Cloud operations for insurers and insurtech.
Always-on. Regulation-aware. Datadog-first.
Insurance platforms face a specific operational challenge: claims systems, policy administration, and customer portals must be available continuously, while regulators demand evidence of operational resilience and risk controls. Critical Cloud provides 24×7 managed operations on AWS and Azure, built around the standards that insurers and insurtech platforms require.
The challenge in insurance & insurtech
Insurance is a 24×7 operational environment with predictable peak pressures and unpredictable claims events — and a regulatory framework that requires firms to demonstrate operational resilience at every layer.
-
Claims and policy systems cannot have unplanned downtime. A customer filing a claim during an outage is not just a service failure — it is a potential regulatory exposure. Core insurance platforms require 24×7 availability assurance, not best-effort monitoring.
-
Renewal and peak load cycles demand planned capacity. Annual renewal windows, end-of-tax-year spikes, and weather-driven claims surges create predictable load events that need engineering preparation, not reactive scaling. Failure during a renewal cycle has direct commercial and customer-experience consequences.
-
Data protection obligations are extensive. Insurance platforms hold sensitive personal and financial data. Cloud security posture, access controls, and audit trails must be maintained continuously — and evidenced when required by the ICO or your regulator.
-
ICT third-party risk is a regulatory obligation. Under DORA and PRA/FCA outsourcing rules, insurers must oversee and evidence their ICT third-party relationships. Your MSP's certifications, contractual records, and operational standards are part of your regulatory evidence pack.
Frameworks we help you meet and evidence
We do not provide legal or compliance advice. We provide the operational infrastructure, incident records, and audit trail that helps your compliance and legal teams do their work.
Digital Operational Resilience Act
Insurance undertakings authorised under Solvency II are within scope of DORA. DORA requires firms to manage ICT risk, maintain digital operational resilience, and demonstrate oversight of ICT third-party providers. Critical Cloud operates as an ICT third-party to the standard DORA requires, with ISO 27001 certification, audit-ready records, and structured incident documentation.
Operational Resilience Rules
PRA and FCA operational-resilience rules require firms to identify important business services, set impact tolerances, and demonstrate the ability to stay within them. Datadog provides continuous monitoring and structured incident evidence — availability metrics, SLO tracking, and incident timelines — to support operational-resilience self-assessments and regulatory returns.
Operational Risk Expectations
Solvency II requires insurers to maintain adequate systems and controls for operational risks, including technology. Datadog's log management, security signals, and audit trail capabilities provide a structured record of cloud platform behaviour. We configure Datadog to surface availability, security, and change evidence relevant to Solvency II operational risk documentation.
FCA Consumer Duty
Consumer Duty requires firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers. For insurance platforms, that means claims systems, policy portals, and communications channels must be reliably available. 24×7 incident management and continuous improvement engineering are the operational foundation for meeting that obligation.
Information Security Management
Critical Cloud is ISO 27001 certified, covering our information security management system including controls applied to customer environments. We are also Cyber Essentials Plus certified. Certificates and security questionnaire responses are available on request for supplier assurance purposes.
How Critical Cloud helps insurers and insurtech platforms
We provide the operational layer that lets insurance and insurtech engineering teams focus on building products, not maintaining infrastructure.
Critical Support
24×7 incident management with a 15-minute response time for SEV-1 and SEV-2 incidents, plus monthly improvement engineering across reliability, security, cost, performance, automation, and governance. Every incident produces structured records and RCAs for regulatory and internal use. Renewal and peak-load preparation is part of the improvement engineering remit.
Critical Support →Cloud Security Engineering
Security posture improvement across access controls, vulnerability management, threat detection, and cloud security configuration. Aligned to ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus. Supports data protection obligations through continuous Datadog security monitoring, access audit trails, and documented remediation actions.
Security services →Datadog for Insurance Platforms
As the world's first Powered by Datadog accredited MSP, we configure Datadog to the depth that insurance platforms require: policy and claims system SLO tracking, availability dashboards, security signal management, and log management for audit and compliance use. All customers retain direct, full access to their own Datadog environment.
Datadog services →Technology & Partner Network
We work alongside your AWS and Azure account teams and existing technology vendors. Our partner network means we can bring in the right expertise — cloud-native security, FinOps, or Datadog product specialists — without you managing multiple separate supplier relationships.
Partners →Built for tech-led insurance businesses
We work with insurers and insurtech platforms — businesses where the cloud platform underpins core insurance operations, where availability and security are regulatory obligations, and where engineering teams need an operational partner, not just a monitoring tool.
Frequently asked questions
Are insurers in scope for DORA?
Insurance undertakings authorised under Solvency II are within scope of DORA, which applies to a broad range of financial entities including insurers and reinsurers. DORA requires firms to manage ICT risk, maintain digital operational resilience, and oversee ICT third-party providers. Your legal and compliance team should confirm the specific scope and obligations for your entity. Critical Cloud can provide the ICT third-party documentation, operational records, and structured incident evidence that support your DORA compliance programme.
How do you support PRA/FCA operational-resilience requirements?
PRA and FCA operational-resilience rules require firms to identify important business services, set impact tolerances, and demonstrate the ability to remain within them during severe but plausible disruptions. Critical Cloud provides 24×7 incident management, continuous monitoring through Datadog, and structured incident reports and RCAs. We produce service review packs structured to support operational-resilience self-assessments. We do not provide legal or compliance advice; we provide the operational infrastructure and evidence your compliance team needs.
How does Datadog help evidence Solvency II operational-risk requirements?
Solvency II's operational risk requirements include demonstrating that firms have adequate systems and controls. Datadog's log management, security signals, incident management, and audit trail capabilities provide a structured, queryable record of cloud platform behaviour over time. We configure Datadog to surface availability, security, and change evidence relevant to Solvency II operational risk documentation — including SLO performance tracking, access audit trails, and incident timelines. Always verify specific requirements with your legal and compliance advisers.
How do you handle peak load events like renewal cycles?
Renewal and peak load events are a planned operations challenge, not just a monitoring task. As part of monthly improvement engineering, we work with your team ahead of known peak periods to review scaling policies, capacity headroom, database performance, and alerting thresholds. During the event window, 24×7 incident cover remains in place. Datadog's real-time infrastructure and APM monitoring provides the visibility to detect and respond to capacity or performance issues before they become customer-facing outages.
Speak to us about your insurance platform.
Tell us about your cloud environment, your regulatory context, and your operational needs. We will show you how Critical Cloud would work for your firm.