A range of industry observers, including General Indemnity Group, Schneider Downs, and Surety Bond Quarterly have noted that the digitization and automation of Surety operations is one of the industry’s biggest trends. To remain competitive, grow business, gain operational speed and efficiency, and take advantage of innovation, established Surety carriers need to modernize their platforms. And new market entrants with the same goals must choose not only an end-to-end Surety technology solution but also a partner with demonstrated industry expertise.
For new entrants, carriers, and MGAs, the choice is between building their own Surety platform or leveraging a third-party Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, which is what Tinubu offers. A good SaaS platform will already be equipped with the complex components needed for effective Surety operations, including a powerful Surety engine, digital workbenches, and a configuration model for personalization.
Our customers have carefully considered the benefits and assessed the challenges of cost, scalability, and resource allocation involved in building a homegrown platform and decided that buying a third-party SaaS solution is the better option. These are the reasons why.
Lower Cost and Predictable Budgeting
Building a custom Surety platform from scratch or modernizing an existing system is expensive. The total cost of ownership includes not only initial development and other upfront costs but also ongoing maintenance, upgrades, and the need for specialized IT resources. According to a Gartner report, many organizations underestimate the long-term costs of maintaining custom-built systems, leading to budget overruns and missed opportunities.
In contrast, SaaS solutions like the Tinubu Surety platform offer predictable pricing based on a subscription model that includes ongoing updates, maintenance, and support, making it easier to budget for the long term.
When our customers have compared the total cost of ownership for building versus using an existing SaaS platform, they have chosen SaaS.
Scalability
A Surety platform must be future-proof. It must grow with your business and at the speed of your business. But it takes time to upgrade a homegrown system to handle increased data volumes, seasonal surges, or the demands of a larger user base, which can lead to missed opportunities.
Cloud-based SaaS solutions, on the other hand, are designed with scalability in mind. They can quickly and easily adapt to business growth without requiring additional investment in infrastructure, IT resources, or development time and spend for platform enhancement. This allows customers to take advantage of growth opportunities as they arise.
Access to Expertise and Innovation
Building an effective Surety platform requires specialized knowledge of the Surety industry and proven technology. Many Surety carriers – established and new entrants alike – only want to focus on one of these core competencies, but Tinubu has both, backed by years of experience.
Unless your organization has a dedicated team of Surety software experts, it is challenging to develop a top-class, competitive system that will fit immediate requirements and future needs. By choosing a third-party solution, you gain access to a team of experienced professionals who understand the intricacies of Surety operations and software.
Less Time-to-Market and Avoiding Built-In Obsolescence
Developing a custom Surety platform can take years, delaying your ability to launch new products, enter new markets, or modernize operations and workflows. Some Tinubu customers have gone live within 100 business days, allowing them to start realizing benefits and seeing ROI quickly. The Tinubu Surety platform offers turnkey integration options, enabling carriers to deploy the system rapidly and focus on driving business growth.
The years needed to develop an in-house platform create the risk that, by the time your new system goes live, parts of it may already be obsolete and in need of upgrading. This is one reason that a recent Datos report found 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.”
Tinubu customers do not have this problem because the platform includes automatic upgrades.
Automatic Upgrades
All software needs to be regularly upgraded to be competitive, adhere to industry best practices, and remain compatible with external software, clients, and partners. Doing this is a job in itself—one your company may not have the resources or bandwidth for.
SaaS providers like Tinubu continuously innovate their platforms, incorporating industry best practices and staying ahead of regulatory changes while taking advantage of technological advances. Tinubu clients receive continual software and security upgrades as part of their subscription. This ensures your system remains up-to-date and competitive without requiring constant internal effort.
Focus on Core Competencies
Building and maintaining a Surety platform is a full-time job, which diverts resources away from your core business. This doesn’t only happen during the build: it’s an ongoing reality as the platform requires maintenance and upgrades over time. This creates opportunity costs as resources are diverted from core business.
Building an effective Surety platform requires specialized knowledge of the Surety industry and cutting-edge technology. Many Surety carriers – established and new entrants alike – only want to focus on one of these core competencies, but Tinubu has both, backed by years of experience. Unless your organization has a dedicated team of Surety software experts, it is challenging to develop a top-class, competitive system that will fit immediate requirements and future needs. By choosing a third-party solution, you gain access to a team of experienced professionals who understand the intricacies of Surety operations and software.
By opting for the Tinubu Surety platform, built on a robust, cloud-based architecture and maintained by a dedicated team of technology experts, you can focus on your core business rather than getting bogged down in software development and maintenance. As the saying goes, “Don’t reinvent the wheel.” When our customers have assessed whether it’s better to build and maintain their own Surety system or use a SaaS platform, they have decided that Tinubu saves them time, money, and resources and enables them to focus on their core business: Surety.
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