Freeing Claims from COTS

Overview

For nearly two decades, GEICO relied on Guidewire, a Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) platform, to support its claims operations. The system powered a significant portion of the company's software ecosystem, managing claims processes across approximately 60% of its applications.

While Guidewire provided a stable foundation, its multi-tenant architecture limited GEICO's ability to rapidly develop new features, adapt workflows, and innovate as business needs evolved. To overcome these constraints, the engagement focused on applying Domain-Driven Design (DDD) to redefine the Claims domain and establish a stronger foundation for future software development.

By combining collaborative Eventstorming workshops with strategic domain modeling, the team helped align business knowledge with technical implementation, creating a roadmap for a more flexible and scalable claims platform.

Challenges

Limited Flexibility for New Features

Guidewire's multi-tenant architecture restricted customization, making it difficult to introduce new capabilities that supported evolving customer expectations and business priorities.

Inefficient Legacy Processes

After years of working within the existing platform, many inefficient claims workflows had become standard practice. Without careful analysis, these outdated processes risked being carried into future systems.

Building Domain Expertise

Domain-Driven Design and Eventstorming were new approaches for many internal teams. Limited experience created uncertainty around the modeling process and made it difficult to establish a shared understanding of the Claims domain.

Solution

To address these challenges, the team facilitated collaborative Eventstorming workshops and applied Domain-Driven Design principles to model the Claims domain from a business-first perspective. The result was a shared understanding of system behavior, business processes, and future software requirements.

Eventstorming Workshops

Working across multiple groups in three to five sessions each week, stakeholders collaborated to explore the Claims domain using a variety of modeling techniques, including Big Picture Eventstorming, Process Modeling, System Design, Bounded Context Mapping, and Aggregate Modeling. These workshops encouraged cross-functional collaboration while uncovering opportunities for improvement.

Sequence Diagrams

Sequence diagrams were created to visualize interactions between systems and services, improving communication between business and technical teams while ensuring a clear understanding of application behavior.

Domain-Driven Design

Applying Domain-Driven Design helped identify opportunities to automate manual processes, eliminate redundant policies, and simplify complex business rules. The resulting domain models created a strong architectural foundation for future software development while ensuring business requirements remained at the center of the design.

Outcome

The engagement fundamentally changed how GEICO approached software development within its Claims domain.

By combining Eventstorming with Domain-Driven Design, business experts and developers established a shared understanding of complex workflows, identified opportunities for automation, and removed unnecessary process constraints before implementation began.

The resulting domain models provided developers with clear architectural guidance, accelerated prototype development, and laid the groundwork for production-ready software. More importantly, the collaborative approach strengthened alignment between business and technology teams, creating a scalable foundation capable of supporting GEICO's future growth and innovation.