Since its founding in 1863, Zurich-based Swiss Re has seen many changes to its business and the world at large. Today’s turbulent business environment, however, is forcing Swiss Re to change faster and more comprehensively than any other time in its history.
I recently interviewed Rainer Baumann, CIO of Information and Managing Director at Swiss Re, to understand the level of transformation the company is undergoing. “We’re a 150-year-old reinsurance company facing a pace of change we’ve never experienced before,” Baumann said. “The rate of change is accelerating and people are highly challenged.”
In fact, Swiss Re’s digital transformation cuts across all aspects of its business, including its employees, its IT environment, and most importantly, how it serves its insurance clients.
As a reinsurer, the company primarily sells ‘wholesale’ insurance to other carriers, allowing them to spread their risk. As a result, Swiss Re has historically had little or no interaction with the end-customer businesses and individuals seeking insurance coverage.
With digital transformation, however, the focus on end-customers is significantly increasing. “The digital services we’re offering are tools to analyze risk portfolios, circumstantial risks, and assess claims,” Baumann explained. “These services enrich the capabilities of our primary insurance partners.”
In other words, Swiss Re is developing digital services for its own insurance clients to use with their end-customers. “We’re getting closer to the policy holder,” Baumann added. “We’re now able to relate to policy holders and are putting them more at the center.”
Read the entire article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2017/04/19/swiss-res-digital-transformation-focuses-on-insurance-clients-end-customers-and-employees/.
Intellyx publishes the Agile Digital Transformation Roadmap poster, advises companies on their digital transformation initiatives, and helps vendors communicate their agility stories. As of the time of writing, Microsoft and ServiceNow are Intellyx customers. None of the other organizations mentioned in this article are Intellyx customers. Image credit: jo.sau.
