Leading South African insurance company, Mutual & Federal, has commenced with the roll-out of an enterprise management information (EMI) system across its country-wide branch network.
This initiative forms part of a major, three-year project with SAS Institute SA, leaders in business and analytical intelligence, to enhance Mutual & Federal's technology infrastructure, to comply with new regulations and to improve rating systems.
The first phase of the project involved the implementation of a SAS Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) at two pilot sites, Benoni and Randburg. The EDW is used for management reporting, providing a view of the company's external network and as an engine for high-value analytical projects around fraud detection, claim prediction, policy lapses, customer segmentation and retention.
With this phase successfully complete, the roll-out to all main branches, sub-branches and local offices has begun. Once this process is complete, over 720 users will have access to the warehouse.
According to Jonathan Golding, CIO of Mutual & Federal, users at the pilot sites are already reaping the benefits of the new system.
"The EDW is proving to be a very reliable source of sound business information, which is immediately available at the users' finger tips. It contains data from 2003 to date and new data is added to it each month.
"Users can request information from the warehouse and have the results displayed directly on their desktops within seconds. This enables users to analyse and monitor the trends within the business, empowering them to make more accurate and meaningful business decisions.
Hanlie Myburgh, SAS Institute's Enterprise Programme Manager at Mutual & Federal, believes the close collaboration and teamwork between SAS, KPMG and Mutual & Federal ensured the first phase of the project was successfully completed.
"We have also focused on building up a strong internal SAS capability within Mutual & Federal to ensure they have the necessary knowledge and skills to continue independently. There are three teams running at different branches training and educating Mutual & Federal employees during the roll-out of the warehouse," she says.
Looking ahead, SAS will implement a number of solutions, including SAS Strategic Performance Management (SPM) and SAS Claims Procurement Management.
"We look forward to the next stage of the project, which is both vital and exciting. Now we will get to uncover the true value of SAS's Intelligence Architecture and solutions by delivering The Power to Know across all Mutual & Federal's business divisions," concludes Myburgh.
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