Helvetia partnered with Axon Active for software engineering for insurance, leveraging a dedicated software development team to redesign its core system for managing insurance workflows, dossiers, and claims-related processes. A distributed team across Switzerland and Vietnam supports delivery under SAFe, focusing on simplifying architecture, improving integrations, and enhancing system maintainability and scalability to meet evolving operational needs
Helvetia Baloise Group is a leading international Swiss insurance group that operates in a highly regulated, document-intensive environment. Efficient claims handling, policy management, and smooth customer communication are central to its daily operations.
To support these functions at scale, the group uses a core case-management platform for claims and dossier workflows. A major redesign modernized this legacy framework through custom insurance software development tailored to Helvetia’s regulated environment. It merged digital archives into a unified case-processing environment that supports the group’s regulatory and record-keeping requirements and fast service delivery across its business units.
The team leads end-to-end development of the core platform redesign, from refining functional requirements to implementing backend services and APIs. The platform supports claims processing, case tracking, and document lifecycle control. The redesign focuses on addressing long-standing challenges in usability, scalability, and system integration.
The initiative focuses on streamlining claims-related workflows and strengthening integrations with downstream systems.
Looking ahead, the system is being shaped with a focus on improved observability, a simplified technical landscape, and well-defined, maintainable interfaces as part of a broader digital insurance transformation.
Backend services are built on a mature JVM stack with automated, controlled deployments. This setup supports reliable performance and aligns with Helvetia’s requirements for high availability and maintainability. APIs expose core platform capabilities, enabling integration with downstream systems. This backend work is part of long-term software engineering for insurance, keeping the platform reliable as it continues to evolve.
Data is stored in PostgreSQL to ensure operational reliability, while Kafka enables asynchronous, event-driven communication across the system, together forming a reliable insurance data platform. The architecture is designed with a focus on query performance, data integrity, and ease of evolution, providing a stable foundation for ongoing enhancements.
A dedicated software development team operates under SAFe with two-week sprints, working closely with Helvetia’s Product Owner and engineering teams. Each sprint follows a structured cycle — planning, daily standups, review demos, and retrospectives — ensuring regular visibility into progress.
A consistent overlap window enables synchronous collaboration for key discussions and decisions, while asynchronous communication supports focused work outside these hours. The stable team setup maintains continuity across sprints, supported by a Swiss-based account lead who coordinates governance for this Swiss insurance software partnership.
The team introduced AI-assisted development through a structured onboarding process and defined safety guidelines, using enterprise-tier AI coding assistants approved by the client and configured with no data retention and no model training. All output is reviewed by an engineer before it is merged. These tools support code review, refactoring, and the generation of implementation for straightforward requirements, while also assisting in documenting and clarifying project structure. Learn more about how Axon Active governs AI in delivery.
The modernization is approached incrementally rather than through a full rewrite. The team identifies high-impact areas—such as workflows, integrations, and bottlenecks—and refactors them step by step. This allows new capabilities to be introduced while keeping the system stable and operational throughout the transition.
The platform integrates with downstream systems through well-defined interfaces. Kafka supports asynchronous communication where needed, allowing systems to exchange data without tight coupling. This helps maintain flexibility as integrations evolve.
Technical debt is addressed alongside feature delivery rather than as a separate initiative. During each sprint, the team allocates effort to simplify legacy components, improve code structure, and refine architecture. This helps avoid accumulating additional complexity while still delivering business value.
Reliability is supported through a combination of stable backend technologies (Java, Spring Boot), structured data management with PostgreSQL, and event-driven messaging with Kafka. The team also focuses on monitoring, error handling, and incremental improvements to ensure the system remains dependable in production.
SAFe provides a structured framework for aligning multiple teams and stakeholders. For the engineers, this translates into clear sprint cycles, shared planning sessions, and regular demos. It helps maintain alignment across product, architecture, and delivery without significantly changing the day-to-day development practices.
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