The previously announced strategic partnership between Convex Group Limited and WNS Holdings Ltd. sees the pair collaborate in an effort to “redefine the insurance market” and move away from legacy systems and processes.
A long-term strategic partnership between Convex and WNS was announced at the start of July. Under the partnership, WNS, a business process management (BPM) company, has been selected by Convex to design, build and implement a unique “Platform + BPM-as-a-service” operating model for the specialty insurer and reinsurer.
Speaking during WNS’ fiscal 2020 first-quarter earnings call, Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director, Keshav Murugesh explained how the firm’s innovative approach to the BPM sector helped it secure the partnership with Convex.
“This was in fact one of the key reasons we were recently selected as a long-term process partner for Convex Group, a brand new private equity-backed international specialty reinsurance startup,” said Murugesh.
He continued to note that WNS is to build a first-of-its-kind operating model for Convex that moves away from legacy systems and processes, and which will span key operations for insurance, reinsurance, claims, finance, and human resources.
“Together, WNS and Convex will work to create the insurance company of the future, which will redefine the insurance market and break free from legacy systems and processes. Today, the overall demand environment for BPM continues to be robust and healthy,” said Murugesh.
Launched with $1.8 billion of initial committed capital, Convex, which was unveiled by re/insurance industry experts Stephen Catlin and Paul Brand, received its all-important A- ratings from A.M. Best for its subsidiaries.
Since its launch, Convex leaders have described how the specialty re/insurer is designed for the evolving insurance industry, and it’s clear that the long-term, strategic partnership with WNS is a key part of its efforts to challenge the status quo and create value across the chain.
David Mackey, Executive Vice President (EVP) of Finance and Head of Investor Relations at WNS, underlined how “excited” the firm is to work with the startup and to help build its capabilities across multiple processes within their business.
“But the real opportunity for us long-term,” he added, “is to watch this business grow and for us as an organisation to grow with that. I don’t know that it necessarily meets the large deal criteria from day one, but clearly, the opportunity for this to become a large deal and a large relationship is pretty significant.”
Interestingly, WNS’ Chief Operating Officer (CEO), Gautam Barai, explained during the call that despite its unique work with Convex, there’s no restrictions on its ability to utilise this work with other companies in the marketplace.
“In fact, the client is extremely supportive and is helping us actually taking it to the market. Because this is not a deal that is limited only to the Convex Group, because the way we are implementing it, it has the potential to redefine the market space within insurance in a number of areas,” said Barai.
The partnership comes at a time when technology is advancing at a rapid pace and is increasingly looking to disrupt and evolve the global re/insurance landscape.
And, at the same time, companies that operate across all parts of the value chain are increasingly eager to leverage new technologies, platforms and processes which ultimately help them operate in a more efficient manner, while continuing to add client value in a very competitive industry.
