All eyes are on DXC while it attempts to make history with digital transformation at scale for the Lloyds marketplace

The specialty insurance marketplace Lloyd’s has embarked on an ambitious digital transformation effort to migrate core applications off the mainframe and into the cloud and bring paper-based processes into the digital era. The marketplace was facing an imperative to discard its traditional operating models and embrace the digital momentum; the pandemic catapulted the urgency. At-scale transformation to a next-generation operating model is rare and what makes it even more uncommon is building new digital platforms inside the confines of a traditional legacy marketplace.

A collision of the analog and digital world

This radical shift required a technology partner that understood the requirements of the mission-critical digital overhaul. Lloyds needed to consider every aspect of the marketplace, from its structures to its processes and people. It chose fellow joint venture member DXC because of its legacy of rich experience serving the commercial insurance markets.

The joint venture is deeply entrenched in Lloyd’s technology landscape, with DXC providing technology and business process services (BPS) for this transformation, bringing full-stack technology and services together. The transformation is enormous and complex; there are 400+ market participants with a regulatory overlay and USD 115+ million invested by Lloyds toward the transformation. The technology provider, DXC must rearchitect the entire IT system and develop a cloud-native digital platform running on AWS to replace legacy mainframes while running multiple support business processes for the Lloyd’s market.

The triad will bring to life Blueprint Two plans

The joint venture to draw the 300-year-old organization’s journey into the digital 21st century is the triad of IUA, Lloyd’s, and DXC Technology. With the commitment from DXC, Lloyd’s, and the entire London market, the wheels are in motion to deliver a completely digitalized modernized Lloyd’s marketplace by the fiscal year 2024.

Digitalizing on such a large scale may be conceptually enticing, but benefits might be elusive, especially if the execution process is not grounded in a clear understanding of digital’s role and can’t clearly articulate the target end state. We can take comfort in the fact that the digital aspiration roadmap for Lloyd’s market is well defined, with the end target state in Blueprint Two, which is the guiding compass through the transformation journey.

Data standards remain at the heart of the transformation

With the foresight that standardization and best practices on data are core to this transformation effort, the core data record (CDR) was established as best practice by Lloyd’s and the company markets in December 2021. The CDR is governed by the Data Council of the London Market Group, and ACORD is the chosen data standards methodology for the council.

The Data Council’s purpose is to drive the digitization of the London Market through a commitment to using standardized and high-quality data between all market participants and their clients. Specifically, it will drive the adoption of

• Data standards in conjunction with ACORD
• Placement and claims in the London market’s CDR, which is the critical transaction information that will drive an increase in automated processes
• Computable contracts
• Data assembly processes across the market
• Application program interfaces (APIs)

Sequentially orchestrating roadmap execution

Launching a transformation of this scale is a massive undertaking. However, neither Lloyd’s, the Company Market, the JV, nor DXC underestimated the extent and depth of the complexity, which is why it’s being executed in five sequences. Initially, the transformation will offer customers doing “non-bureau” single-carrier business onto the platform, while the core of Lloyd’s and Company processing will continue in parallel. As they continue, digital processes will be infused with ongoing testing and a feedback loop. The final stages will bring regulatory governance and all Lloyd’s and Company market practices and levers onto the platform in 2024. It’s like the final pieces of a jigsaw puzzle coming together.

We recognize the efficacy of moving from manual processes and heritage messaging to the new platform could cut short the journey to transform the business without robotic process automation (RPA), where many insurers grapple to remove layers of legacy interventions detrimental to speed and efficiency.

The Bottom Line: DXC’s joint venture with Lloyd’s for digital transformation is a great business case for enterprises on the path of slaying their legacy dragon to embrace the next-generation operating model

Transformation involves more than just developing new technological solutions and plugging them into the existing environment. For organizations to function at their fullest potential, processes must be redefined, data flows should be rewired, and the orchestration of work between humans and machines must be re-engineered. This is what DXC has embarked on with its well-sequenced transformation for the Lloyds marketplace.