Shared product or your own engine
Which kind of document software fits your book
WYEA builds firm-owned document engines for specialty insurers, MGAs and program administrators. If your documents are mostly standard forms, a shared product will usually serve you better, and we will say so on the first call. This page sets out how to tell.
Why we build one engine per client
Your firm has an edge. So should your software.
Software sold to a whole market has to behave the same way for everyone who buys it. That is what makes it affordable, and for plenty of work it is the right thing to buy.
Your conventions are the configuration
Your house wordings, the clauses your team insists on, the checks you run before anything is bound. On a shared product those are settings you fit around. Here the system is shaped from them.
What you know stays in the system
The entities you write through, the programs you run, the counterparties on each deal. Reviewed once with you, then held, so nobody retypes them.
Changes are made by the people who built it
When your book changes, the two engineers who already know it change the software.
Side by side
The questions buyers ask, answered for each
Shared products differ from each other. Check each row against the vendor you are talking to.
| Question | Shared product | Firm-owned engine (WYEA) |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is built for | Everyone who buys it | One insurer, from its own wordings, clause library and executed deals |
| Mostly standard forms | Usually well served, and the better buy | More than you need |
| Manuscript wordings, multi-entity paper, programs across carriers | Handled where the product's settings allow | What the engine is built around |
| A change you need | Waits on the vendor's roadmap | Made by the two engineers who built it |
| Time to start | Often days | A prototype in one week, then the build |
| Price | Usually per seat, and lower to start | Builds from $25,000; monthly fee from $5,500, covering hosting, support and every model provider cost |
| Your documents | Depends on the vendor's terms; ask whether content trains a model | One system per insurer. Never trains a model |
| Certifications for vendor review | Established vendors often hold SOC 2 or ISO 27001 | None held today. Where we stand |
| Who answers when it breaks | The vendor's support team | The engineers who wrote it |
A shared product fits better when
- Your documents are mostly standard forms
- You need something running this month
- A per-seat price matters more than fit
- Your vendor review requires a SOC 2 report today
Your own engine fits better when
- Your wordings are manuscript or heavily endorsed
- The same deal is papered on several entities' forms
- Your programs run across several carriers
- Your house rules are what make your book different
Questions
Before you choose
When is a shared product the better choice?
When your documents are mostly standard forms, when you need something running this month, or when a per-seat price matters more than fit. In those cases a shared product will usually serve you better, and we will say so on the first call.
Can we start with a shared product and move later?
Yes. Your documents stay in your own document system either way. Ask the shared-product vendor how you would take your configuration and history with you.
What does a firm-owned engine cost?
The one-week prototype is a fixed price, quoted before work starts. Builds start at $25,000. The monthly fee starts at $5,500 and covers hosting, support and every model provider cost. Multi-entity groups are quoted at a fixed price after the prototype. What a document engine costs.
Start a conversation
Ask us which one fits. We will tell you.
Thirty minutes, as a consultation or a demo on your own documents.
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