Every insurer and MGA eventually asks who keeps its rating engine up to date. Rule changes, bureau updates, and new product filings all need attention. Rating-as-a-Service (RaaS) moves that work to a provider. The provider hosts the rating rules, forms, and software. The client prices policies without installing or maintaining its own engine. What RaaS Includes A RaaS solution usually has three parts: the rating rules and forms, the software that runs the calculations, and the cloud servers that host both. Teams reach it over the internet. The service can be set up around each carrier’s or MGA’s own products. That setup lets a program offer distinct products without writing custom code into the rating engine. Where the Upkeep Goes Owning a rating engine has hidden costs. Someone must update rules when a line changes. Someone must test each change against existing products. Someone must keep bureau and data connections working. Often, a few experienced staff members know how it all works. When they leave, that knowledge goes with them. Claims administration shows the same pattern. Chesapeake Employers Insurance Company is a Maryland workers’ compensation carrier and third-party administrator. It ran its claims system for more than three decades. The staff who knew that system best were nearing retirement. Paying for costly support contracts on a system it planned to replace was off the table. Chesapeake moved to a cloud-hosted platform and eliminated its on-premises maintenance costs. Its CIO said: “As I’m planning for multi-state and looking at systems, I know I can scale this platform, whereas I couldn’t do that on our previous platform.” (Source: Chesapeake Employers Insurance Company Case Study, 2026) How RaaS Affects Speed and Control RaaS aims to shorten quote turnaround by linking the rating engine to rating data and third-party sources through APIs. The gain depends on your products and data, so measure it. Run a small trial with a few of your products, record how long each quote takes, and compare those times with your current engine before you commit. American Equity Underwriters, a program administrator for the USL&H workers’ compensation program, took a similar path. It brought its claims software in house on a multi-tenant cloud platform. Its Senior Vice President of Claims explained the choice: “In choosing a solution, we prioritized the ability to improve efficiency, customize for our processes, control the experience, and flexibly scale for our unique needs.” (Source: American Equity Underwriters Case Study, 2023) Efficiency, customization, and control are the same priorities a RaaS buyer should weigh. Questions to Ask Before Choosing a RaaS Provider Four questions help separate a good fit from a costly one. First, how often does the provider release updates, and how does it tell clients? That timing shapes your testing plan. Second, how much work runs on configuration, and how much needs custom development? Custom code brings upkeep back in house. Third, how early can you review data connections to bureau and third-party sources? Integrations often set the timeline more than the software does. Fourth, how does the provider handle security, including certifications and incident response? Choosing What to Own and What to Hand Off Carriers and MGAs are already moving core systems to the cloud. Rating is following the same path. Organizations that decide now which rating work to own and which to hand off will adapt faster. They will be ready for quicker product changes, new data sources, and AI-driven decisions. Origami Risk’s cloud-native policy, billing, and claims solutions run on one connected platform for risk, insurance, and compliance. Insurers and MGAs can evaluate each function on its own timeline. They can move the systems with the heaviest upkeep first. Download the guide to see what future-proof really requires for insurance platforms. Frequently Asked Questions What Is Rating-as-a-Service (RaaS)? RaaS is a cloud service. A provider hosts the rating rules, forms, and software. An insurer or MGA uses it to price policies without running its own engine. How Is RaaS Different From a Cloud-Hosted Rating Engine? With cloud hosting, the insurer still schedules and tests each upgrade. With RaaS, the provider releases updates on a shared platform. The insurer’s IT team can then focus on integrations and data. Who Benefits Most From RaaS? MGAs and carriers that launch products often or need fast quotes benefit most. Smaller insurers gain too. They can use rating tools without building a large internal team. Does RaaS Replace Underwriters? RaaS calculates premiums from rules the insurer sets, and underwriters still decide which risks to accept and on what terms. What Should an Insurer Measure in a RaaS Pilot? Track three things: quote turnaround time, the effort to update a product, and the share of rating changes that need custom development. Compare those results with the current engine before committing.