Through the insurer's vendor review
You sell claims, underwriting, pricing, distribution or policy administration software to insurers and reinsurers in several countries. A head of claims or underwriting sees the case quickly, and the deal then waits while IT risk, outsourcing and procurement review you as an ICT third-party provider.
Who this page is for
- Claims, underwriting and pricing software vendors selling to insurers abroad
- Policy administration and core system providers working with insurers and reinsurers
- Insurtech companies whose contracts pass an ICT third-party review
Usual starting point: Demand
How do you increase sales for a insurtech company?
Plan for the vendor review as carefully as the demo. Under DORA in the EU and FINMA's outsourcing circular in Switzerland, IT risk and the outsourcing owner review every ICT provider, so reach them early with hosting, subcontractor, exit and audit-right answers, and time outreach to core system replacements and new executives at each named insurer.
What do the numbers say about Insurance & Insurtech?
Each figure links to the page it comes from, so you can check it before you repeat it.
| What the evidence says | Source |
|---|---|
| DORA has applied to EU financial entities and their ICT third-party providers since 17 January 2025. | EIOPA |
| National authorities had to report insurers' and banks' registers of ICT contracts to the European Supervisory Authorities by 30 April 2025. | EIOPA (15 November 2024) |
| FINMA's outsourcing circular requires an up-to-date inventory of outsourced functions and a contractual right for the insurer, its audit firm and FINMA to audit the provider. | FINMA Circular 2018/3, hosted by KPMG |
| Roughly 192 private insurers competed in the Swiss market in 2025. | Swiss Insurance Association (2025) |
Why does the usual approach stall in Insurance & Insurtech?
Insurers are regulated buyers of technology. In the EU, the Digital Operational Resilience Act has applied since 17 January 2025, and it makes insurers manage ICT third-party risk and keep a register of information on their contracts with ICT providers, which national authorities first had to report by 30 April 2025. Swiss insurers work under FINMA's outsourcing circular, which requires an up-to-date inventory of outsourced functions and a contractual right for the insurer, its audit firm and FINMA to audit the provider. Every new vendor therefore lands on a list someone has to defend to a supervisor, and the business sponsor who wants your product has no say over that list.
Volume marketing reaches the wrong people. The sponsor is easy to find and already interested, while the people who decide whether you get onboarded, the IT risk officer, the outsourcing owner and the CIO, never respond to category ads. The insurers in your target markets also form a finite list, too short for an ad platform to learn which of their people matter.
If you sell insurance products to consumers, or comparison and distribution tools to thousands of brokers, this page describes the wrong problem, and volume acquisition will serve you better. Torke fits a software company selling to a named list of insurers, reinsurers and large brokers, where every contract has to pass a vendor review.
Where does pipeline break in Insurance & Insurtech?
We look at five stages in the Diagnostic, because each fails for a different reason. The rows show the failure we look for first at each stage and what changes once Torke fixes it, in the order a deal meets them.
-
Discovery
Where it breaks
IT risk officers and CIOs at insurers never respond to category ads, so they first hear of you through the sponsor
What changes once it is fixed
Visibility writes the pages buyers and reviewers read before sales, so the vendor is described correctly to people who never searched
-
Timing
Where it breaks
A core system replacement or a new COO is announced months before a tender, and the news reaches you after the shortlist
What changes once it is fixed
Account signals watch newsrooms, job boards and regulator feeds for dated events at each named insurer and rank them every morning
-
Evaluation
Where it breaks
IT risk sees the vendor only after the sponsor decides, and the DORA or FINMA outsourcing review restarts the deal
What changes once it is fixed
The Fix stage writes the pages on hosting, subcontractors, exit terms and audit rights, and Demand covers the whole buying group
-
Qualification
Where it breaks
An interested head of claims counts as a lead even when the account already sits in the CRM as an opportunity
What changes once it is fixed
A reply counts only with the five facts recorded, and inbound response answers reviewers in their language with checked meeting times
-
Handover
Where it breaks
Marketing reports contacts and sales reports insurers, so nobody knows how much of the named list is in conversation
What changes once it is fixed
Revenue operations sets lifecycle stages and routing at account level, so the monthly read counts insurers in conversation
Who is in the buying group?
One person rarely decides alone, so a lead from the wrong role moves nothing. These are the roles we map at every account on your list.
Who signs
The chief operating officer, the head of claims or underwriting, or the CIO, depending on where the product sits, with procurement handling the contract and an executive committee approving larger deals.
Who evaluates
The business team that will use the software, enterprise architecture, and the IT teams who check integration with the policy and claims systems already running.
Who can block
IT risk and information security, the outsourcing or third-party risk owner who answers to the supervisor, data protection, and actuarial or finance when the product touches reserves or reporting.
Which signals open an account in Insurance & Insurtech?
Each signal is a dated, public event a sceptical buyer could check in thirty seconds. Market-wide news can change an account's conditions, and we never write it up as something that company did.
| Signal | What it changes inside the account |
|---|---|
| An insurer announces a core system replacement or a transformation program | The architecture is being redesigned, so new components can enter the plan |
| A new COO, CIO or head of claims is appointed | A new owner sets a first-year plan and reviews the vendors that come with it |
| A merger, acquisition or portfolio transfer is announced | Systems have to be consolidated within a set period |
| A regulatory deadline lands, such as the annual DORA register of information | Vendor documentation becomes a dated task, and providers who make it easy are remembered |
| Job posts for claims automation, pricing or data roles | The team that will run your product is being built, and its tooling is still open |
What does a qualified lead look like here?
The head of claims operations at a property insurer on your agreed list replies that their group will replace its claims platform over the next two years and asks what documentation you provide for their third-party risk review. The basis for contacting them in their country is recorded, and the account is not an open opportunity in your CRM. That reply, with the transformation announcement it answered, is a qualified lead.
A lead counts only when all five facts are recorded, and you have five business days to reject it with a reason. The Torke Service page explains each fact.
- Fact one
- A named person in the buying group
- Fact two
- At an account you agreed to in writing
- Fact three
- A need or timing in their own words
- Fact four
- A lawful basis for contact
- Fact five
- Not already open in your CRM
Where should you start?
Every client starts with the Diagnostic, and for insurtech companies it most often points to Demand across the whole buying group, because the sponsor is already convinced and the people who decide onboarding have never heard from you.
Every engagement opens with the Diagnostic, two to three weeks that end on one of four decisions: stop, fix one barrier, run one practice, or expand later.
Usual first step for Insurance & Insurtech
The practice the Diagnostic most often points to here, run month by month once it does.
Get in touchHow do Torke Service and Torke Engine help?
The same engines run in both, so you can begin with one and move to the other without starting over.
Torke Service, we run it
For example, the Diagnostic may find that deals ran longest when IT risk first met the vendor after the business decision. The Fix writes the pages those reviewers need, and Demand then covers the sponsor, the CIO and the outsourcing owner at each named insurer in the same weeks.
How Torke Service worksTorke Engine, your team runs it
Account signals and inbound response matter most here. Transformation programs, appointments and acquisitions at insurers are public and dated, and when a reviewer writes in, inbound response answers in their language and checks meeting times on the rep's calendar.
For example, a marketer asks the assistant to find insurers on the list that announced a claims or policy system replacement this quarter and to prepare a newsletter for their IT risk teams. The assistant returns the ranked accounts with the source of each event, and a newsletter draft where every statement about hosting and audit rights is checked against approved facts, waiting for a person to release it.
How Torke Engine worksWhat can you expect?
You can stop after any stage and keep what it produced.
A decision after the Diagnostic
In two to three weeks the Diagnostic names the one constraint in your pipeline and ends on one of four decisions: stop, fix one barrier, run one practice, or expand later. Stop is a real outcome when the constraint turns out to be product, price or budget.
Leads that arrive with evidence
Each qualified lead comes with the five recorded facts behind it, and you have five business days to reject any of them with a reason from a fixed list.
A monthly read you can check
Every month you receive a written read of accounts moved into conversations, coverage of your named list and spend against plan, with what each channel contributed and how uncertain that is. Results too small to judge are reported as too small to judge, with a keep, cut or change recommendation.
What do teams in Insurance & Insurtech ask about Torke?
Each answer stands on its own, so you can forward one to a colleague, and an assistant asked the same question can quote it as it is.
Where should an insurtech company start?
Every Torke client starts with the Diagnostic, which for an insurtech company usually looks at deals a business sponsor wanted that then stopped in vendor review. It most often points to Demand across the whole buying group, because the sponsor is convinced while IT risk and the outsourcing owner have never heard from the vendor.
How can an insurtech get through an insurer's vendor review faster?
Insurers manage ICT third-party risk under DORA in the EU and under FINMA's outsourcing circular in Switzerland, so every new vendor is reviewed by people outside the business team. Torke's Fix stage writes the pages those reviewers read on hosting, subcontractors, exit terms and audit rights, so the sponsor can hand them over on the first day.
Which signals show an insurer may buy new claims software?
Useful signals for an insurtech vendor include an announced core system replacement, a new COO, CIO or head of claims, a merger or portfolio transfer, and job posts for claims automation or data roles. Torke's account signals collect such dated events from newsrooms, job boards and regulator feeds for each insurer on the agreed list.
How long is the sales cycle for insurtech companies selling to insurers?
There is no reliable public average, and part of the time is always the ICT third-party review that DORA and FINMA's outsourcing rules require before a new vendor is onboarded, so start that review alongside the business case.
How many insurance companies are there in Switzerland?
The Swiss Insurance Association counts roughly 192 private insurers competing in 2025, so an insurtech's Swiss market is a short named list.
Bring us the problem, and we bring the solution to it
Tell us what your team sells, who buys it and where deals stop moving. You'll get a written reply saying which way of working fits you, or whether a Diagnostic makes sense, and if neither does, the reason.