Zurich Case Study
Cutting time-to-market a Zurich Financial Services
- Estafet Team
The Story
Zurich Financial Services was losing market share to competitors and needed to launch new life products for its Independent Financial Advisors. It had to be flexible (to cope with changing regulation), user-friendly for the IFAs, and capable of supporting a raft of new products that were planned over the coming months. Above all, it had to enable rapid time-to-market as the current products took up to 6 months to launch. Estafet led the project by conducting a Proof of Concept (POC), designing the infrastructure, and implementing a service-based architecture for efficient integration with Zurich’s existing systems. Using the customer’s chosen technology stack, Estafet built a user-friendly portal that enabled the rollout of the first financial product, with the capability to create another six new products to live that year.
Challenges
- LOSING MARKET SHARE
- HARD TO CREATE AND RELEASE NEW FINANCIAL PRODUCTS
- INTEGRATION WITH LEGACY SYSTEMS
Building Capacity at Zurich
Building the capacity to deliver new products at Zurich Financial Services required a strategic approach focused on agility, training, and integration. By partnering with Estafet, Zurich gained a service-based architecture (APIs) that maximised reusability of existing applications, drastically cutting time-to-market. As well as deploying the platform and integrating with legacy systems through APIs, Estafet also ran training and knowledge transfer sessions. This enabled the in-house team first to take over the solution, and then to deliver new financial products themselves. Estafet’s automated build and deployment processes streamlined the release pipeline, ensuring fast, safe, and scalable product launches. The enhanced delivery capacity empowered Zurich to launch new life products within weeks, allowing their advisors to respond quickly to evolving customer needs and market demands.
The Solution
Estafet delivered a flexible, scalable portal solution for Zurich Financial Services’ Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs), designed to accelerate product rollouts and integrate seamlessly with existing systems. Using Oracle’s SOA Suite, WebLogic Suite, WebCenter Portal, and BPM platforms, Estafet created an API-first architecture to facilitate rapid re-use of Zurich’s applications and services. The solution included automated build and deployment processes, allowing Zurich to reduce product launch times from months to weeks. Estafet’s approach focused on ease of use, scalability, and reusability, empowering Zurich to efficiently introduce new life products and expand delivery capacity across their global network
Deliverables
- IFA PORTAL FOR NEW LIFE PROJECTS
- API STRATEGY AND DESIGN
- SKILLS AND TRAINING TO BUILD DELIVERY CAPACITY
The Success
Zurich Financial Services saw powerful business results, significantly improving speed-to-market and operational efficiency. With the new IFA portal, Zurich reduced product rollout times from six months to six weeks, enabling a much faster response to customer needs and market opportunities. This agility allowed Zurich to introduce new life products swiftly, enhancing their competitive edge and expanding their portfolio more dynamically. The streamlined deployment process minimised delays and maximised productivity, allowing advisors to offer timely solutions to clients. By empowering Zurich’s internal teams, Estafet’s approach also ensured sustainable growth and adaptability in an evolving market landscape.
Outcomes
- ACCELERATED PRODUCT ROLLOUT
- ENHANCED COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
- OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
