Penn River is pleased to announce its strategic partnership with Mantissa Group for an industry first introduction of its ProductHub platform. Recognizing that the product development process is the heartbeat of all Life and Annuity companies, a service offering and software solution is being introduced into the marketplace in an area where no other solutions exist. Designed for heads of product development, as well as CIO’s architecting their modernization journey, the solution solves for decreased time to market, reduced cost of implementation and ongoing servicing, and reduction of operational risk.

Mantissa is initiating a series of interviews with technology and business executives covering a wide range of topics ranging from business strategy to return to work plans as part of their COVID response.  Our clients have recommended this to help them to understand sentiment at a time that is, frankly, not so normal.   Our interviews will be conducted over a 2-3 week period, where responses will be anonymized in a report, and some (with permission) will be published on our website.

Mantissa Group just concluded a 5 Part series on Annuities (See: Mantissa Research), and we are convinced product design will define the future of this industry.  We also believe that product design changes will have a equally significant impact on the life insurance agent.  In a recent post by Harry N Stout, author of FinancialVerse Personal Finance, he comments on how perpetually low interest rates will gradually influence Life and Annuity product design with a slow but steady diminishing of life and annuity guarantees. 

As we approach the second half of 2020, it has become obvious that this is like no other year in recent memory.  In order to gather sentiment, Mantissa has conducted a large-scale interview and survey process with CIO’s across industries as well as CEO’s and founders of the software vendor community.  We have learned a lot about the effect of the economic impact of COVID and the results may surprise you.

The fifth and final part of our Digital series takes a look at Part 5: The Digital Touch.  Our report provides a perspective we call the Digital Touch, the concept whereby insurance companies keep the dialog going, post-sale, and attempt to add value to existing customer relationships through a wide variety of avenues. 

Our five-part series has analyzed the industry from various perspectives and this final report focuses on the future of the annuities industry. We will look at developments in product design, industry sales, online presence, and our view of 4 emerging trends.

The fourth of our Digital series is Part 4: The Digital Ecosystem.  We attempt to capture the various definitions of  “ecosystem” and explain the integration of this ecosystem with business strategies, technology strategies, data strategies, and process re-engineering.  We believe that Digital technology is having far-reaching consequences that go beyond the scope allowed by previous strategies.

The fourth part of our Annuity series takes a look at Part 4: Industry Criticisms. The annuities industry in the United States provides an important set of solutions for retirees, primarily accounting for retirement income needs.  However, the industry has been heavily criticized from retirement planners or organizations who compare annuities to other investment vehicles.  This report documents these criticisms and attempts to place them in the proper context.

The third of our Digital series is Part 3: The Agent Perspective. This report provides a perspective of the digital enterprise from the agent point of view.  There is no business and technical domain that is so driven by the expectations of the consumer, but simultaneously led by the agent.    This report is written by Mantissa’s Sean McCarthy and Linda Marr.  Linda is the primary contributor to this report and a leading expert on wide variety of strategic matters affecting the CIO and their leadership teams.

The third part of our Annuity series takes a look at Part 3: The Agent Perspective. This report provides a perspective on the Annuities industry from the agent perspective.  The report will discuss some important demographic shifts in the United States, retirement income concerns, and the value of annuity products, and do so from the perspective of an agent.

This report provides a perspective of the digital enterprise from the consumer point of view.  There is no business and technical domain that is so driven by the expectations of the consumer.  Companies are not driving the pace of change, rather the change is being driven by the customer. Customers expect relevant content customized to what they are doing, anytime, anywhere and in the format and on the device of their choosing. It’s their journey that dictates a company’s digital strategy.

The second part of our Annuity series takes a look at Part 2: The Consumer Perspective. This report looks at the Annuities industry from the consumer perspective. The report will build on the first report “Annuities Defined” and focuses on the value proposition from the point of view of the consumer. The report addresses the consumer demand for annuities, why consumers buy (or do not buy) annuities and addressing annuities in the context of “the retirement puzzle”.