8 DECEMBER 2021How to deliver the benefits of digitalization as an incumbent in the insurance industry?By Barbara Liebich-Steiner, Chief Digital Officer, UNIQAIN MY OPINIONThe 4 essential dimensions of digital transformationThe message is clear for anyone who cares to listen: "The pace of change has never been this fast yet will never be this slow again!" (Justin Trudeau, 2018). The exponential growth of technological possibilities versus the logarithmic development of large organizations is a huge challenge for stagnating and old-fashioned industries such as banking and insurance.A recurring theme I observed while driving transformation and building state of the art digital solutions for the past 20+ years in the financial services industry is that technology ­ even the best and most innovative ­ always acts a (powerful) enabler but is not the driver of real transformation, and that change based solely on technology only takes you so far. When building the first corporate customer portal for a major banking group with headquarters in Vienna, Austria and 18+ subsidiaries in CEE I was in charge of the development of a state-of-the-art technical platform. We included exciting and innovative features such as straight through electronic transfers, video chats, online conferences, etc. which were groundbreaking in 2001.However, the really remarkable and sustainable achievement was that we completely transformed the way the bank approached and communicated with its customers.Now, as the Chief Digital Officer at UNIQA Insurance Group, one of the major players in the insurance industry in Austria & CEE, I have the mission to develop and execute a digital strategy, and in 2016 led the effort to completely transform and digitalize the way we do business in order to stay relevant in the digital world.The replacement of outdated legacy technology was only part of this endeavor. Technology only works as an igniter of change; real transformation starts with cultural change. UNIQA planted the "digital seed" right within the core of the company. In summer 2016 we launched a new Digital Team within the existing organizational structures, endowing them with excellent talent, enough resources and Barbara Liebich-Steiner
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