Leading Insurance Company in Singapore and Malaysia: HR/IT Transformation

Partnering with Accenture, the company restructured itself around its customers rather than its own processes and developed a world-class shared services hub—universal strategies for the most successful financial institutions. It is now positioned to achieve its goals with a honed ability to read and satisfy customer needs quickly and cost-effectively.

The client is the leading local insurer in Singapore and Malaysia with more than S$32.4 billion in assets. The company primarily provides life insurance to more than 3 million policyholders.

In 1999, the client underwent a restructuring to become the wholly owned life insurance arm of a newly created financial services holdings company. To boost its growth potential, the company executed two mergers, establishing it as the dominant market leader for life insurance in Singapore and Malaysia.

The client’s merger with another leading local insurance business in Singapore and Malaysia was the first step toward achieving the client’s vision of becoming a premier regional player in both life insurance and wealth management. The company set a goal of achieving total assets of S$50 billion and after-tax profits of S$500 million by 2008, even earlier if possible.

But several factors converged to intensify the competitive landscape: the economic downturn, new regulations, international instability following the World Trade Center attacks and volatile equity markets. To get on the path to high performance, the insurance provider needed an all-encompassing transformation strategy.

The client needed a new management and organizational structure, one that would smoothly and efficiently transition the client and its merged entities into an integrated regional entity. Such a realignment would help build synergies among the client’s stable of companies, improve its ability to create and share assets and talent, and enable the company to more quickly expand into new markets. It also would help the company reduce operating costs, identify and improve its ability to forecast and deliver business results.

To execute its ambitious vision for growth, the insurance company needed a skilled partner. The company hired Accenture because of our proven ability to help companies develop and execute complex transformation strategies and create organizations that deliver high performance. Accenture provided critical knowledge capital and program management experience. Also important: Accenture’s global experience helping financial services organizations meet their goals.

Working closely with the company, Accenture helped develop and implement a series of strategies and initiatives that would transition the client into a regional entity, position it for market dominance and significantly improve performance. Accenture helped design and implement a new regional management structure; map out new functions and align existing functions for five areas—customer management and acquisition; operations; human resources; information technology and strategic planning; and finance.

In designing the blueprint for the client’s restructured management, Accenture performed an analysis of leading insurers throughout the world and found two shared traits of success: customer-centric business enterprises and world-class shared services. Accenture designed the new management structure around these proven traits.

To strengthen the client’s strategic and business planning capabilities, Accenture performed an assessment of existing business processes and proposed enhancements to improve the client’s ability to forecast and deliver business results, especially in the design and delivery of strategic projects.

Accenture developed a competency model and companion initiatives to help transform human resources and build a world-class workforce. The model enabled the company to systematically identify the right talent for the right positions. Clear objectives were set: executive performance was linked to corporate performance; regional executives were empowered to make quick decisions on product pricing, finance and channel segment development. A common terminology was created to standardize performance expectations throughout human resources.

Accenture also helped the client develop a customer segmentation model and leading edge insight-driven marketing initiatives and campaigns.

The transformation strategy has positioned the client to achieve its dual goals of regional expansion and market dominance. The broad management restructuring and organizational redesign has given the client the strategies and tools needed to be a strong, agile regional competitor, able to ride out boom-to-bust market cycles. Thanks to cross-border shared services in HR, IT and finance, the company can contain operating expenses while improving operational performance.

Meanwhile, a smarter use of technology is providing the customer data needed to promote accurate segmentation capabilities. Through improved customer insights, the company is able to develop innovative products and services. And, the customer-focused business strategy is delivering needs-based solutions—the company is well on its way to offering its customers quality products and services at every stage of their lives.

Accenture’s continuing research has identified the key characteristics of high-performance businesses. They include seeking unique insights into the drivers of current and future value, and developing adaptable, executable strategies geared to uncertain environments. High performers also create decision-making structures, processes and cultures that result in superior ability to accelerate insight into action, unleash the organization’s energies and manage the balance between today and tomorrow. By teaming with Accenture, the client is well on the path to achieving high performance as it deepens its position as a leader in its region and industry.