Life insurance company NN Belgium is on a mission. In the rapidly changing insurance industry, the company wants to put its customers at the centre of their services, unburdening them and forging long-term relationships. NN Belgium partnered up with Cegeka to build a robust, scalable, and always-on IT infrastructure to help the company achieve this goal.
Cegeka’s Global VP of Infrastructure Bart Watteeuw invited NN Belgium CIO Femke Jacobs to have a talk about the partnership, their achievements, and their ambitions.
Femke, could you talk us through the business priorities of NN in Belgium?
Femke Jacobs: “At NN, we want to secure the financial future of our customers in order to support them to live a long and happy life. Customer behaviour is changing, and customer-centricity is becoming increasingly important. To serve our customers and partners, we’re expected to deliver 24/7 support.”
What role does IT play in that mission?
Jacobs: “IT is a huge enabler. Our strategy is based on customer engagement, enabled by digital transformation, which requires integration and data solutions. On the other hand, we have a long-term relationship with our customers through life insurance contracts. This means we have a lot of legacy data and technology to deal with as well. The biggest challenge in our digital transformation is managing both new and legacy technology.”
“Security is also a huge challenge for us, and when combining new and legacy technology, this is not always straightforward. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Moreover, as a financial institution, we are held up to strict privacy, data and security standards. Luckily we have a partner in Cegeka who understands and manages these security demands.”
Bart Watteeuw: “Our answer was a cloud solution, in which our Cegeka cloud plays in important role. Partly on our shared platforms, partly on dedicated servers. The infrastructure is built around the needs and demands of each technology. Before implementing this infrastructure, we analysed the entire end-to-end data flow, from when an insurance broker contacts the front-end to where the insurance policy is managed in the back-end.”
“To achieve this end-to-end focus, we work in close cooperation with your team and try to be as close to your business as possible. This is valuable in, for example, finance and regulation, which is very specific in your line of business. We believe it’s crucial as a service provider to help you achieve compliance with dynamic regulations through IT solutions. Secondly, we strive to optimize your value chain. We seek to understand and streamline the flow of your digital transformation, from customer-facing channels all the way to your back office. Within that value chain, we want to differentiate and offer an end-to-end SLA.”
Jacobs: “It is precisely that end-to-end focus that we appreciate. If we focused on infrastructure components alone, we would fall short in many ways. Our value chain is internet-focused towards customers and partners, which is different than that of our employees. I really value the fact that Cegeka thinks along with us, identifies specific needs for every end user and differentiates within each value chain.”
I really value the fact that Cegeka thinks along with us, identifies specific needs for every end user and differentiates within each value chain.
Finally, this partnership is also driven by innovation. With our broad portfolio, from applications all the way to infrastructure, we innovate to meet all your needs.
Jacobs: “That’s really what this partnership is all about. We appreciate Cegeka’s holistic vision. We don’t just view you as an infrastructure partner, but as a strategic partner working closely with our own IT and business teams. This strategic, long-term partnership leads to a state of continuous innovation. We share knowledge and insights, and are always on the lookout for new innovations. And when we consider the direction our business is headed in, we turn to Cegeka for strategic advice. We are building the future of NN in Belgium together, thanks to this perfectly aligned long-term partnership.”
NN customer testimonal
In the context of the digital transformation, life insurance company NN Belgium is fully committed to customer centricity through a clever IT strategy, in which Cegeka plays a crucial role as a partner.