Platform
What is life insurance software?
Life insurance software is the system a long-term insurer uses to quote, underwrite, issue and administer policies over their full term, collect premiums, calculate policy values, process claims and report to regulators and auditors. Because life policies can run for decades and carry savings elements, the software must track surrender values, paid-up values, bonuses, policy loans and maturities as well as the basic cover.
Ontech LifeI ERP is life insurance software developed by Ontech Solutions for insurance companies in Zambia. It covers the policy lifecycle for term, whole life, endowment, unit-linked, annuity, funeral and group life products and adds the finance, HR and compliance modules an insurer needs to run the rest of the company.
Key capabilities
Product configuration
Define each product's benefits, rating factors, premium tables and underwriting rules once, then reuse them across quotations, applications and policies.
Quotation and application
Produce premium quotations by age, gender, smoker status and term, capture applications and beneficiary details, and convert accepted quotes into policies.
Policy lifecycle
Handle issue, endorsement, renewal, lapse, reinstatement, surrender, paid-up conversion, policy loans, bonus allocation and maturity from one policy record.
Premium billing and collection
Generate premium schedules, collect through Mobile Money, bank or cash, and allocate each receipt to the right policy automatically.
Claims processing
Register death, disability, funeral and maturity claims, gather documents, route approvals and record settlement against the policy.
Actuarial and financial reporting
Post premiums, claims, commissions and reserves to a general ledger and report under IFRS 17 with actuarial and statutory fund views.
Channels and self-service
Serve policyholders and agents through a client portal, a mobile app, USSD, SMS, WhatsApp and email.
How it works
- Actuarial and product teams set up product lines, premium rates and underwriting rules in the product catalogue.
- Agents, brokers, the client portal, USSD or the mobile app generate quotations and submit applications.
- Underwriting reviews each application, applies loadings or exclusions where needed, and accepts it as a policy.
- Billing creates the premium schedule and collections are received through Mobile Money or other channels and matched to the policy.
- Policy events such as endorsements, surrenders, loans and claims are processed against the same record with an audit trail.
- Finance, actuarial and compliance teams report from the shared data without re-keying it into spreadsheets.
Benefits
Accurate policy values
Surrender values, paid-up values and maturity benefits are calculated from the policy's own premium history rather than estimated by hand.
Fewer lapses
Premium reminders by SMS, WhatsApp and USSD, plus Mobile Money collection, make it easier for policyholders to keep paying.
Faster claims
Claims staff see the policy, its premium status and beneficiaries immediately, so eligibility checks take minutes rather than days of file searching.
Regulator- and auditor-ready
Every policy, payment and claim is logged, so statutory returns and audit requests can be answered from the system.
Who it is for
- Licensed long-term insurers in Zambia moving off spreadsheets or a legacy policy system.
- New life insurance companies that need quotation, policy, claims and finance in one platform at launch.
- Insurers introducing funeral cover, group life or savings products through mobile channels.
- Actuarial and finance teams that need IFRS 17 reporting from live policy data.
Zambia-specific considerations
Long-term insurance in Zambia is a separately licensed business under the Insurance Act No. 38 of 2021 and is supervised by the Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA). Life insurance software used here must therefore keep long-term business distinct from general insurance and support the periodic statutory returns and financial statements PIA requires.
Distribution and premium payment in Zambia run largely through mobile phones. Software that cannot collect through MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money or Zamtel Kwacha, or that assumes every policyholder has a smartphone and email, will leave a large part of the market unserved.
How Ontech LifeI ERP addresses this
Life products with their full set of policy events
LifeI ERP handles surrender values, paid-up values, policy loans, bonuses, maturities and annuity payouts, not just issue and renewal.
Zambian channels built in
Mobile Money collection, USSD self-service, SMS, WhatsApp and email are part of the platform, along with a client portal and a policyholder mobile app.
Finance and compliance in the same system
General ledger, actuarial calculations, IFRS 17 reporting and PIA returns run on the same policy data as operations.
Frequently asked questions
What is life insurance software?
Life insurance software is a system that quotes, underwrites, issues and administers long-term insurance policies, collects premiums, calculates policy values such as surrender and paid-up values, processes claims and produces financial and regulatory reports.
How is life insurance software different from general insurance software?
Life policies last for years or decades and often include savings components, so the software must track premium history, bonuses, surrender values, paid-up values, policy loans and maturities. General insurance software is built around annual policies, endorsements and short-tail claims and usually lacks these long-term policy values.
Does life insurance software need to support Mobile Money?
In markets like Zambia it does. Many policyholders pay premiums from a mobile wallet rather than a bank account, so Mobile Money collection and automatic allocation to the policy are core requirements. Ontech LifeI ERP supports MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money and Zamtel Kwacha.
Can life insurance software handle group life schemes?
Ontech LifeI ERP includes a group life module for employer-sponsored schemes, with member schedules, bulk operations and scheme-level premium and claims tracking alongside individual policies.
Does Ontech LifeI ERP include accounting and HR?
Yes. Ontech LifeI ERP is a full insurance ERP, so the general ledger, IFRS 17 reporting, HR, payroll, procurement and fixed assets run in the same platform as policies and claims.
Is Ontech LifeI ERP available to insurers in Zambia?
Yes. It was developed by Ontech Solutions in Lusaka for life insurance companies operating in Zambia. Contact Ontech Solutions to book a demonstration.
Sources
See Ontech LifeI ERP for your company
Book a demo with Ontech Solutions in Lusaka and see policy administration, claims, Mobile Money collection and PIA reporting working together in one platform.
Last updated 2026-09-13. Published by Ontech Solutions, Lusaka, Zambia.