5-year Tech Transformation at GIC Re
The reinsurance company is upgrading the current processes to accelerate automation, digitalization and enhance virtual operations:
GIC Re’s digital strategy is guided by its overall vision to be a leading global reinsurance and risk solution provider. It has been developing and implementing state of the art technology and services to advance the vision and mission of the corporation. The year under review 2021-22 has been a year of planning and implementing changes and improvements in IT systems and operations.
Shaji Thomas, AGM, Information Technology Management Group, (ITMG), GIC Re, vouches: “Our CMD Devesh Srivastava has rightly stated in his recent communique to the employees `We need to turn headwinds into tailwinds.’ ITMG at GIC Re enables and fuels this transformation by implementing the latest in technology and software solutions to business achieve the goals set before it by transforming the current processes to accelerate automation, digitalization and enhance virtual operations. Covid and the resultant WFH experience has further increased the confidence in its IT infrastructure, showing that it is geared to support operations and ensure business continuity.”
HYBRID CLOUD
GIC Re’s IT setup is runs on a hybrid cloud environment since 2017. The infrastructure is built on hyperscale technology and is completely virtualised. GIC was one of the early adopters of SAP Financial Services Reinsurance (FSRI) module across the globe. Thomas describes: “The setup is fairly large with approximately 20 applications running on 100 virtual machines. GIC uses a centralized ERP software solution of SAP for all its core functional requirements. The entire operations runs various modules viz. FSRI, FSCD for its non-life business, FICO, HCM, CFM for other functions and LRM for its life business. This software solution stack has enabled GIC to seamlessly integrate data flow across the organisation.”
AUTOMATED BOOKING ACCOUNT
Unlike other direct insurance companies,
GIC Re is a reinsurance company and is primarily engaged in B2B transactions with its business partners and the ecosystem that it functions in is more relationship based and through intermediaries. In order to ease the accounts settlement and reconciliation process, GIC Re has implemented a convergence portal. Thomas says: “This has automated the tedious task of booking accounts received from business partners like cedents (insurers) and intermediaries. This has been an inhouse development, which is currently able to achieve approximately 25% automation. The goal is to onboard accounts booking of all business partners on to this platform.”
TECH VENDORS, IT TEAM
GIC Re’s ITMG has a strength of 20 officers. A significant number of these officers are recruited through its specialist recruitment drives.
GIC Re has 3 main technology vendors - Sify Technologies for DC, DR hosting & management, E&Y for SAP support and SAP for SAP licenses. Skill development, training and building awareness is a continuous process at the ITMG and the company has taken the initiative to provide professional training to its employees in order to develop in-house competencies and expertise.
In order to make better, more informed decisions, one has to have an access to real-time insights on a single, scalable platform. Thomas states: “GIC Re has implemented SAP’s `Business Intelligence and BusinessObjects’ for analytics and for visualization of data respectively to derive business knowledge.”
BUSINESS SOFTWARE UPGRADE
The current FY started off with an objective to upgrade and transform the entire IT infrastructure to deliver more value. The Board of the corporation has given its approval to initiate a technological transformation journey for the next 3-5 years. Thomas reveals: “The first major project will be the upgrade of the core business software system from SAP ECC to SAP S/4 HANA. This upgrade is proposed to be taken up in 2 phases. Phase 1 will provide a platform by upgrading the database through a technology shift to in-memory computing followed by rolling out the functional improvement in the core business modules in Phase 2.”
The network infrastructure of the corporation is being upgraded to the latest in technology to a wireless LAN infrastructure, which will enhance connectivity and mobility within the organization. The second major initiative is the shift of its data centre operations from hybrid cloud model to hyper-converged model. Thomas adds: “Here GIC Re will be adopting the `Government Community Cloud’, which is Government of India’s Meghraj Cloud initiative, for its server requirements. This will give us the ability to quickly scale-up or down our infrastructure needs by leveraging the scalability advantages of cloud computing. GIC Re has also set a roadmap to adopt modern workplace solution which will integrate email services, endpoint management and workflow as a step towards achieving its vision of moving to a environment friendly paperless office.”