Insurers might be looking for ways to trim expenses throughout their operations today, but it's still full speed ahead for policy administration projects.

A 2008 study by research firm Datamonitor found only 20 percent of carriers had “no plans” to upgrade existing policy administration systems over the next three years. The rest planned to consolidate, reengineer, or replace systems, with nearly 25 percent of companies planning a total replacement based on a vendor- or in-house-developed platform.

“Even with the state of the economy and marketplace, I continue to hear from vendors the pipeline is full and they are closing deals. From carriers, we hear they are shopping to replace their policy administration systems,” says Deborah Smallwood, founder of SMA, an insurance strategic advisory and analyst firm.