How AXIS Built a Product Factory to Simplify Insurance Product Development

AXIS Insurance built a Product Factory as part of a technology and business transformation: a shared, governed approach to insurance product development that reuses common product definitions rather than rebuilding each product from scratch. 

At the time, AXIS reported that the transformation reduced cost and delivery time by 75%, eliminated 12 systems, and streamlined its product portfolio from 80 products to 42. 

Why does insurance product development become so complex? 

As insurers expand, product portfolios often grow faster than the operating model needed to manage them. 

Separate products and variations can mean separate configurations, processes, integrations, and maintenance requirements. Every update takes longer. IT backlogs grow. Product teams spend more time keeping existing offerings current and less time responding to new market opportunities. 

AXIS recognized that remaining competitive required more than faster delivery. It needed to rationalize products, reduce reliance on manual processes and legacy systems, and create a more scalable foundation for future growth. 

The Approach: Build for Reuse, Not Repetition 

AXIS developed a Product Factory approach around reusable product definitions and a more disciplined product hierarchy. For a broader look at how Product Factories help insurers launch new products faster, explore our overview.

Instead of treating each product as a separate build, the team grouped products by commonality and configured shared capabilities once. That made it easier to create new variations while preserving the consistency and control needed across the portfolio. 

Duck Creek Policy connected product configuration to the coverages, rating, quote and issue requirements, and the related claims, billing and commission processes—an example of how modern policy administration connects product definitions to lifecycle workflows.

The work was not only technical. AXIS brought product development and business teams together in agile delivery cycles, with iterative releases every two weeks. The goal was to make product development repeatable—not simply complete a one-time transformation. 

The Results: Less Complexity, More Capacity to Innovate 

AXIS reported measurable operational and business impact from its Product Factory transformation: 

• 75% reduction in cost and delivery time 

• 12 systems eliminated 

• 15% increase in underwriter productivity 

• Product portfolio streamlined from 80 products to 42 

• Cost of enhancements reduced fivefold 

• Investment in innovation increased from 9% to 37% 

The most important result was not any one metric. It was the ability to stop multiplying complexity as the business evolved. 

With a more rationalized product portfolio and reusable product foundations, AXIS could focus more of its effort on the products, markets, and differentiated capabilities that create value. 

What can insurers learn from AXIS’s Product Factory? 

AXIS’s experience reinforces three lessons for insurers looking to improve product development. 

1. Rationalize before you accelerate 

Speed does not come from creating more individual products faster. It comes from understanding what can be shared, what should remain distinct, and where variation genuinely creates market value. 

A Product Factory gives teams a way to reduce unnecessary duplication while preserving the flexibility to configure what makes a product, market, or partner unique. 

2. Product development is an operating model, not a project 

Technology matters, but it is only part of the answer. Product teams need clear ownership, disciplined governance, reusable assets, and delivery practices that enable change to move from idea to production without creating future maintenance work. 

3. Reuse creates capacity for innovation 

When teams do not have to rebuild common product elements, they can spend more time on higher-value work: entering a new market, responding to regulatory change, creating differentiated coverage, or improving the customer and broker experience. 

That is the real promise of a Product Factory. It makes product innovation more repeatable, governable, and scalable. 

Make Product Change Repeatable 

Every insurer’s starting point is different. But AXIS’s transformation illustrates an enduring principle: product development becomes easier to scale when insurers reuse what is common, govern change consistently, and configure what makes each product, market, or partner unique. 

Today, Duck Creek helps insurers apply those principles by connecting reusable product assets, low-code configuration, governance, and policy execution—so every new product does not begin from scratch.