Accelerating a complex insurance and financial services migration

In 2017, a major insurance group acquired a significant part of a financial services provider, including insurance, superannuation, and investment products. After finalising the integration in 2021, the insurer opted to divest its saving and investment businesses, selling them to a specialist in managing these products.

The separation program was designed to ensure a smooth transition for stakeholders, with an estimated completion timeline of 12 to 18 months. DB Results played a pivotal role in facilitating the transition, ensuring the seamless migration of applications, processes, and data between the two entities.

Strategic realignment enhances market position and customer growth

The acquisition aligned with the insurer’s focus on life, health, and wellness services. This transaction added around 162,000 customers and more than AUD 8 billion in funds under management to the buyer’s existing 1.1 million customers. This expansion significantly strengthened the buyer’s growth in the Australian life insurance market, while ensuring a smooth policyholder transition, with over 2.7 million policies transferred through statutory mechanisms.

2.5 years, over 2.7 million policies, 186 million documents and more than 50 applications migrated

DB Results completed the migration process in just 2.5 years, significantly faster than the typical 4 to 5-year timeframe for such complex transitions. This efficiency was achieved through a meticulously planned and executed transition process, divided into Day 1 and Day 2 phases.

Day 1 focused on the legal and administrative aspects of the transition. This included the official transfer of ownership of key services and operations from one entity to another. It also involved the movement of relevant staff, as well as the necessary application and data segregation, enabling the buyer to run its newly acquired business while it still operated on the seller’s infrastructure. The aim of Day 1 was to complete the legal formalities, ensure that all essential services and personnel were correctly integrated into the new structure, and establish Transition Service arrangements so the business could continue to operate in a compliant manner while elements of the business remained with the seller.

Day 2 built on the groundwork laid during Day 1. It involved two primary areas:

Business separation: This encompassed all activities required to fully separate the business operations, including ceasing Transition Service arrangements, while ensuring that the original company’s remaining operations continued without disruption and remained compliant with regulations.

Technology separation: This involved transferring IT systems, including code and data, to the new entity. It ensured that the original IT environment continued to function effectively even after the transfer of systems and data.

The migration involved the careful transfer of over 2.7 million policies, 186 million documents and more than 50 applications. These applications were divided into two groups: co-mingled systems, shared between the buyer and seller, and those dedicated solely to the business being sold.

This extensive effort required detailed planning and execution to ensure that all policies were accurately migrated and that all applications, whether co-mingled or dedicated to the business being sold, were successfully transitioned. The DB Results’ process and methodology not only included moving the data and applications but also involved rigorous checks to maintain data integrity and compliance. This meticulous approach was critical in ensuring a seamless transition and minimal disruption to ongoing operations.

Proven expertise in seamless M&A transitions and transformations

At DB Results, we specialise in delivering end-to-end solutions for complex transitions and transformations, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Our approach is built on the success of multiple transition programs, guided by our DB Results Transition Program Playbook. This comprehensive playbook, developed from real-world experience in the Australian Financial Services industry, provides a structured framework for transition delivery, offering strategies, templates, and capability reference models that eliminate guesswork, streamline planning, and ensure clear communication with all stakeholders.

Our expertise spans operating model design and implementation, helping businesses align their processes with their goals, driving efficiency and scalability. We manage the full lifecycle of complex data migrations, including extraction, transformation, loading, assurance, and reconciliation, ensuring accuracy and integrity throughout. Our program design covers architecture, business design, data migration, testing, and cutover and release management, delivering successful outcomes. We also excel in systems integration and third-party partnership management, coordinating across vendors to deliver cohesive, enterprise-level solutions that enhance business processes and ensure long-term success.

All aspects of a transition, including organisational change management and technology transfer, are carefully handled by the same experts who developed the playbook, ensuring a seamless and effective transformation.