What Life & Annuity leaders must do—starting now
I’ve spent the past few months with a dozen Life & Annuity execs. The jargon morphs—micro‑services, Lego bricks, embedded AI, marketplaces—yet the pain points feel stuck in 2015:
· Products still take quarters to launch.
· Advisor journeys are stitched together like duct tape on denim.
· Every experiment needs a six‑figure change order.
Why? We mistake labels for outcomes. “Composable” sounds modern, but most “next‑gen” platforms still lock you in—just behind a prettier UI. One CIO told me, “We thought we were putting lipstick on a pig; turns out we bought the pig.” Millions later, they’re already shopping for the next system.
Three principles that turn transformation from theater to ROI
1. Design for expansion, not completion
Start small, stay modular. Carriers that skip the “all‑in‑one” monolith and assemble only only what they need today, cutting run‑costs by roughly 40 % and boosting IT productivity by a similar margin, according to McKinsey’s Insurance 360° benchmark
2. Pick tech that moves at business speed
Real adaptability means launching a new index strategy, tweaking an advisor flow, or adding a rider in days—not quarters. Carriers that get this right report double‑digit gains in placement and cut new‑product launch time from months to days—while some RILA issuers already refresh crediting rates weekly to manage risk
Measure value in capabilities, not quarters
Budget‑cycle ROI is table stakes. Durable advantage is faster time‑to‑market, lower cost‑to‑serve, and future optionality. A two‑point drop in expense ratio compounds into real surplus. Modern stacks deliver 40 %+ more throughput per employee and slash IT cost per policy by a similar margin—numbers your CFO can’t ignore.
The 2025 Edge: Where Composability Goes Next
1. AI‑first product design. Gen‑AI and small‑language models will co‑create new crediting strategies and riders in hours, not months—freeing 50‑70 % of actuarial and product‑dev capacity.
2. Real‑time, rules‑aware pricing. Dynamic hedging engines push weekly—or even daily—rate updates through the same composable rails, turning static products into adaptive ones.
3. Zero‑friction distribution. Embedded APIs drop annuities into RIAs, IMOs, gig‑worker apps, or “needs‑analysis agents” on open‑web protocols. The core stays constant, the journeys multiply.
4. Trust‑by‑design operations. Token‑based auth, audit‑ready logging, and AI‑governance layers will be the first thing regulators inspect under new 2025 digital‑risk guidance. Build them in now, not later.
Bottom line: by 2025, composability is just the launch pad. Winners pair it with AI‑driven speed, real‑time pricing, embedded distribution, and built‑in trust. Everything else is legacy in a new wrapper.
What real composability looks like
· Ship without shrapnel. Today’s launch never breaks yesterday’s code.
· One core, many journeys. Serve captive, IMO, RIA, and D2C flows from the same foundation.
· Safe iteration. Partners, channels, and features plug in at runtime—no plumbing rewrites.
If your platform can’t do that, it isn’t composable; it’s legacy in disguise.
At LifeBridge we build on these principles—not because they’re trendy, but because ignoring them is expensive.
Wrestling with the same trade‑offs? Let’s compare notes. Turning “composable” from buzzword to business advantage is how our industry levels up—together.
Sources:
McKinsey — “IT Modernization in Insurance: Three Paths to Transformation” (2019); SEC — “Registration for Index‑Linked Annuities and Registered MVAs” Final Rule (2024); NAIC — “Model Bulletin on the Use of AI Systems by Insurers” (2023); Accenture — “The Guide to Generative AI for Insurance” (2025).
