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Technology is at the core of any successful insurance company – but for most it is a constraint as much as it is an enabler. Insurance companies and brokers must continuously refresh their technology strategies and navigate this complex topic where there are no perfect answers but only a never-ending set of trade-offs.

Oxbow Partners helps management teams bridge the gap between business objectives and technology. Our sector focus and strategy specialism mean that we have a deep understanding of what businesses are trying to achieve, and our technology experts are able both to influence the business and align the technology strategy.

Our work focuses on topics such as technology strategy development, architecture design, system selection and due diligence.

We are fully independent of all vendors and our clients value our objective analysis of their options. Our vendor knowledge is enhanced through Magellan™, our market-leading insurance technology navigator, which contains profiles of over 4,000 vendors that are relevant for the insurance industry.

WE CONNECT C-SUITE DECISION-MAKING WITH PRACTICAL, STRATEGY-DRIVEN CHANGE

Strategy: We help management teams understand their options and trade-offs and make robust decisions.

Operations: We use our industry expertise to build detailed, bespoke operating models and processes aligned to the specific features of your strategy.

Technology: We recognise that technology is a fundamental shaper and enabler of modern strategy and support with architecture design and vendor selection.

Strategic transformation: We help organisations transform by connecting strategy to delivery, ensuring that delivery both aligns to strategy and shapes it.

WHAT WE DO IN TECHNOLOGY

Strategy design

We use our technology and business expertise to help clients set out strategic technology ambitions, architectures and roadmaps that deliver and support the business strategy

Architecture design

We help clients design bespoke technology architectures using our insights into the latest technology trends

System selection

We help clients find new technologies to help them grow using our proven methodology for quickly testing vendor capabilities and fit

Operating model design

We help clients design their technology, operations, and set-up to maximise strategic alignment and impact

Vendor due diligence

We help companies and investors with commercial and technology due diligence on vendors for partnerships and investments

OUR LATEST INSIGHTS

Underwriter Workbenches: Decoding the vendor landscape

Underwriter Workbenches: Decoding the vendor landscape

Discover which vendors could support you build your underwriter workbench

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Underwriter Workbenches: Lessons from the road

Underwriter Workbenches: Lessons from the road

Lessons learnt about designing and implementing underwriter workbenches in the market

Read more

Underwriter workbenches: More than just workflow

Underwriter workbenches: More than just workflow

Underwriter workbenches are gaining traction in London; we share our experience from implementing them

Read more

More insights

EXAMPLE ENGAGEMENTS

Built a technology operating model

A large reinsurer had developed a proprietary technology platform but found the technology team had become detached from the underwriting team as the business had scaled. We supported the business to build a better technology operating model connecting IT with the business which was subsequently implemented.

Supporting a carrier become truly data and digital first

A leading London Market syndicate wanted to put data and digital at the core of its strategy and operations. We worked with the underwriting teams and partnered with a systems integration consultancy to implement end-to-end underwriting infrastructure and processes organised around a new Underwriter Workbench.

Supported a UK retail insurer to stress test a technology selection

Our client is a large UK retail insurer who wanted replatform their core policy administration system. The CIO asked us to validate their choice of system and that the underlying business case stacked-up. Our findings allowed the decision to be signed-off by the board.

Helped a UK retail insurer set out their 5-year technology strategy

To support an ambitious growth plan, we helped identify the biggest opportunity areas and set out a fully costed architecture and 5-year roadmap. We worked closely with the non-technical leadership team and board to ensure full understanding and buy-in to the strategy.

Developed an InsurTech partnering approach

Our client was a top-tier reinsurer. We worked with the executive team to develop an operating model that enabled them to scale their InsurTech partnerships globally across the business.

Selected an InsurTech provider to support digital distribution

Our client is a leading Lloyd’s syndicate. Leveraging Magellan, we helped shortlist and select an InsurTech partner to support the client’s digital distribution business. The partnership is now live and trading over £150m GWP annually.

We are proud to have been recognised in this year’s InsurTech Impact 25. The team’s detailed diligence process along with their understanding of the future of the industry makes Membership of the Impact 25 an important signal about the potential of our business model to insurers, corporates and investors.

Tanguy Touffut, CEO and Founder, Descartes Underwriting

Working with Oxbow Partners felt like a partnership. The team are adept at balancing strategic thinking with a clear understanding of the content and can engage a senior team to gain consensus on a complex topic

Sean McGovern, CEO AXA XL UK & Lloyd’s

We loved Oxbow Partners’ deep insurance expertise and collaborative approach as it resulted in a practical operating model with global buy-in. They challenged us to stretch our thinking and we now have greater confidence in execution.

Garance Wattez-Richard, CEO, AXA Emerging Customers

We valued Oxbow Partners’ insight into the reinsurance industry and collaborative approach highly when we were defining our Group strategic initiatives.

Jean-Jacques Henchoz, Group CEO, Hannover Re

The team at Oxbow Partners has demonstrated a depth of understanding of the market in which we operate and their Market Intelligence provides useful insight that stimulates Executive and Board level discussions and strategy development.

Ant Middle, CEO, Ageas UK

Oxbow Partners supported us on the CDD of a fast-growing InsurTech. We really valued their deep sector knowledge and pragmatic approach. Over a two-week period, the team helped us to quickly understand the opportunity and competitor landscape, and the complexities of the target’s business model and potential risks.

Marco Cazzola, Investment Director, Kyron (Ardonagh)

Oxbow Partners helped aQmen identify exit opportunities and were extremely helpful in facilitating our integration into PIB. They have a good understanding of the buyer universe and excellent credibility in the sector.

Nick Rudnai, Owner, aQmen

“Oxbow Partners’ extensive knowledge of the industry and vendor landscape allowed us to quickly identify a technology partner to support our growth ambitions.”

Marianne Harvey, Head of Operations, AEGIS London

“Oxbow supported us in a complex platform selection exercise and brought a strong team with deep knowledge and experience. Probably most critical to our success was the cultural fit; working with them felt like a real partnership with the boundaries between internal and external team members all but invisible and all working towards the same goals.”

Mark Carpenter, Head of IT, AXA Emerging Customers

Oxbow Partners work helping us understand the likely impacts of GIPP on the home insurance market was key to our investment decision

Duncan Ramsay, Partner, ECI

RELEVANT PRODUCTS

Magellan

Magellan is our insurance technology navigator. Magellan contains detailed information on over 4,000 technology vendors targeting the global (re)insurance market. Magellan is designed to help business and technology professionals find the right short-list of companies to help with their specific technology requirements. We offer both a self-service subscription and a ‘Curated Search’ service delivered by our dedicated team of experts.
Find out more

InsurTech DD playbook

Diligence of a growth company must reflect both its track record and also its vision and opportunity. Our streamlined analysis covers the market, proposition, financial plan and execution capability and is designed to quickly help investors understand what they need to believe to make the investment viable.
Find out more

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Lead contact

Greg Brown, Partner

Greg leads engagements on digital, operational, and technology strategy and transformation. He spends most of his time in the Lloyd’s and London Market and European retail insurance.

Graduating with a degree in Engineering and Computer Science, Greg has a strong technical background which allows him to give his clients confidence in the feasibility of their strategic choices. CEOs often rely on Greg to look through the hype and advise them on the relevance of technical trends. Topics where Greg’s range of experience comes together include digitisation in the London Market and the impact of Lloyd’s Blueprint 2, strategic choices available to syndicates around the bifurcation of lead/follow, and using technology as a vehicle to drive underwriting transformation.

Greg is a regular commentator on transformation and digital topic, and often speaks at industry events. He has authored many pieces on the Oxbow Partners blog.

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Max Deacon, Principal

Max has joined Oxbow Partners from Oliver Wyman and is our lead on digitally-enabled transformation topics in specialty. His recent experience includes a multi-year process to build an end-to-end underwriting tech infrastructure for PE-backed London and Bermuda insurer/reinsurer.

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George Hanks, Principal

George oversees projects across strategic, operational and technology topics and spends most of his time working with specialty and reinsurance clients.

George joined Oxbow Partners as a consultant following completion of his first-class degree in Economics and Philosophy. On his journey to principal, he has worked on many of Oxbow Partners’ most challenging and high-profile projects. These projects include developing a group-wide strategy for a global reinsurer, completing an end-to-end target operating model review for a leading (re)insurer and developing smart follow strategies for multiple syndicates.

You can find George’s writing on his areas of focus on the Oxbow Partners blog, as well as in the trade press.

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Lead contact

Dougie Willins, Senior Manager

Dougie is a Senior Manager at Oxbow Partners and leads our London Market task force. He focuses on projects helping our Corporate & Specialty clients on a variety of topics including digital distribution, underwriting transformation and technology strategy. Prior to Oxbow Partners, Dougie started his career at BCG and holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Durham University.

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