SE2
Robust Process Optimization Solutions

“A majority of life and annuity insurance carriers today deal with legacy applications inherited or built over time, that have become inordinately expensive to maintain and manage,” points out Gautam Thakkar, CEO, SE2. Maintaining outdated systems and bearing high infrastructure costs is not a viable option for insurance carriers already burdened by market volatility, regulatory pressures, and changing customer investment patterns. As the life and annuity insurance carriers strive to enter new markets and launch best-of-breed products, they have an inherent need for end-to-end process optimization solutions to support their dynamic business requirements. Born out of an insurance carrier, the Topeka, KS-based SE2 is on a mission to future-proof the life and annuity insurance carrier’s operations. With unparalleled expertise in optimizing back-office operations, SE2 offers insurance firms a potent combination of industry domain knowledge and cutting-edge back-office administration technology ecosystem. “We are a new generation technology led Third Party Administrator (TPA) built by insurers for the insurance companies in North America and that’s what sets us apart,” emphasizes Thakkar.

SE2 delivers transformative end-to-end operations services and a comprehensive vendor administration technology ecosystem—SE2 Aurum—used as a system of record, product configurator, and an end-to-end system in the life and annuity insurance landscape. SE2 Aurum is an advanced platform with multi-tenant architecture and features a compendium of capabilities. In addition to enabling a shift to variable cost models, the SE2 Aurum platform allows insurance carriers to augment efficiencies and enter new markets, while catering to their need for agility and innovation. “The new business area is about agility and capability where cost is not a key driver, so launching a product relatively quickly is a decisive factor in gaining an edge in the marketplace,” states Vinod Kachroo, CIO, SE2.

Additionally, SE2 offers a comprehensive set of capabilities for clients irrespective of their distribution models—captive or independent—even if they function in a direct-to-consumer marketplace. In one instance, SE2 launched a fixed-indexed annuity for a client in 7 weeks, setting an industry benchmark. The client leveraged SE2 Aurum to successfully launch a new product offering even though they were in the midst of a substantially large conversion process that involved multiple platforms.

By investing heavily in developing automation- and robotics-based point solutions, SE2 plans to build a self-service model for their customers. The firm is also working on enhancing their straight-through processing capabilities along with a digital zero-touch platform to facilitate seamless back-end processes. “Today, life and annuity insurance is an extremely paper-, process-, and user-intensive, involving a high touch sales/support model. We intend to transform it into a low- to no-touch business,” comments Kachroo.

We are a new generation technology led Third Party Administrator built by insurers for the insurance companies in North America and that’s what sets us apart

According to the CIO, “the U.S. marketplace for life and annuity is undergoing very slow growth, at the best it grows at a CAGR of 2 percent. There is a hugely under-served mid-market segment, where customers often contemplate on if they want to buy an insurance policy or an annuity or if they should spend that discretionary income on a vacation.” SE2’s unique omni-channel customer engagement model enables insurance carriers to reach out to customers across varied market segments. With a vision to be recognized as the “go-to-service provider,” SE2 endeavors to be a “service-engine” and a digital marketplace for the insurance industry. “We continue to invest in technology and our goal is to stay 5 years ahead of the current market needs by future-proofing the investments that carriers would otherwise have to make on their own and help them launch their new products and seamlessly convert their legacy blocks onto our modern platform,” concludes Thakkar.