Massachusetts-based comparative rating ISV deployed MySQL Enterprise Edition to launch and scale the SaaS version of its core product, leveraging MySQL Support to optimize performance.
Introduction & Background
Boston Software is a leading comparative rating software vendor and integrated solutions provider that helps independent insurance agencies to streamline their workflows and efficiently manage business operations. By connecting agencies with insurance carriers and streamlining key processes, the company enables agents to rapidly generate accurate policy quotes across personal insurance lines products.
Founded in 1995, Boston Software has been a pioneer in the insurance technology space, launching the first Windows-based personal lines rating system in the United States—WinRater—which set a new standard for speed, simplicity, accuracy, and reliability. The company has since continued to evolve its solutions, integrating with insurance carriers and agency management systems (AMSs), and partnering with industry tech leaders.
Boston Software is a member of ACORD, ISO, ACT, and MAIA.
Business Challenges & Goals
By continuously innovating and responding to the needs of independent agencies, Boston Software has remained a trusted technology partner in the insurance industry. Its original desktop-based solution, WinRater, had already automated key quoting processes across personal insurance lines such as auto, homeowners, and dwelling/fire. However, as customer expectations and industry demands evolved, Boston Software recognized the need for real-time carrier integration, improved data exchange, and more efficient workflows.
To meet these challenges, Boston Software set out to develop SinglePoint, an upgrade to WinRater that would be deployed as a SaaS platform, bringing the flexibility of the cloud, improved connectivity with insurers, and enhanced tools for agents to manage their book of business.
With the shift to a cloud-based solution, the company wanted to ensure that SinglePoint could provide uninterrupted service and handle real-time data transactions across a large user base. For this, it needed a database capable of maintaining high performance and availability 24/7.
As a small organization, Boston Software needed an affordable solution while ensuring it had the technical capabilities and support network to scale efficiently in anticipation of rapid growth in agency users across Massachusetts.
The company also required a database that could integrate seamlessly with the SinglePoint platform to facilitate the addition of new insurance carriers to support the business expansion, while ensuring robust data security and regulatory compliance.
Business Results & Metrics
Boston Software deployed its flagship SaaS product, SinglePoint, on MySQL Enterprise Edition to ensure high reliability, superior performance, and seamless scalability—critical factors for supporting real-time insurance quoting. By continuously leveraging MySQL Enterprise Edition’s robust capabilities—security, cost-effectiveness, and expert support—the company has fueled business growth while steadily enhancing service quality.
With MySQL Enterprise Edition, Boston Software ensures uninterrupted uptime for SinglePoint, reinforcing its brand by enabling agents to generate accurate quotes across various property and casualty insurance lines anytime and anywhere.
“What we want from our database first and foremost is reliability, and we're getting that in spades with MySQL Enterprise Edition,” commented Blood.
By choosing MySQL Enterprise Edition over alternative database solutions, Boston Software made significant savings in annual licensing costs—while gaining a robust, enterprise-grade platform. Beyond direct cost savings, MySQL Enterprise Edition has delivered long-term value through MySQL Support and continuous product enhancements in security and compliance.
“MySQL Enterprise Edition provides us with far more than just a database—it’s a full suite of functionality at a very reasonable price point. MySQL’s ongoing commitment to improvements gives us peace of mind, knowing we have a solution that continues to evolve and deliver increasing value to both our organization and our customers,” Blood said.
Boston Software relies on MySQL Enterprise Edition to handle the high-volume demands of its SinglePoint platform, processing around 50,000 quotes per day—each involving numerous database transactions across multiple insurance carrier platforms. With MySQL’s high performance enabling real-time query execution, agents provide reliable insurance policy estimations in seconds, enhancing efficiency and customer service.
The scalability of MySQL Enterprise Edition has allowed Boston Software to expand its customer base, integrate new carrier platforms and AMSs seamlessly, and scale SinglePoint without sacrificing database throughput.
“Since switching to a SaaS model with SinglePoint, our database has grown significantly, yet MySQL Enterprise Edition’s performance has not only kept pace, it has improved. We've continued to get more and more out of the database, even as its size has increased, and this has been a key factor in what we’ve been able to achieve within the software and for our customers,” said Blood.
With MySQL Enterprise Edition’s built-in security and compliance features, Boston Software safeguards sensitive insurance data within SinglePoint, ensuring regulatory compliance while meeting the security needs of its business, clients, and stakeholders.
Leveraging MySQL Enterprise Backup as an essential part of its data governance strategy, Boston Software ensures that personal and financial data within the SinglePoint platform are always securely backed up. With MySQL Enterprise Backup, the company quickly restores data, minimizes downtime, and maintains business continuity, even in the event of system failures or data loss.
Boston Software has leveraged expertise from the MySQL Support team to optimize database speed through in-depth consultations, enabling its engineers to keep the database running at peak efficiency.
“We require exceptional database performance to meet our workload demands, and with MySQL Support, we've fine-tuned it to the point where it’s humming along at a truly high level,” said Blood.
MySQL Support has been an invaluable, always-available resource for Boston Software, providing rapid responses whenever issues arise. Whether troubleshooting complex issues or seeking productivity improvements, the support team consistently delivers timely assistance and actionable insights, ensuring that SinglePoint remains responsive and reliable for hundreds of independent insurance agencies throughout its primary market of Massachusetts.
“Our experience with MySQL Support has been fantastic—it's like having a team of experts directly embedded in our organization,” commented Blood.
Why MySQL Enterprise Edition?
Boston Software has been using MySQL for many years, initially adopting the Community version for its affordability and ease of use. As its business grew, the company transitioned to MySQL Enterprise Edition to gain access to enterprise-grade support and advanced capabilities.
When Boston Software prepared to launch SinglePoint as a SaaS platform, it re-evaluated database options—including Microsoft SQL Server—but ultimately reaffirmed its commitment to MySQL Enterprise Edition due to its demonstrated cost-effectiveness, high performance, strong support, and Oracle’s continued enhancements to the MySQL ecosystem.
“When we decided to move our desktop-based application to a licensed database, the two primary drivers for us were availability and cost, and the value proposition from MySQL Enterprise Edition was simply outstanding compared to the competition. As we moved fully to a SaaS environment, we reassessed the database infrastructure, and kept coming back to the value we had realized with MySQL—including the support we’d received, the added features we’d exploited, and the expertise we’d gained. We doubled down on MySQL Enterprise Edition, confident in its ability to meet our technical needs while delivering unmatched value,” Danny Blood said.
Next Steps
Boston Software is in the process of upgrading to MySQL Enterprise Edition 8.4 and evaluating the additional security and compliance features to further strengthen its platform. The company is also exploring HeatWave for cloud-based data warehousing and analytics to enhance reporting capabilities.