German software company sum.cumo recently became part of the Israeli software group Sapiens International Corporation. An Israeli tech company with more than 500 clients worldwide in composite, life and reinsurance. They offer the insurance industry innovations and customer-centric solutions based on the latest technologies and modern software platforms. sum.cumo was founded in 2010 and they developed SCIP – sum.cumo Insurance Platform, which is meant for insurers looking to digitize. We recently interviewed sum.cumo Sapiens’ Managing Director DACH: Ingolf Putzbach, to talk about their product SCIP.

Roger: Ingolf, can you tell us a little bit about sum.cumo Sapiens? What is it all about and what makes the combination special?

Ingolf:
“sum.cumo was founded in 2010 by a core team of Internet pioneers and we specialize in holistic digitization for insurers and lotteries. Through projects with start-ups and established players, we have grown very quickly in Germany and Switzerland. At sum.cumo, we were looking for a new shareholder that had scale, that could help unlock the next phase of growth for sum.cumo. Sapiens, in their turn, found in sum.cumo a strategic partner that had strong connections in the DACH region and could help bring Sapiens products to market in this area.

Together, we take on a holistic approach that aims to leverage modern technologies to better meet customer needs through flexible products and connected sales and service channels. We stand for holistic digitization of business models in the insurance industry. Sum.cumo and Sapiens are united by the digital claim to realize innovative ideas and projects based on modern web and cloud technologies. Our offering includes software products, managed services, custom development and digital consulting.”

Roger: Can you tell a little bit more about SCIP, sum.cumo Insurance Platform?

Ingolf:
“SCIP consists of three modules which we are able to combine and which we offer in different collaboration models from the classic licensing model to collaborative development based on the open source core.
“SCIP Core” is a full-blown PAS for P&C insurers, which includes a standard set of product-specific processes and features out-the-box.
“SCIP Car” is a module that provides all essential functions for the operation of digital car insurance business in the DACH market.
“SCIP Sales” is a unique modern e-commerce platform for online insurance business with a powerful front-end which allows our clients to rapidly provide digital customer journeys. SCIP Sales enables digital insurance sales and services without complex transformation of existing core systems.

With SCIP Sales, insurance products can be created, configured and managed using a powerful product configurator. The purchase processes resulting from the product configuration can be integrated into existing online platforms with little effort via the application form generator and are thus available immediately. All sales and service processes are available to both policyholders and intermediaries – channel specifics can be taken into account at any time within the component-based design system. For rate calculation, SCIP Sales offers its own pricing engine or the option to connect to any external partner. It enables exchange between sales channels and contract management systems if required. Integral part of SCIP sales are portals for consumers, brokers, agents or other stakeholders.”

Roger: What have you already achieved with SCIP?

Ingolf:
“Moving the entire operation to the cloud enables the support and acceleration of a wide range of digital services. Cloud-enabled platforms and services such as SCIP Core and SCIP Sales hereby offer a modern approach and the basis for meeting customers’ increasing demands and accelerating the time-to-market of innovative products.

SCIP’s development partners include leading digital insurers such as nexible in Germany or Simpego in Switzerland. They have decided to work with sum.cumo on a long-term basis.”

Roger: And what makes SCIP unique from other IT systems?

Ingolf:
“Unlike established IT systems, a SCIP-based system can flexibly adapt to business needs over time. Both Simpego and nexible are good examples of this. While product individualization, dynamic pricing and sales partner integration were the main focus in the beginning, applications in mass processes such as customer service or claims management gained importance later on. The SCIP ecosystem acts as a construction kit. Here, customers can find solutions for which concrete implementations already exist. However, it is also possible to add new innovative functions to the system with little effort. The SCIP product team continuously evaluates the market and pilots new application areas. SCIP customers are regularly informed about new features and can decide autonomously whether they want to integrate them into their platform.”

Roger: What is your future vision for the insurance industry?

Ingolf:
“The future is digital – this is now also undisputed in the insurance industry. With the solutions from Sapiens and sum.cumo, digitization is no longer witchcraft. A real effort is needed in the area of data and analytics. Investments need to be made in both human resources and new software platforms. In both areas, the insurance industry is competing with other industries. It needs to open up in order not to lose momentum.

Insurtechs offer more than just inspiration here. With their help, insurers and brokers can reinvent themselves if they are courageous in breaking new ground and consciously rely on new talents and service providers.”

Have you already seen sum.cumo Sapiens’ video on DIA TV? It features the new look of sum.cumo Sapiens. Check it out here!