Insurance
Home›Insurance›Industry & Deals›Encova Insurance executive details multi-system transf…
Encova Insurance executive details multi-system transformation plan
Encova moved to a single operating platform by selecting Guidewire Insurance Suite and taking commercial lines live in initial states in 2017.
Encova Insurance executive John Kessler, now executive vice president and chief strategy officer, described how the super-regional carrier transformed its organization from an affiliation model into a unified company over decades.
Kessler said the earlier approach helped Encova accumulate 16 companies across 26 states, but it also left the business with layered infrastructure and growing technical debt. He pointed to deterioration in the company’s expense ratio and combined ratio around 2011 and 2012, and said leadership responded with a 31-page vision document aimed at changing the company from 16 entities to one.
Under Kessler’s IT strategy, the plan centered on standardize, modernize, and rationalize. Across more than 30 core systems covering policy, billing, claims, finance, and agency management, Encova selected Guidewire Insurance Suite as its target architecture for property-casualty lines, with Kessler describing the effort as a true greenfield build.
Encova launched the Guidewire implementation in 2015, with commercial lines going live in initial states in 2017, alongside all-new products and pricing. Personal lines followed in 2019 under a Reinvent Personal Lines program, and Kessler said legacy businesses were later converted, with old systems decommissioned.