se2 Recognized as a Leader in NelsonHall's 2016 NEAT Vendor Evaluation for Life, Annuities and Pensions BPO (overall market segment)

TOPEKA, Kan., Aug. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- se², a leading U.S. Third-Party Administrator for the Life and Annuities market, announced today its 'leader' ranking in NelsonHall's July 2016 NEAT vendor evaluation for Life, Annuities and Pensions BPO (overall market segment).

NelsonHall's vendor evaluation and assessment tool (NEAT), part of its Speed-to-Source initiative, is a method by which sourcing managers can strategically evaluate vendors at the onset of the screening process. Using a two-axis model, vendors are assessed against their ability to 'deliver immediate benefit' to buy-side organizations and 'meet client future requirements.' The latter axis is a pragmatic assessment of the vendor's ability to take clients through an innovation journey over the lifetime of their next contract. Service providers are divided into four categories: leaders, high achievers, innovators, and major players.

se²'s positioning as a 'leader' is based on a combination of analyst assessment, principally around measurements of its ability to deliver immediate benefit; and feedback from interviewing of vendor clients, primarily through measurements of levels of partnership and ability to meet future customer requirements.

"In addition to launching new products quickly and keeping down the cost of policy handling, NelsonHall has identified other critical success factors in this space to include the ability to offer multishore delivery and provide 'transformation' via a number of channels. se² not only provides a well-balanced global delivery framework, with onshore centers in the U.S. and offshore in India, but is committed to investing in LA&P in support of ongoing transformation initiatives. It has experienced rapid growth over the last 12 months and has quickly become a major player, particularly in annuities, within North America," said Fiona Cox, research analyst, NelsonHall.

"se² combines a purpose-built life and annuity insurance technology platform with deep insurance domain and operations expertise to uniquely enable faster new product launches and seamless servicing of open and in-force blocks of business. This recognition by NelsonHall is a testament to se²'s unique ability to future-proof against the transformative shifts underway in the life and annuity insurance organizations," said Gautam Thakkar, CEO, se².

Life and Annuity Insurers today are looking to address challenges, including ever-changing consumer demands, poor investment returns (low equity yields) and changes to regulation (DOL Fiduciary Rule). They are increasingly turning to a partnerlikese² to help them to stay competitive in the marketplace to enable cost containment and rapid new products launches.

About NelsonHall

NelsonHall is the leading BPS and IT services research firm, with analysts in the U.S., U.K., and Continental Europe. The company takes a global approach to analysis of vendors and outsourcing markets and is widely respected for the quality and depth of its research. In addition, with its "Speed-to-Source" initiative, NelsonHall is helping buy-side organizations significantly reduce the time and cost associated with BPS and ITS sourcing projects.

About se²

se² is the leading third-party administrator for the U.S. life and annuity insurance industry. Recognized for its innovation, se² has an unmatched track record in optimizing back-office operations to future-proof insurance companies. se² combines peerless industry domain knowledge with a leading-edge administration technology platform to enable insurance carriers to shift to a variable cost model. se² helps clients launch products rapidly, improve efficiencies and maximize profits while dramatically improving the customers' experience. se² supports more than 20 direct clients, represents more than 35 carriers in North America and services more than 1,000 life and annuity products. se² has approximately $100 billion in assets under administration and has been recognized as an industry-leading innovator.

SOURCE se2