover advantage over their competitors. Outsourcing their voluntary products to third- party administrators (TPAs) to support key administrative business functions seems to be the most obvious choice for insurers to overcome the impediments for a quick entry into the vol- untary market. However, what’s also needed is a strategy for optimizing TPA usage and bringing voluntary products back in house once the antici- pated performance threshold is reached. In an attempt to meet this intention, however, insurers are finding themselves in a Catch 22 situation in which they are perpetually and unsuc- cessfully investing in IT modernization programs, amid rising TPA costs. This white paper analyzes these current state impediments and the TPA engagement model — including its deficiencies — and reveals how tar- geted investments through a robust voluntary framework could help insurers overcome current limitations and achieve the desired speed-to- market without being constrained by large initial capital outlays. For the purposes of this paper, we have limited our analysis to traditional group insurers with vol- untary offerings such as life, disability, accident, long-term care, etc.; healthcare products or insur- ers carrying these products were not considered. • Cognizant 20-20 Insightscognizant 20-20 insights | september 2014
  • 2. c 2 ognizant 20-20 insights Voluntary Market Growth Drives Traditional Group Insurance Shift The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for voluntary life and disability products space has reached almost 8% over the past six years1 (see Figure 1), while the group life and disability employer-paid insurance products space grew at only 1% annually. The high growth of the voluntary market is pri-marily driven by employers’ increased focus on benefit cost containment (which alone accounted for ~30% of employees’ compensation pack-ages2), an increase in disability incidence rates (that increased approximately 10% over the last 20 years3) and unemployment. It has been found that an estimated 68% of employees (i.e., an approximate 78 million prospects4) do not own a voluntary product. Fur-thermore, according to a Prudential Insurance survey,6 roughly 52% of brokers who are cur-rently selling voluntary products expect increased demand for these benefits over the next five years. These numbers speak for themselves — the large pool of available prospects, along with the growing optimism among brokers and employers, indicate that the voluntary market is poised for sustainable growth in the future. In addition, with the introduction of public/private exchanges, an aging workforce and demand-ing Generation Z9 customers, it is natural that insurers will be forced to launch newer and more innovative products into the market quickly to stay relevant in the market space. To stay ahead of the game, many insurers are undertaking diverse initiatives to enhance product speed-to-mar-ket, but are facing challenges in doing so. Among the key factors impeding some insurers’ ability to expand volun-tary product offerings is the outdated legacy IT landscape which makes it difficult for them to meet current business objectives, let alone launch new volun-tary products. To overcome these hurdles, group insurers are engaging with TPAs to realize and implement their voluntary strategies. The Voluntary Market Opportunity 2008 $ IN BILLIONS 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Group Life & Disability V 2000 2010 CAGR oluntary Life & Disability 0 5 10 15 2010 2011 2012 20 25 30 35 40 Life DI Accident Cancer/CI Dental HI/Supp Med 0 500 1000 1500 7.18% 3.25% 1.5% 2.9% 1.19% 16.89% 52% 44% 39% 21% 48% 2013 2018 Employer Perspective: Increase in Importance of Voluntary (2013-2018) Voluntary Product: Ten-Year Growth Rate Percentage of Brokers Believing Demand for Voluntary Will Increase in the Next Five Years Traditional vs. Voluntary: Five Year Growth Rate for Life and Disability Sources (clockwise from top left): GenRe Insurance Annual Market Report (2008–2013)5; Eastbridge Consulting Report (2012)7; Prudential Seventh Annual Study of Employee Benefits Today & Beyond (2012)6; Towers Watson Voluntary Benefits and Services Survey (2013)8 Figure 1 Among the key factors impeding some insurers’ ability to expand voluntary product offerings is the outdated legacy IT landscape which makes it difficult for them to meet current business objectives, let alone launch new voluntary products.
  • 3. cognizant 20-20 insights 3 People, Process and Technology Deficiencies Enhance TPA Engagement In the past, most insurers engaged in a multiyear business process-as-a-service (BPaaS) model with TPAs, typically tasking them with sales, quotes and claims adjudication/disbursement processes. But now, amid strong growth in the voluntary market, insurers are increasingly rely-ing on TPAs in the areas of policy administration, billing/payment processing, enrollment, customer service and member data management. The black blocks in Figure 2 indicate the areas where most insurers depend extensively on TPAs. Greater TPA engagement is required by insur-ers to quickly launch voluntary products and to overcome internal challenges such as people/ skill-set deficiencies, convoluted processes and outdated IT topology. Resource Skill-Set Deficiency Insurers are facing increased difficulty employ-ing resources with key skill sets for launching and managing their voluntary products. As the market shift continues, we anticipate that this gap will further widen primarily due to high unemployment rates and aging baby boomers who will begin to retire in the next few years and leave behind vacant jobs. This void will be prominent in areas such as advanced data ana-lytics, consumer behavior analysis and prediction, marketing communications at individual insured level, risk classification, billing, enrollments and claims services. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the aforementioned skilled occupations are expected to grow by an approximate 25% by 2022.10 This suggests that as the market matures and makes way for voluntary products, there will be an increased need for insurers to act on their resource skil-set deficit to prevent the supply/ demand gap from growing deeper. Sales & Distribution Underwriting & Quote Ongoing Management & Services Claims Training Sales Team Actuarial Analytics Policy Administration (Eligibility, etc.) Claims Initiation & Adjudication Distribution (Enrollment Strategy) Rating & Pricing Determination Billing/Payment Processing Claims Processing Sales Proposal Generation Enrollment Payment Disbursements Sold Case/ Case Installation Customer Service Audit & Reserve Management Member Data Management Reporting Figure 2 Group Benefits Value Chain: The Role of TPAs U.S. Insurance Workforce Projected Changes, 2012 to 2022 Source: Employment Projections Program, U.S. Depart-ment of Labor, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2012 to 2022)10 Figure 3 Claims Adjusters, Examiners and Investigators Underwriters Operations Research Analysts Actuaries 4% -6% 27% 26%
  • 4. cognizant 20-20 insights 4 Convoluted Processes Changing market dynamics, continued neglect of IT infrastructure development, shifting consumer needs and changing state and federal regula-tions have led to substantial amounts of manual work-arounds. Needless to say, these convoluted processes have led to problems such as increased turnaround time, reduced efficiency, increased operating costs and, conse-quently, decreased customer satisfaction. Superior customer service is paramount for a successful voluntary strategy, but these complex and challenging pro-cesses reduce insurers’ operational efficiency, thereby impeding their ability to embrace a cus-tomer- centric approach. These challenges cannot be met purely by IT modernization; they must be viewed in conjunction with sourcing and process optimization strategies. Impeding IT Topology Most group insurers understand that their group benefits business operates on a subopti-mal legacy IT topology with limited functionality from a capability and usability perspective. Addi-tionally, these environments lack the ability to seamlessly integrate with new-age software, undercutting key business objectives, let alone the ability to launch new voluntary products. Moreover, group insurers realize that the existing topology requires significant upgrades to support new voluntary products in house and to power faster time-to-market with such products. Inherent TPA Engagement Model Impediments Although insurers are turning to TPAs to resolve their people, process and technology challenges, their multiyear engagements with TPAs to admin-ister products and to bridge the gap in the short run is rife with inherent problems resulting from a lack of service differentiation, high service fees (as the number of insured lives grows), and inabil-ity to up- and cross-sell products. High TPA Cost Every service that is sourced to a TPA has steep cost consequences. As insurers increase their TPA engagement and source their policy manage-ment and services processes, they incur higher costs, sometimes as high as 6% of the premium, for products sold by TPAs. This cost is further loaded with expenses incurred through training, redundant processes for reporting, etc. In time, as the participation rates increase and products ascend the maturity curve, TPA costs multiply exponentially. According to our experience, the TPA engagement costs start low, but as the prod-ucts mature the cost could grow exponentially in five years, costing as much as $10 million to $15 million annually.11 Challenges with Up- and Cross-Selling To attain profitability and stay ahead of the competition, insurers must explore up- and cross- selling opportunities. To achieve this, extensive analytical research should be conducted at the member level, to study consumer behavior and then tailor their sales strategy/product offerings as required. As insurers engage TPAs to admin-ister new voluntary products, exploring up- and cross-selling opportunities with their existing vol-untary customers, challenges are emerging. They include: • Inability of customer service representatives (CSRs) to up- and cross-sell — and emphasize potential savings — due to lack of overall customer data. • Unavailability of member-level data: Missing member-level data as a result of product sourcing to TPAs is a huge roadblock for insurers seeking to analyze customer trends and launch new improved products that can bridge the sales gap. Lack of Service Differentiation Customer dissatisfaction due to lack of service differentiation has been a major pain point for insurers. A lack of direct contact with end customers short-circuits insur-ers’ ability to provide best-in-class customer service. Typically, TPAs who manage adminis- Challenges cannot be met purely by IT modernization; they must be viewed in conjunction with sourcing and process optimization strategies. As insurers increase their TPA engagement and source their policy management and services processes, they incur higher costs, sometimes as high as 6% of the premium, for products sold by TPAs.
  • 5. cognizant 20-20 insights 5 tration services of multiple insurers tend to use standard practices and procedures. This causes insurers to lose out on service differentiation with voluntary products, where customers seek more information and expect better service, depending on the type of product purchased (i.e., disability, dental, life or accident). Unsuccessful IT Modernization and Insurers’ Inability to Decouple from TPAs Most insurers have realized that having many TPAs to service voluntary products is problematic. As a result, some have embarked on extensive three-to-five-year IT modernization programs to eventually bring their products back in house. The idea: Complete the technology upgrade so that after the product reaches its desired state of maturity, it can be reverse-integrated, saving TPA costs. However, based on our observations, most IT mod- ernization programs either fail to meet end- state objectives, or only partially meet them. Based on our experience working with leading group insur- ers, we have found that out of seven insurers analyzed, not a single insurer that initiated an IT modernization strategy has been able to achieve its desired outcome. Four of the seven insurers stopped their strategic projects due to either lack of funding and/or budget reallocation toward other high-priority strategic initiatives that took precedence; the remaining insurers subsequently changed their corporate strategic direction. These failing IT modern- ization programs have put additional pressure on insur- ers. As insurers launch new voluntary products to stay relevant and competitive, they find themselves in an endless and vicious cycle of outsourcing new product launches to TPAs to enhance time-to-market on one hand and to invest in IT upgrades on the other. In addition, insurers are bound to find that bringing their products back in house is an arduous task due to cost and schedule overruns of their multimillion-dol- lar IT modernization programs. Eventually, these challenges will lead to misalignment of insurers’ voluntary strategy. Given ongoing people, process and technology deficiencies, coupled with the inherent issues of TPA engagement, insurers need a robust vol- untary framework to overcome the continuing misalignment of their voluntary strategies and failure of their IT modernization programs. Insurers are bound to find that bringing their products back in house is an arduous task due to cost and schedule overruns of their multimillion-dollar IT modernization programs. UW/Actuarial Business Process Skill Set Reengineering Development PEOPLE PROCESS TECHNOLOGY Train Sales Teams MDM Quoting Systems Systems Upgrade Support Portals Enhance Web Suggested Voluntary Framework Figure 4
  • 6. cognizant 20-20 insights 6 Framework for Successful Implementation of Voluntary Strategy While there is no doubt engaging TPAs is an apt approach, insurers should attempt to bring volun- tary products in house sooner rather than later, to more fully reap economic benefits while enhanc- ing their competitive status. To achieve this, they must rethink and realign their voluntary strategy to overcome their people, process and technology shortcomings and accel- erate time-to-market without incurring huge initial capital outlays. Our proposed framework recommends invest- ments in key focus areas such as resource skill sets, process reengineering, technology upgrades in the areas of member data management, quot- ing, support systems and Web portals (see Figure 4, previous page). Honing Internal Skill Sets to Optimize TPA Engagement Marketing, selling and administering voluntary products requires specialized skill sets such as consulting, consumer behavior analysis, predic- tive modeling, underwriting based on experience data and servicing individual members. Over- all, while insurers keep their voluntary products with TPAs through the short term, they should train and retain their internal resources on afore- mentioned skill sets so they can better handle voluntary products. A special focus should be placed on in-house and TPA sales skill sets, in- house underwriting (UW)/actuarial and in-house and TPA administrative skill sets. • Sales skill sets: > > In house: As insurers develop new voluntary products and divert their focus toward mar- ket research, brand messaging and advertis- ing, they have a greater need to train their sales and marketing teams to leave their tra- ditional group mind-set, conduct competi- tor analysis, study consumer behavior and market trends and, more importantly, bet- ter understand voluntary products and their benefits. They should also be equipped with consultative and advisory skill sets to edu- cate individual prospects. > > TPA: While the product is still handled by a TPA, there is an added advantage for insur- ers to conduct additional training on their voluntary products, educating resources on identifying prospects to enable up- and cross-selling. > > Actuarial and underwriting skill sets: This nascent and price-sensitive voluntary market challenges underwriters’ abilities to better classify the risk associated with each member. As indicated earlier, by 2022 there will be a great surge in demand for under- writers and actuar- ies according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.10 To suc- cessfully meet this demand, group insur- ers should proactively change their recruit- ment strategies and invest in training their existing workforce for these profiles. Un- derwriters need to be equipped with the ability to assess risk at the individual member and group levels, especially with the limited consumer (mem- ber) data that they might possess at the time of sale. Additionally, due to the increased use of pri- vate/public exchange platforms to connect insurers’ voluntary products with prospec- tive customers, there is a greater need for underwriters and sales teams to collabo- rate on more effective pitches. This can be achieved only if both teams hone their core skill set and, simultaneously, “stand-in-the- shoes” of the agents/brokers, and vice versa. Process Deficiencies: Process Reengineering to Improve Operational Efficiency and Customer Experience Insurers should study their existing as-is pro- cesses, couple their findings with performance objectives and trends, construct gap analyses and frame future-state to-be processes. Future- state processes should focus on a reduction in cost, cycle time and error rate while, at the same time, improving the overall customer experience. • Business process reengineering (BPR): Most group insurers’ IT infrastructures are riddled with inefficiencies leading to higher process overhead costs and numerous customer service pain points (e.g., missed SLAs, excessive call-handling time, etc.). These hurdles restrict insurers’ abilities to fully tap the growth oppor- tunities present in the voluntary space. For the people- and document-intensive group insurance landscape, process reengineering is Underwriters need to be equipped with the ability to assess risk at the individual member and group levels, especially with the limited consumer (member) data that they might possess at the time of sale.
  • 7. cognizant 20-20 insights 7 an ideal solution to overcome existing inflexibil- ities, improve customer service, generate oper- ational improvements and yield savings. Sales and distribution, UW and policy Implementation and other administrative functional areas (e.g., billing, enrollments) should also be assessed for process reengineering opportunities. Improving IT Landscape to Meet Short-, Long-Term Goals The following targeted IT investments can help insurers attain the desired speed-to-market and mitigate risks as they move to enhance their com- petitive position in the voluntary products space. • Member data management: The ability to house member-level data and perform data analytics has become a prerequisite for tra- ditional group insurers seeking to enter the voluntary market. To enable this, insurers should establish an effective member data management (MDM) strategy and invest to build an intelligent data warehouse to better price, report and service individual members. Also, to better up- and cross-sell, extensive analytical research should be conducted at a member level to study consumer behavior and tailor voluntary product offerings. MDM would serve as an input to various teams: > > Product and marketing teams: Enable the product team to build products and market- ing to create campaigns that better address specific census demographic market needs instead of one-product-fits-all. > > Underwriters: Research anti-selection trends and adjust pricing accordingly. > > Actuaries: Perform analytical evaluation of the current in-force policy book to anticipate future incidence trends and enable develop- ment of more sophisticated pricing models that ensure rate accuracy and persistency such that the product prices remain fair and competitive. > > Service teams: To enable better billing and enrollment services at the individual mem- ber level. • Quoting: Insurers should aim to equip brokers, sales analysts and underwriters with tools and technology to generate quotes quickly and ac- curately. To achieve this, insurers need to en- hance or build a new quoting system that fo- cuses on reducing turnaround time and allows the broker/customer to receive quotes online. Key capabilities that should be taken into con- sideration include the ability to support the new voluntary pricing model, pre-populate data from a request for proposal (RFP), lever- age claims experience to a structured format where possible, format/manipulate census data in the system and set up plans based on RFP and straight-through processing for the renewal of micro (two to nine members) and small (10 to 99 members) market segments through batch rating and quoting of policies. • Support systems: Insurers should focus on modernizing systems/operations that address customer services such as enrollment, billing and claims. Although these systems are not on the critical path to enhance time-to-market strategy, they are an absolute requirement for gaining a competitive edge in the market. • Web portals to enable self-service: Our study found that there is an imminent need for insurers to develop high-performance self-ser- vice Web portals that are well integrated with other business functions such as marketing, customer service, billing and claims to enhance the overall customer experience. Key consumer capabilities to consider are: > > Broker: Self-service capabilities such as online registration, downloading or order- ing forms and marketing materials and reports, viewing commissions and case sta- tus tracking. > > Employer: Self-service capabilities such as loading eligibility information, viewing, setting up and making payments, viewing claims status, changing details and selection, seeing benefit ratios and generating health and wellness reports. > > Employee: Self-service capabilities such as enhanced enrollment capabilities, changing beneficiaries, verification of benefits, sub- mitting and viewing claims status and gen- eral product education. Future-state processes should focus on a reduction in cost, cycle time and error rate while, at the same time, improving the overall customer experience.
  • 8. cognizant 20-20 insights 8 Looking Ahead With growth in the voluntary market expected to accelerate, insurers should consciously decide to optimize their voluntary operating models, which includes IT modernization, TPA engagement and sourcing. Moreover, with renewed focus on IT investments in their group businesses, it is impor-tant that TPA and IT strategies are aligned. Unless changes are made, insurers will find the increas-ing operating/TPA costs unmanageable. Hence, the scene is set for traditional group insurers to implement their voluntary strategies by using the defined framework. Apart from allowing insurers to achieve their vol-untary objectives of enhanced time-to-market and ability to effectively bring products back in house, this framework allows insurers to reap benefits such as improved efficiency, better cus-tomer service and increased participation and conversion rates. To ensure the successful implementation of a voluntary framework, insurers should first undertake a current state business/IT process assessment, define key economic objectives and draw end-to-end business process flows to iden-tify and segregate key process inefficiencies, system capabilities issues and skill-set issues to enable subsequent, but targeted, business and IT investments. Footnotes 1 “Voluntary Benefits Sales Grow 9 Percent as Employers Navigate Impact of Affordable Care Act.” LIMRA Survey, March 2014, www.limra.com/Posts/PR/Industry_Trends_Blog/LIMRA_Survey__Voluntary_Bene-fits_ Sales_Grow_9_Percent_as__Employers_Navigate_Impact_of_Affordable_Care_Act.aspx. 2 “Employer Cost for Employee Compensation — March 2014,” Bureau of Labor Statistics News Release, June 11, 2014, www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecec.pdf. 3 Testimony by Steve Goss, “Social Security Testimony before Congress,” Social Security, December 2, 2011, www.ssa.gov/legislation/testimony_120211.html. 4 Eastbridge Consulting, “Eastbridge’s U.S. Worksite/Voluntary Sales Report Finds Takeover Sales Increased Again in 2012,” Business Wire, May 28, 2013, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130528005964/en/ Eastbridge%E2%80%99s-U.S.-WorksiteVoluntary-Sales-Report-Finds-Takeover. 5 GenRe Insurance Annual Market Reports from 2008 to 2012. 6 “The State of Group Voluntary Benefits,” Prudential Seventh Annual Study of Employee Benefits Today & Beyond, 2012, www.prudential.com/media/managed/The_State_of_Voluntary_Benefits.pdf. 7 “Trends in Voluntary Employee Benefits,” Eastbridge Consulting, Society for Human Resource Manage-ment Presentation, 2012, http://www.shrm.org/multimedia/webcasts/Documents/12lowerre_2.pdf. 8 “Voluntary Benefits and Services Survey, A Fresh Look at Enriching Core Benefit Plans,” Towers Watson, August 2013, www.towerswatson.com/en-US/Insights/IC-Types/Survey-Research-Results/2013/07/Volun-tary- benefits-and-services-survey. 9 Generation Z is one name used for the cohort of people born after the Millennial Generation, from the mid-to-late 1990s through today, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z. 10 “Employment by detailed occupation 2012 and projected 2022,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Depart-ment of Labor, December 19, 2013, www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_102.htm. 11 TPA expense calculation was based on our analysis of various group insurers’ reports and several assump-tions such as a TPA fee of $4-6 PEPM, up to 1,000 sold cases in five years and 2-3 million lives enrolled.
  • 9. About the Authors Ramprasad Yamijala is a Senior Manager within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Insurance Practice. He has 15 years of management consulting and IT experience in the insurance industry, where he has advised client senior management on top strategy, operations and technology issues. Ramprasad can be reached at Ramprasad.Yamijala@cognizant.com. Srikanth Gongala is a Senior Consultant within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Insurance Practice. He has eight years of business consulting and program management experience in the insurance indus- try. Srikanth specializes in group and individual insurance. He can be reached at Srinivasasrikanth. Gongalavenkata@cognizant.com. Aarti Devarajan is a Consultant within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Insurance Practice. She has six years of business consulting and IT process experience in the insurance industry, specializing in group benefits and annuities. Aarti can be reached at Aarti.Devarajan@cognizant.com. About Cognizant’s Insurance Business Unit Cognizant is a leading global services partner for the insurance industry. In fact, seven of the top 10 global insurers and 33 of the top 50 U.S. insurers benefit from our integrated services portfolio. We help our clients run better by driving greater efficiency and effectiveness, while simultaneously helping them run differently by innovating and transforming their businesses for the future. Cognizant redefines the way its clients operate — from increasing sales and marketing effectiveness, to driving process improve-ments and modernizing legacy systems, to sourcing business operations. About Cognizant Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process out-sourcing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and business process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 75 development and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 178,600 employees as of March 31, 2014, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: 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 Email: inquiry@cognizant.com European Headquarters 1 Kingdom Street Paddington Central London W2 6BD Phone: +44 (0) 20 7297 7600 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7121 0102 Email: infouk@cognizant.com 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 Email: inquiryindia@cognizant.com © Copyright 2014, 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.