Zurich Inks Contract with Unirisx

As Unirisx's first deal with a tier-one carrier, both Unrisx and the the SaaS delivery model gain credibility.

Zurich Financial Services (Zurich, Switzerland) has agreed to adopt the Unirisx (Radnor, Pa.) policy administration platform for the carrier's Broker Division in the U.K., according to a Unirisx statement. Zurich has gone live with a personal accident and business travel product that is currently being rolled out to its broker network.

Unirisx CEO Akhil Tripathi says the contract represents both an opportunity to do more business with Zurich and other large carrier customers. "We have been targeting smaller entities, and this gives us entree into a major carrier marketplace," he told Insurance & Technology. "Within Zurich itself it opens up major opportunities — we’re already working with two other entities within Zurich toward implementing Unirisx’s platform."

Of the present deal, Tripathy notes that, "We started out with a Proof of Concept build out for a line of business and successfully complied with stringent security and performance validations. From day one, this client acknowledged our speed to market and multi-language, multi-currency capabilities as an integral part of the growth strategy for its European business."

Clark Troy, a North Carolina-based analyst with Aite Group comments, "Unirisx’s deal with Zurich indicates that the firm’s compelling story is beginning to fall on willing ears, and that the firm’s recent change of management has not tarnished its appeal. The firm’s next challenge will be to execute and scale effectively."

"This deal puts software-as-a-service on the map for large insurers," comments Catherine Stagg-Macey, a London-based analyst with Celent. "The delivery model is a compelling and proven way of getting into new markets -- be that new product lines or new geographies -- in a short time frame without commensurate IT costs. I'd expect to see more targeted deals like this in the future."

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio