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New business platform to take H. Savy Insurance to next level of service excellence |17 November 2014



The year 2014 has been an exciting and transformative year for H. Savy Insurance Co Ltd.  Customers have seen – and above all – felt the quantum improvement in the company’s service delivery as well as enjoyed new and/or re-packaged product launches since the start of the year.

This present wave of changes started in 2013 when the company’s board agreed to invest over R6 million in revamped premises and business platform with the overriding aim of improving customer experience and embedding modern functionalities and best practices in the middle and back offices.

For most of its history, H. Savy Insurance has served its clients from the second floor of Maison La Rosière in rather cramped premises.  Growth in business over the past ten years saw the company taking over additional offices on the first floor of the same building facing the Immaculate Conception Cathedral.  It was a move that greatly enhanced customer service experience, bringing its service to a more accessible level, and helping the company grow to become one of the leading general business insurers in the archipelago.

Growth in business and friendlier premises magnified some major deficiencies in the Amarco AIMS business platform that the company has been using since the year 2000.  While the AIMS system has proved highly stable and robust in operation, it lacked many business functionalities and suffered from chronic integration problems between part of the finance module and the underwriting modules.  Besides, the architecture was complex and convoluted with many add-on fixes as the programmer implemented some user-demand changes over its life cycle.  Under extreme usage, the system would operate in slow mode, causing both colleagues and customers unnecessary frustration and sometimes, even visible aggravation.

Since customers are at the centre of its success, the company felt that such a situation was not acceptable and it took the challenge to undertake its biggest transformation phase as it entered its 20th anniversary.  The objective was to provide the fastest, most engaging and most seamless level of service to the company’s growing pool of customers and to do so in pleasant surroundings.


In 2013 therefore, the decision was taken to totally revamp the premises with stronger brand identity – and to expand further into new offices on the ground floor of Maison La Rosière.  In addition, the decision was taken to phase out the Amarco AIMS business platform in favour of a modern windows-based Softclans SLAMS insurance solution.

The new system was rolled out on November 3 after an intensive gestation period stretching over six months – The Softclans company (the software vendor) is actually headed by Mr Mike Mulwa, the original programmer and architect of the old Unix-based CQCS AIMS system.  Assisted by his co-programmer, Mr Martin Maiyo, he worked tirelessly to code and customise the software to the specific requirements of the company.  Both Mr Mulwa and Maiyo are Kenyan nationals and their contractual engagement with our local IT Project team headed by Mrs Maureen Hollanda - and including Mr Jean- Francois Adam, Jean-Paul d’Offay and Idris Sakwa – is clear testimony of what can be achieved by a joint-team of dedicated regional IT professionals.

For IT buffs, the new SLAMS system operates on SUSE LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 virtualised on a MS Windows platform.  The new solution features basic web-based functionalities and can be upgraded to full e-commerce capability when needed.  From a user perspective, it is almost a godsend, sporting very friendly windows screens with very fluid and intuitive navigation as well as featuring various drop-down menus to make input-processing a painless experience.

The company is aware that some unavoidable hiccups will be experienced while the system settles down over the coming months and mindful of this, it has gratuitously sought the cooperation and tolerance of its customers during this transitional phase.  It has also extended its apologies to those who may be badly inconvenienced while being served.

H. Savy Insurance has just announced its 2013/14 audited financial results and despite a tough trading year, the company posted record premium earnings of R137 million for general business and profit before tax of R33.7 million.
 
Commenting on these excellent results the company’s chairman, Mr Jean Weeling-Lee, said: “The company’s performance goes to show that even in a difficult market, customers still look at insurance from an overall value/service proposition – we are not always the cheapest in the market but we are certainly well and positively differentiated in the area of service, client engagement and after-sales care…. With the roll-out of the new SLAMS system, our service delivery will see a sea-change in quality and friendliness, showcasing our unending commitment to serving our clients better and to win over others who as yet, are not part of the winning HSI fraternity”.

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