UK insurer Phoenix Group subsidiary picks TCS for operating model recast

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES

Standard Life International DAC (SLIDAC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK-based insurer Phoenix Group, has signed up Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for transforming its operating model and enhancing the customer experience focussed on Germany and Austria.

The new project comes four months after the IT services major won a $723-million deal from the Phoenix Group, which is the UK's largest long-term savings and retirements provider.

While TCS did not disclose the deal size, sources said, this will be a big-ticket contract for the company and also marks its entry in the insurance space in Continental Europe.

TCS had earlier digitally transformed the operating model of another Phoenix Group UK subsidiary, Diligenta, in which it administers more than 10 million policies.

"The two organisations are keen to replicate this successful model, extending the same enhanced digital experience to policyholders in Germany and Austria, and thereafter in other European markets," TCS said.

With this partnership with SLIDAC, TCS will set up a customer operations centre in Germany, and "a future-ready life and pensions digital platform for Germany and Austria, with capabilities to extend into other European markets".

TCS will initially transform and migrate more than 400,000 policies comprising SLIDAC’s German and Austrian life and pension books to its platform, and create comprehensive, omnichannel, journey-based digital experiences for policyholders and advisors.

The IT firm will enable SLIDAC to launch innovative products more quickly, improve risk management and controls, and strengthen regulatory compliance, the company said.

The initiative is also aimed at helping SLIDAC and Phoenix Group to quickly respond to changes in its European markets and seize new opportunities for growth.

“Leveraging the advantages of our strategic relationship with TCS, a leading global organisation, will support our growth strategy in Europe and bring benefits to both our customers and advisers. This is a real opportunity
to help us accelerate our ability to innovate and efficiently evolve our customer proposition in the future,” Nigel Dunne, CEO of Standard Life International DAC, said.

“We are delighted to expand our long-standing partnership with the Phoenix Group to include SLIDAC’s policyholders in Europe, and extend to them, the same digital omnichannel experiences that have made us a market leader in the United Kingdom," R Vivekanand, President of BFSI Products and Platforms at TCS, said.

TCS is the largest provider of software and IT services in the UK, and has a workforce spanning 30 locations around the country.