IBM Brasil wins $200 million deal for managing SulAmerica’s business process
IBM Brasil has entered into a 12-year agreement worth $200 million with Brazilian insurance major SulAmerica to handle the firm’s business processes in the life and pension insurance division. A PR website reports that according to the terms of the deal, IBM Brasil will be accountable for the insurance firm’s back office undertakings in areas, such as issuing policies, document transfers, registration updates and claim management.
In consequence of this partnership, IBM and Control Consultoria, a business partner of IBM, will build on an innovative arrangement to process insurance functions for life and pension in the Brazilian market. According to Renato Russo, SulAmerica Vice-President (Life and Pension), the new project will reinforce the goals of the insurance firm to achieve distinction echelons in making services available to its clients and advanced tractability in developing new products. In effect, SulAmerica anticipates that the project would enable the company to accomplish noteworthy savings on expenses during the opening year of the deal.
Quoting IBM Brasil vice-president (strategic business) Eduardo Bandeira de Mello Joia, another website reports that as per the agreement, his firm will administer life and pension insurance back office processes of SulAmerica from the BPO firm’s centers near Sao Paulo. In addition, IBM will also manage IT infrastructure, maintain the legacy applications as well as the building of a dedicated service center in Barueri metropolis. Joia further said the while the BPO sector in Brazil was in its nascent stage, information technology outsourcing has been existing in this Latin American nation for several years now. Meanwhile, Renato Russo said that they resorted to business process outsourcing with a view to make the insurance firm additionally resourceful and competitive while the insurance industry develops.
Joia further stated that the project was a pioneering venture in Latin America, as it is for the first time ever that an insurance firm was outsourcing undertakings expressly associated with business of this extent. It is anticipated that the project will yield several advantages, including cost reduction, enhanced competence and alertness as a result of the automation of the processes thereby developing the competitive advantage of the insurance firm. Moreover, it would enable employees of the insurance firm to commit themselves to more tactical programs, including inventive projects enhancing customer rapport, resulting in added aptitude, proficiency and understanding to the business.
Joia informed that presently the insurance sector contributes just three per cent of Brazil’s GDP and when this is compared with the contribution of the insurance industry to the GDP of other Latin American nations, there is significant scope for growth. The insurance industry in Brazil anticipates noteworthy growth of around five to six per cent of the country’s GDP during the subsequent five years, he added.