The Role of Automation in Insurance: Improving Policy and Claim Management Systems

Abstract

This technical article examines the transformative role of automation in modernizing insurance policy and claims management systems. It traces the evolution from batch-based legacy infrastructure to real-time microservices at State Farm, where the Data Access Service project handles over 50 million annual transactions. The transformation replaced monolithic Struts and DB2 systems with Spring Boot services and cloud-native architecture, achieving 98% success in automated renewals while reducing response times by 40%. Key technical innovations include optimized caching strategies, parallelized data access, and intelligent health checks maintaining 99.99% uptime. These improvements delivered tangible business benefits: accelerated claims processing, reduced manual interventions, enhanced customer satisfaction, and more reliable policy renewals. Beyond operational efficiency, these advancements contribute to broader societal trust in financial services by enabling faster emergency support and improving financial stability for both insurers and policyholders.