Rob Lewis, CEO of INTX Insurance Software, said that the reinsurance business is still limited by fragmented architecture and manual workflows. He believes that platforms must unify data, workflows and intelligence across risk economics to solve serious inefficiencies.
INTX is a unified insurance platform that helps insurers modernize operations, connect data and accelerate product innovation.
In an interview with Reinsurance News, Lewis highlighted that while reinsurance has evolved into a key lever for capital efficiency, growth and profitability for many organizations, the systems supporting reinsurance operations globally have failed to keep pace.
He pointed out that more than 70% of insurance companies still rely on Excel spreadsheets or home-grown systems to perform critical processes, and more than half of policy workflows require manual intervention, resulting in operational inefficiencies and significant financial risks.
Lewis explains: “The industry has traditionally viewed recoverable leakage as a one to two percent problem. The reality is much broader. When organizations examine the full economics of reinsurance program structure, treaty enforcement, staging, accounting accuracy, capital utilization and operational inefficiencies, value at risk often expands to three to eight percent or more of ceded premiums.”
He emphasized that the consequences were not limited to operational inefficiencies but also included trapped capital, delayed decision-making and reduced underwriting capacity.
Lewis continued, “Looking at scale, this situation becomes significant very quickly. A carrier forgoing $500 million in premiums could result in a loss of value of $15 million to $40 million per year. At $1 billion, the impact would be as high as $80 million. These inefficiencies should be understood as substantial structural constraints.”
“The root of the problem lies in the way the reinsurance system has evolved. Many of the platforms in use today originated from a brokerage environment and were designed to administer policies rather than risk transfer. Reinsurance functionality was added incrementally, often as a coverage function rather than as a core function. The result is a fragmented ecosystem where one system underwrites, another claims, billing elsewhere, and reinsurance is managed through spreadsheets and disconnected tools.”
Lewis noted that modern reinsurance platforms must be able to reflect ongoing changes, including reinsurer entry and exit plans, loss layer adjustments, changing commission structures and real-time visibility into risks and recoverable amounts.
“Static systems, especially those that rely on manual workarounds, cannot support this level of responsiveness,” Lewis said. “This is where embedded intelligence changes the operating model.”
“Modern platforms should not only digitize existing workflows but must also understand the relationships between policies, treaties, claims, accounting and capital positions in real time. Intelligence becomes valuable when it is embedded in the operational environment itself, enabling organizations to predict impacts rather than coordinate them after the fact.
“Rather than viewing reinsurance as a stand-alone function, leading insurers view it as a financial control layer embedded across the entire insurance lifecycle. This shift requires unifying data, workflows and decision-making within a single operating environment,” he added.
In practice, Lewis explains, this means moving from siled systems to platforms that can centralize reinsurance operations while integrating with existing infrastructure. It also means enabling real-time data processing so that changes to treaties or placements are immediately reflected in underwriting, claims and financial reporting.
“Flexibility is equally important. Reinsurance structures are inherently complex and highly specific to each underwriter. Systems must be configurable enough to accommodate this complexity without requiring extensive redevelopment or reliance on specialized technical resources. The ability to add new products, adjust program structure, and quickly onboard additional reinsurers is now a standard operating requirement.
“Equally important, these systems must be easily accessible. Reinsurance technology has long required deep technical expertise to operate or modify. Modern platforms should enable users to manage complexity directly with appropriate governance and controls, rather than needing to route day-to-day changes through IT or external vendors,” Lewis said.
He emphasized that artificial intelligence (AI) will accelerate this transformation, but only if it operates in a unified data environment.
“Reinsurance decisions depend on contract terms, policy relationships, claims activity, financial transactions and capital structure. Without this context, intelligence remains superficial. The next generation of reinsurance operations will combine automation with contextual understanding, enabling organizations to interpret treaties, identify exceptions, surface risk concentrations and support faster, more informed decisions,” Lewis said.
By reducing manual intervention and eliminating data fragmentation, Lewis said insurers can eliminate many of the inefficiencies that have historically limited reinsurance operations.
He noted, “For some organizations, lost productivity is estimated to be as high as $450,000 per year, but can be significantly reduced. What’s more, decisions become faster, more accurate, and more consistent with real-time risk exposure.
“This is particularly important as insurers look to expand. Premium growth, new business expansion and increased reliance on reinsurance structures are all placing additional pressure on existing systems. Without modernization, complexity increases linearly, while operational capabilities do not.”
Reinsurance will only become more complex as insurers seek new forms of capabilities, expand into emerging risks and optimize capital allocation.
“Successful organizations will view reinsurance as an integrated operational discipline rather than a discrete management process,” Robert emphasized. “By unifying data, workflows and intelligence across risk economics, they will gain the visibility, agility and financial control they need to compete in the next generation insurance market.”
“Reinsurance has always been about managing uncertainty. The systems that support it should provide the clarity, responsiveness and intelligence needed to turn uncertainty into sustainable growth.”
