How a Business Rules Engine Transforms Insurance Product Configuration – Insights from Maciej Wir-Konas

Introduction

As regulations evolve, customer expectations shift and competition intensifies, insurers need tools that enable quick adaptation without sacrificing accuracy or compliance. One such tool is the business rules engine.

In a recent episode of the Higson Rules Engine Podcast, Maciej Wir-Konas, Project Manager at Decerto and leader of one of Poland’s largest insurance agent portal systems, shared practical insights into how a rules engine supports insurance operations at scale. His experience bridges the gap between software development teams and business users, offering a unique view into the technology’s role in modern insurance product configuration.

From Agent Portals to Core Insurance Operations

Maciej’s main project is an agent portal used not only by insurance agents but also by underwriters, sales teams and back-office staff. In such a large-scale system, both transparency and performance are critical.

The rules engine plays a dual role:

• Technical perspective – it acts as an application domain configurator, centralizing technical parameters, managing service availability and even scheduling technical tasks dynamically.
• Business perspective – it functions as a product, tariff and coverage configurator, enabling advanced data validation and risk-based premium calculations without coding.

Why Centralizing Business Rules Matters

Before implementing Higson, many configurations were stored in large, scattered Excel files. This created bottlenecks: only a handful of “Excel experts” knew how to maintain them, which slowed down changes and introduced operational risks if key staff were unavailable.

With a business rules engine, all product logic, underwriting rules and parameter dictionaries are versioned, centrally stored and easily accessible to business users. This means that updating general terms and conditions, adjusting tariffs or complying with new regulations can be done quickly, with full history tracking and no IT deployments.

The Drivers for Adopting a Rules Engine

According to Maciej, two main reasons pushed the move towards a centralized rules engine:

1. Lack of flexibility in a fast-changing market – insurers needed tools that could quickly adapt to new conditions to stay competitive.
2. Scattered configurations – product rules and versions were dispersed across multiple files and systems, making consistent updates nearly impossible.

Impact on Time-to-Market

If the rules engine were removed, customizing insurance processes and launching new products would slow dramatically. Without quick adjustments, products risk falling behind competitors. For agents, the inability to generate tailored offers based on the latest market data would erode their competitive edge.

Beyond Insurance Products: Claims and Fraud Detection

While much of the discussion focused on insurance product configuration, Maciej noted that rules engines also excel in areas like credit comparison tools and anti-fraud models.

In claims processing, a rules engine can aggregate data from multiple domains to assess fraud risk. By having all relevant logic in one place, insurers can automate detection, score risk levels and trigger appropriate actions – from further investigation to automatic approval.

Key Features That Make the Difference

Maciej highlights two standout features:

• Versioning – the ability to manage multiple product or policy versions simultaneously, enabling rapid adaptation while maintaining full history.
• High performance – executing complex decision logic in real time, processing thousands of transactions per second at scale.

When to Consider a Business Rules Engine

If every small business change requires IT intervention and a full deployment cycle, it’s time to consider a business rules engine. By empowering business teams to manage and configure logic themselves, insurers gain agility, reduce costs and accelerate innovation.

Conclusion

The conversation with Maciej Wir-Konas illustrates that a rules engine is more than a technical tool – it is a strategic enabler for insurers. From insurance product configuration to fraud detection, the ability to centralize, version and automate decision logic directly translates into competitive advantage.

In an industry where staying still means falling behind, the business rules engine ensures insurers can move fast, adapt confidently and lead rather than follow.

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