Q&A | October 9, 2026
Life and retirement carriers are living with a paradox. The policies on their books can run 50 years or longer, but the systems administering them were built decades ago — and the people who understand those systems are heading toward retirement. Nearly every carrier has a mandate to show progress on AI, and almost none has the appetite for a multi-year, high-risk conversion to get there.
That tension is reshaping what carriers want from their business process outsourcing (BPO) and third-party administration (TPA) partners. It’s also part of why ISG recently named DXC Technology a Leader in its Provider Lens report for Insurance Services, Life and Retirement (L&R) BPO/TPA, North America. ISG cited DXC’s proprietary platforms for BPO delivery, embedded AI and automation, and its proven ability to modernize heritage policy administration systems.
In the following Q&A, Dan Stanovich, who oversees DXC Insurance’s Life and Wealth Business Process Services (BPS) across the Americas and leads a team that runs the daily operations for more than 30 insurers, handling everything from claims intake and processing to payment and policyholder services – essentially, operating as a virtual insurer on their behalf without underwriting risk.
Dan shares how DXC is helping insurers modernize without replacing their core systems, and why the industry is moving away from multi-year transformations in favor of incremental results using AI.
Q: ISG evaluated who insurers should trust to run their entire life and retirement operations, and DXC came out a leader. What distinguishes DXC from other TPAs and BPO providers?
Dan: Scale and experience, more than any other provider in this market. We support more than 30 customers, administer over 11 million policies and have nearly 6,000 people globally supporting the business. We’ve completed more than 200 policy administration system conversions — including one that consolidated over 30 systems and 6 million policies for a single carrier.
Here’s how I describe it: if I spun out my operation as a standalone company, it would be the largest life insurance company in North America. The only thing we don’t do is write the risk. Everything else — policy administration, claims, customer service, the financial processes — we run. We believe the depth and breadth of our Life BPS are differentiators, and we appreciate ISG’s recognition.
Q: Carriers are focused on transforming their business, optimizing cost and modernizing. How does DXC’s BPS partner with customers to accelerate those strategies?
Dan: A few years ago, the industry line was that the only path to modernization ran through a conversion. But conversions are risky, lengthy and expensive. You’re moving systems that have been in place for decades, and nobody fully knows what’s inside them. The process of discovering those requirements can extend the timeline and negatively impact your business case. Carriers still want modernization but they don’t want to have to go through a conversion to get it.
So, we pivoted to what we call “protect, extend, transform” — we honor the investments carriers have made in heritage systems. If you’re running on a DXC policy administration system, we look to leverage your investment rather than replace it. Let it do what it does well and put new, modern technology around it. We lift it to the cloud via our Assure Platform, then connect Assure Smart Apps (modular, AI-powered insurance workflows) on top. The result is our customers are running cutting-edge technology on top of their decades-old systems, and delivering measurable outcomes quickly without disrupting those core systems.
Q: Wilton Re recently moved multiple legacy systems onto a single cloud instance of DXC’s wmA platform, managed by DXC’s BPS. What made it work?
Dan: Wilton Re is a reinsurer that acquires closed blocks from other carriers, and we’ve been their administrator for more than 20 years. Their strategy is different from most: they convert each acquired block onto one common policy administration platform, and they do it repeatedly — more than 20 conversions with us, most recently migrating over 400,000 policies onto a single cloud-based wmA environment.
It works because, together, we’ve refined the conversion process and know how to effectively manage through the risks, leveraging a repeatable methodology. When we started, they had roughly 5,000 policies. Today it’s more than 500,000. The common environment means every future acquisition integrates faster, and it gives them a foundation for AI without another core transformation.
Q: What outcomes can carriers achieve through a strategic BPS partnership?
Dan: I think the conversation has shifted well beyond traditional outsourcing and cost reduction. Today, the biggest opportunity is helping carriers overcome what we call capability debt. Most insurers don't just have technical debt. They also have decades of accumulated process and organizational debt that make it difficult to modernize, adopt new technologies and respond quickly to market changes.
A strategic Life BPS partner helps carriers break through those constraints by bringing the people, expertise, technology and operational scale needed to drive meaningful transformation. At DXC, we combine deep insurance operations experience with AI, automation, analytics and proven modernization approaches to improve efficiency, enhance customer and agent experiences and create greater business agility.
What makes DXC unique is that we're not only a leading Life BPS provider, we're also the largest customer of the industry's leading insurance software platform. That gives us a unique perspective on both the operational and technology sides of the business. Through our Assure Architecture, we help carriers modernize incrementally, reducing risk while delivering tangible outcomes faster. Ultimately, our customers gain the ability to simplify operations, accelerate modernization, address workforce challenges and create a stronger foundation for growth and innovation.
Q: What will carriers need from their strategic BPS partners over the next few years?
Dan: Three things stand out. First, they need help addressing the workforce challenge. A lot of the people who understand these legacy systems and processes are approaching retirement, and that knowledge isn't always well documented. Finding, training, and retaining talent with the right insurance expertise is becoming increasingly difficult.
Second, as I mentioned before, carriers need partners that can help them work through their capability debt — technical, process and organizational debt. Together, those things can make it very difficult to modernize. Their decades-old technology and processes are hard to unwind from the inside and make meaningful change.
And third, they need enhanced capabilities, especially around AI. Nearly every carrier today is being asked how they're using AI to drive business value. The challenge isn't just deploying AI, it's knowing where it can have the greatest impact. That requires a deep understanding of insurance operations and how processes work across the business.
Ultimately, carriers will be looking for partners that can do more than run operations efficiently. They'll want partners that can help them modernize at a pace that makes sense for their business, reduce complexity, unlock new capabilities and position them for long-term growth. That's where DXC's combination of Life BPS expertise, operational scale and Assure Architecture really comes into play. We help carriers make practical, incremental progress toward transformation while continuing to run the business effectively every day.
Q: The industry is shifting toward incremental modernization and quick AI-driven outcomes rather than multi-year programs. How does that change the BPO/TPA model?
Dan: We’re not doing big-bang conversions anymore, where a carrier spends two or three years in a program before anyone sees a benefit. We start with the system they already have, move it to the cloud or take it over, then connect modern technology to it — adding Assure Smart Apps one at a time, or three at a time. Value arrives incrementally instead of all at the end, and the early savings fund the next step.
It’s also changing what carriers use us for. Historically, they came to a TPA to offload a closed block and cut costs. Closed blocks are still 80 to 85% of my business, however, increasingly, they’re bringing us open blocks too, where they need capability and scale to grow. And even on the closed side, cheap administration isn’t the whole ask. If a policyholder has a good experience with a carrier, they're more likely to buy from that carrier again. That’s a growth conversation, not just a cost conversation.
As life insurers navigate workforce challenges, legacy technology, and growing expectations for AI-driven innovation, the role of BPO and TPA partners continues to evolve. Rather than pursuing large-scale transformation programs, many carriers are looking for practical ways to modernize existing operations, improve efficiency and deliver better experiences for policyholders. As Dan notes, the focus is increasingly shifting toward incremental modernization strategies that help insurers realize value sooner while building a foundation for future growth.
Dan Stanovich oversees DXC Insurance’s Life and Wealth Business Process Services (BPS) across the Americas and leads a team that runs the daily operations for more than 30 insurers, handling everything from claims intake and processing to payment and policyholder services – essentially, operating as a virtual insurer on their behalf without underwriting risk.
