Twenty years ago, Surety carriers that wanted best-in-class technology often had no choice but to build it themselves. That’s no longer the case.
Today, purpose-built Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms — developed and maintained by teams with deep Surety expertise — offer a broad and continuously expanding set of capabilities powered by modern technology and ongoing innovation.
For established Surety carriers and new entrants alike, the challenge is no longer access to technology, but choosing the most effective way to deploy it. Tinubu clients have carefully weighed the tradeoffs of building a proprietary platform versus adopting a third-party SaaS solution. In many cases, organizations find that buying a third-party SaaS platform offers meaningful advantages in speed, flexibility, and long-term value.
Below are the key reasons why.
Faster Market Entry and Quicker Revenue Realization
For new entrants, the advantages of using an existing SaaS platform are immediate and material.
One Tinubu customer accelerated market entry, reduced bond issuance time from 20 minutes to just two minutes, and expanded its footprint in the contract Surety business in months — not years. Building a proprietary platform would have extended time-to-market significantly, with development alone taking years before any revenue could be realized.
Established carriers benefit similarly. Expanding into new offerings — such as direct-to-principal bonds — or increasing bond volume without adding headcount is far easier with a platform that already supports these capabilities.
Lower Costs and Predictable Budgeting
“Carriers need to understand that the maintenance costs of a homegrown system will always remain high,” says Aurindum Mukherjee, Practice Director at Everest Group. But predicting those costs over time is challenging.
What makes those costs especially challenging is their unpredictability. Ten years ago, few carriers building internal platforms anticipated the need for AI-driven capabilities, rules-based underwriting, or ongoing architectural modernization. Today, those upgrades are table stakes.
With a SaaS platform like Tinubu’s, maintenance, upgrades, and support are included in a predictable subscription model. This eliminates large, unplanned capital investments and ensures continuous access to new capabilities without disruptive system overhauls.
Smarter Tech Spend and Avoiding Built-In Obsolescence
According to Mukherjee, “many Surety organizations operate with relatively modest tech budgets compared to other lines of specialty insurance,” so using those budgets effectively is crucial. However, he notes, “a large portion of that spend goes towards maintaining legacy systems rather than modernizing workflows.”
A Datos report from 2023 showed that “many insurers report spending more than 75% of their IT budgets on ‘keeping the lights on,’ leaving little capacity for new product innovation or improving the capabilities of existing products.” Recent Everest Group Surety Tech & Ops research shows this challenge persists.
By adopting a SaaS platform where maintenance and upgrades are handled by the provider, carriers redirect internal resources toward innovation and growth instead of system upkeep.
Just as importantly, SaaS platforms eliminate built-in obsolescence. Multi-year internal development cycles risk delivering a system that’s already outdated at launch. Tinubu’s platform evolves continuously, incorporating new technologies and industry advancements as they emerge.
Focus on Core Competencies
“We are an insurance company—not a software company,” said Dave Patel, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at FCCI Insurance Group (FCCI) when we interviewed him recently.
That perspective is shared by many Tinubu clients. Building and maintaining a Surety platform is a full-time, ongoing commitment that pulls talent and capital away from core priorities: underwriting excellence, service, product innovation, and people.
By choosing Tinubu, carriers gain access to a dedicated team of Surety and technology experts while keeping internal teams focused on what they do best.
Buy What’s Proven. Build What Differentiates.
When Tinubu clients assess whether to build or buy, the conclusion is clear: buying a proven SaaS platform delivers speed, scalability, cost efficiency, and continuous innovation without the operational drag of maintaining proprietary infrastructure.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, they invest in a platform that helps them grow, adapt, and compete in a rapidly evolving Surety market.
