How Zurich handled 70M API transactions and scaled with DAC’s API Marketplace

Zurich Insurance Group is a leading multi-line insurer headquartered in Switzerland, serving customers in more than 200 countries and territories. The company provides various property and casualty, life insurance, and risk management solutions for individuals, small businesses, and large corporations. It is known for its strong financial stability and global reach and operates through various segments, including Farmers, Zurich North America, and Global Corporate, combining innovation and sustainability to deliver long-term value.

The Challenge

Before onboarding DAC, Zurich Insurance grappled with deep-rooted challenges in managing its internal API infrastructure. Their existing setup relied on a single Mulesoft platform that lacked native support for multiple organisations. This meant different business units within Zurich couldn't operate autonomously or customise their API usage based on their specific needs. 

Additionally, the absence of support for multiple subscription instances and API versioning made it difficult to scale usage or iterate on existing interfaces, critical blockers for a global insurance leader aiming to modernise services. 

The platform also lacked essential governance controls. APIs could be published without going through quality gates, resulting in inconsistencies, missing documentation, and incomplete specifications. This led to confusion among consuming teams and increased dependency on platform administrators for clarification and fixes. 

Internal access was another bottleneck; employees had to manually register before gaining visibility into or access to any APIs. This slowed down onboarding and created unnecessary friction for developers and analysts who needed to work across teams.

Taken together, these challenges reflected a fragmented developer experience, low governance maturity, and barriers to internal collaboration, ultimately limiting Zurich’s ability to build, share, and scale APIs across the enterprise.

DAC’s Solution

To address Zurich’s fragmented API infrastructure and accelerate its digital transformation, DAC implemented a unified, secure, and scalable API Marketplace. This solution not only fixed foundational challenges but also unlocked new capabilities for collaboration, visibility, and speed across business units.

1. Multi-org, multi-version, and subscription support

DAC onboarded Zurich onto a centralised API platform that supports multiple organisational units, API versions, and subscription models. This enabled various teams to operate independently while maintaining consistency and control across the enterprise.

2. Structured API governance and quality control

DAC enforced rigorous quality gates through integration with SonarQube and introduced standardised publishing workflows. This ensured that every API entering the marketplace met minimum spec and documentation criteria, eliminating inconsistencies and broken contracts.

3. SSO and role-based access across the organisation

With SSO integration and role-based access, internal employees no longer need to manually register. Teams could discover and access APIs instantly based on their roles, accelerating developer onboarding and removing operational friction.

4. Domain-specific stores for better organisation and visibility

DAC helped Zurich categorise APIs into domain-specific stores like Policy Management, Claims, Corporate IT, AI, and Edge. This structured view made it easier for consumers to discover APIs relevant to their needs.

5. External access through controlled facade and Microsoft Teams

To support secure external API consumption, DAC enabled a centralised facade layer that supports multiple identity providers. Teams could now expose selected APIs to partners via Microsoft Teams with granular access control and visibility.

6. Marketplace-like experience for consumers

API and store consumers could now browse available APIs, view product metadata, and request access all from a unified interface. This reduced dependency on IT and gave business teams more autonomy in launching partner and internal apps.

7. AI store and edge store to power new use cases

Beyond traditional APIs, Zurich could now surface advanced use cases via AI Bots (e.g., VoiceIQ, LexIQ) and Edge experiences like dynamic pricing and OTP-based login, all housed in their respective curated stores.

Business Outcomes

With the rollout of DAC’s API Marketplace and governance framework, Zurich Insurance transformed its fragmented API landscape into a scalable, secure, and innovation-ready ecosystem. The solution accelerated product launches, improved internal and external developer experience, and opened new doors for AI and partner-driven growth. Here’s how it delivered tangible impact:

• Enabled 1200+ users and 200+ APIs across 5+ lines of business via a unified, gateway-agnostic API Marketplace.
• Powered domain-specific API stores (Policy, Claims, Corporate IT, AI, Edge) that improved discoverability and self-service across internal teams and partners.
• Activated embedded insurance and GenAI use cases through the AI Store, accelerating Zurich’s move into digital-first, customer-centric offerings.
• Enabled secure external access with SSO, role-based approvals, and a centralised facade, reducing time-to-value for partners while safeguarding internal assets.
• Prevented high-risk API exposure with automated vulnerability checks, access key policies, and audit-based governance.
• Supported seamless connectivity with both Mulesoft and Azure gateways, allowing flexible tech adoption and faster global rollout of API-driven services.
• Achieved high user satisfaction with a 10/10 CSAT score, over 70 million API transactions, and 6 successful releases in under 2 years.

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