Newgen Hosts Caribbean Insurance Leaders to Explore AI-driven Infrastructure for Faster Innovation and Improved Customer Service

March 11, Trinidad — Newgen Software Inc., a global provider of an AI-first unified digital transformation platform, hosted an executive roundtable on March 10, 2026, bringing together senior leaders from Caribbean insurance companies to discuss how modern policy administration systems can drive faster product innovation, improved customer service, and competitive positioning in an increasingly digital marketplace.

The invitation-only forum, held at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, addressed critical challenges facing Caribbean insurers: legacy systems that require months to launch new products, manual claims processes that delay fund disbursement, and rising customer demand for instant, digital-first service.

Caribbean insurers operate in an increasingly unpredictable global environment, from geopolitical events disrupting supply chains to heightened catastrophe risks in hurricane- prone markets. Many still depend on outdated legacy systems and mainframes that fail to meet modern data needs, resulting in data silos, operational inefficiencies, and delays in critical processes such as claims disbursement.

“As buying behaviour changes, the pressure on the operating model – both across people and processes – is immense,” said Sandeep Hinduja, Vice President and Head of Banking and Insurance at Newgen Software Inc. “Millennials are now one of the largest buyer demographics in the market, demanding service access anytime and anywhere, with less human interaction across customer service touchpoints.”

The Cost of Inaction

Participating executives acknowledged that legacy policy administration systems have become strategic constraints. Hard-coded business rules embedded within core systems require IT intervention for even minor product changes, limiting market responsiveness and driving up operational costs.

“If your customers, stakeholders, or internal staff members are experiencing friction in providing and getting services, at some point, they are going to migrate elsewhere. The question becomes: do we want to continue to be in this business? If you decide to stay, then you need to do what is required to evolve,” said Andrew Burke, Vice President of Innovation at Sagicor Group.

Burke noted that transforming core provider systems that have been in place for 10-15 years can take five to eight years, while launching new products to market can take months. “The level of complication and risk is high, but at the same time, if you don’t do what you need to do, at some point you will cease to exist,” he said.

From Months to Days: The Modular Approach

Hinduja outlined a concept called “hollow the core”, a modular approach that avoids multi- year, multi-million-dollar core transformation projects while still achieving operational agility.

“What insurers and bankers are doing with modular technologies is elevating their rules management systems from their core to their digital channels,” Hinduja explained. “If you can move your pricing, your products, and your customer matrices onto your front-end systems, you are able to change those more dynamically rather than waiting for your core to respond. Launching a new product should be done in a matter of days, not weeks or even months.”

He noted that some larger customers are spending months to launch products, while smaller, more nimble organisations can launch, fail quickly if necessary, and move on. “The cost of indecision is much higher than the cost of the wrong decision, which is higher than the cost of the right decision,” he said.

The discussion highlighted how modern Business Rules Management Systems (BRMS) enable business users to configure products and pricing without heavy reliance on IT, dramatically reducing time-to-market for new offerings. Executives also emphasised the importance of improved data visibility for risk management and catastrophe response.

“As you elevate your rules management system out of your current cores and bring them to the front-end, that will give you greater agility to respond quicker to market needs,” Hinduja said. “From our point of view, we are seeing that as a significant game-changer, reducing dependency on those monolithic old architectures.”

Rethinking the Operating Model

Wendell Mitchell, Managing Director and Lead Consultant at AWSOM Consulting, emphasised the importance of a mindset shift alongside technology change. “You have to work on changing the mindset of the people running the business. An agile mental model leads to an agile operating model. That’s what you need in today’s environment.”

Mitchell noted that organisations need to rethink their operating models and value chains, including whether they own the means of production for all products and services or partner with others in a flexible ecosystem. “You have to decide what works for your scale of organisation and which customers you want to serve,” he said.

Innovation No Longer a Luxury

Hinduja underscored that innovation is now a business necessity, not a luxury. He cited the example of cybersecurity coverage, which has become a standard requirement in insurance contract negotiations over the past two years.

“I can hardly remember a contract being negotiated in the last two years where we did not have to talk about cybersecurity coverage,” he said. “Five years ago, it used to be optional. Now we’ve come to a point where insurers need to turn around those requests on a same- day basis. Imagine the strain on their operations, policies, and procedures where multiple customers are demanding that flexibility. Accommodating those requests needs innovation and agility.”

Insurance and banking leaders attending the event explored phased, outcome-driven implementation strategies that avoid “rip and replace” risk. Emphasis was placed on business ownership of transformation initiatives, with technology serving as an enabler rather than the driver of change.

The roundtable was moderated by John Outridge, Former Chief Executive Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago International Financial Centre, and featured presentations from Hinduja, Burke, and Mitchell.

The roundtable underscored the importance of business-led transformation, regional collaboration, and phased implementation strategies that balance innovation with operational stability. As Caribbean insurers navigate an increasingly competitive and digital marketplace, strategic infrastructure investments will play a critical role in determining long- term sustainability and growth.

About Newgen Software Inc.

Newgen is the leading provider of an AI-first unified digital transformation platform with native process automation, content services, customer engagement, and AI/ML capabilities. Globally, successful enterprises rely on Newgen’s industry-recognised low-code application platform to develop and deploy complex, content-driven, and customer-engaging business applications on the cloud. From onboarding to service requests, lending to underwriting, and for many more use cases across industries, Newgen unlocks simplicity with speed and agility. Learn more here.