Insurance broker Willis Towers Watson has brought its risk and actuarial software to the cloud, hosting it on virtual workspace vPlace. RiskAgility Financial Modeller is the first to be hosted on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, with other Willis Towers Watson programmes lined up to be included.

The Microsoft Azure-powered SaaS workspace aims to help insurers reduce IT costs and become more efficient by enabling them to veer away from legacy IT infrastructure. Software hosted on vPlace runs at peak performance and will work seamlessly with other Willis Towers Watson products.

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To expand computing capacity to meet regulations and be competitive, insurers dependent on on-premises technology will have to invest heavily in infrastructure which is at risk of becoming obsolete fast, according to Jonathan Silverman, director, business development at Microsoft Corp.

“By leveraging high performance compute capacity in Microsoft Azure, vPlace gives insurers a solution for their risk and actuarial software challenges that is both flexible and cost-effective,” he said.

Stephen Hollands, SaaS global product leader at Willis Towers Watson, commented that traditional on-premise infrastructures are struggling to remain fit for purpose. He cited shorter reporting timelines which are now forcing insurers to do more in less time.

“Having a virtual workspace in the cloud, supported by our risk and actuarial software experts, allows insurers more time to respond to the changing needs of the business without having to spend huge sums on purchasing, updating, and maintaining onsite infrastructure,” said Hollands.


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