Blueprint Two phase one core tech build to be completed by end of May

By Ryan Hewlett

April 28 - (The Insurer) - The technology build for phase one of Lloyd’s Blueprint Two modernisation programme will be complete by the end of May 2025, Velonetic CEO Bob James told The Insurer on Monday.

Speaking ahead of a market workshop in London, James said 10 of the 12 core market-facing products that make up the phase one technology build are now complete, with the final two products set to be completed in May.

James' comments suggest an acceleration in progress given that none of the 12 core product builds were completed at the time of the previous market update in October last year.

“From a technology build perspective, there's been substantive and demonstrable progress,” James said. “It's a big milestone for us and we now need to demonstrate a robust, market-orientated, customer-focused testing plan.

Phase one – the digital solutions element of the Blueprint Two roadmap – is focused on moving the market to a single digital platform and implementing processing services for open market and delegated authority business.

Lloyd’s COO James, who was parachuted in to lead Velonetic in August last year, said completion of the build and an accompanying traceability exercise will now allow Velonetic to focus on platform testing and any build defect remediation.

As part of the update, Velonetic – the joint venture between Lloyd’s, DXC Technology and the International Underwriting Association – confirmed it will now roll out the “enhanced external testing strategy” first trailed in a circular sent to senior market figures in March.

James said the market participants will now receive eight weeks of advance notice before they must start testing. Testing timelines had previously been a concern for many firms, which feared they may be asked to stand up testing resources for extended periods of time or with little warning.

Under the new testing strategy an early adopter group, known as vanguard nine, will commence platform demonstrations from May 2025. Wider vanguard 32 testing will begin in October 2025.

In addition, customer coordinated testing, managed by LIMOSS, will start no earlier than Q4 2025.

Speaking alongside James in an interview with The Insurer on Monday, newly installed Velonetic COO Callum Gibson said initial testing will centre on “witness testing”, which includes coverage reviews and platform demonstrations.

“One of the commitments we made previously was that we would not have the market test the platform until it was built and had been tested by us,” he said. “(The market) will come in later in the cycle for what we call ‘hands-on testing’ but in theses earlier stages, they're involved with us by watching what we're doing.”

Gibson, who retains responsibility for the technology build, said: “One thing I want to keep on committing to is that as we go through test, if we find anything that's substantive in terms of functionality and our ability to deliver a product that the market will accept and use, we will change the plan.”

CUTOVER WORKING GROUP FORMED

James acknowledged that the chosen sequential method of testing has lengthened the testing timeline but doubled down on previous comments made in March that the process will provide cleaner code to ultimately allow more “robust” end-to-end testing to be completed ahead of switchover.

Velonetic in March confirmed that the Blueprint Two phase one cutover – the transition process from heritage systems to digital processing – will not occur in 2025. Lloyd’s and Velonetic have previously adopted a “Big Bang”-style approach to overhauling the market’s back-office systems at the same time, but now a working group has been formed to reassess the cutover options.

The working group concluded that a phased cutover by business service would be a possible solution, but no consensus was reached on which service to start with. James noted that the group remains supportive of the full-service cutover approach with any phased cutover schemed adding new, additional delivery risk alongside significant time and cost.