Dan Wilkinson (Fidelity Life)
New Zealand's largest locally-owned insurer, Fidelity Life, has completed the first phase of its $25 million technology transformation, migrating of 3000 policies to a Microsoft Dynamics 365 cloud platform.
The project, which was nicknamed ‘Watson’ for the innovative spirit of Fidelity Life founders Gordon and Shirley Watson, underpins the company’s five-year transformation strategy, built on the idea of "reimagining life insurance for New Zealanders".
The project has been delivered with the assistance of partners Datacom, Theta and DX Labs as well as Microsoft.
Fidelity Life chief technology officer Dan Wilkinson said the strategy required a high degree of ambition and innovation, and a traditional approach wouldn't cut it.
"Over the past 12 months we’ve focused on bringing our people along via fundamental improvements to the entire technology ecosystem, such as a new virtual desktop solution which enabled a seamless transition to remote working during the Covid-19 lockdown," he said.
Fidelity Life’s transformation was all about delivering sustainable growth.
“Project Watson will drive innovation, productivity, resilience and improved support for our advisers and partners," Wilkinson said.
"Most importantly, though, it will allow us to develop simpler, more flexible products and deliver good outcomes for our customers."
Fidelity Life reported an $8.2 million uplift in net premium revenue to $150.3 million for the year ended 30 June 2019. Profit after tax grew from $16.7 million in 2018 to $20.7 million in 2019.
In November last year, the company hired Pete Doherty out of telco 2degrees to as its chief customer officer and to support the transformation.
Earlier this year, Fidelity Life unveiled a refreshed brand and health and wellbeing mobile app, Sharecare, both milestones in its transformation.
