November 29, 2007 SAP AG and IBS, Russia’s leading player in the IT and consulting market, have commenced a joint project to localize the SAP for Insurance software solution. This industry-tailored solution designed to support operations of big insurance companies will become available in Russia as soon as early next year.
The Russian insurance market currently shows vibrant growth. According to market analysts (in Russian), total insurance premiums grew 22.7 per cent and insurance claims rose by 25.8 per cent year-on-year. Due to claims growing faster than revenues, insurance companies are forced to improve their business processes. 2007 saw an increase in the number of big tenders for ERP and CRM system implementations for insurance companies as insurance companies focused on searching for the best products of their class capable of supporting their growth strategically. Those trends make it ever more relevant to localize the SAP for Insurance industry-tailored solution, one of the most functional products for automating insurance company operations.
SAP selected IBS as the localization partner. Being a SAP Product Preferred Partner, IBS has extensive experience of SAP product based automation projects for financial institutions. Being ready to provide experienced professionals to work on the solution and having resources for subsequent solution implementation and support, IBS secured its selection as the partner in the project.
"We needed a partner with a lot of experience of working with insurance companies, expertise in automating insurance businesses in Russia and experience of adapting western solutions to the Russian market. IBS is the only SAP Product Preferred Partner among Russian companies, which confirms its unparalleled expertise. Besides, IBS is quite active in promoting SAP products that are new to the Russian market. So IBS was destined to be involved in this project", says Oksana Gluschenko, Director of Services for Financial Institutions, SAP CIS.
The SAP for Insurance solution supports business processes involved in providing the services and back office functions of an insurance company, while meeting requirements specific to the insurance business. All components of the solution are closely integrated with each other, enabling the company to use capabilities of SAP software products for supporting business processes of human resources management, management accounting, general operations, etc. as well as automating the core business processes (insurance policy management, claims settlement, etc.).
The insurance business is subject to stringent regulatory control, as is the business of financial institutions more generally. In particular, such control involves financial ratios and a wide range of reporting requirements. The SAP for Insurance localization will take into account respective regulatory requirements and ensure that all business processes of an insurance company operating in Russia are supported. The localized SAP for Insurance solution will provide a Russian insurance company with all benefits of state-of-the-art management technologies incorporated in SAP products, while meeting all requirements relative to conducting insurance business in Russia.
In this joint project, IBS and SAP will also localize the solution component of insurance policy management and claims settlement for the mandatory vehicle insurance (OSAGO).
"Above all, being involved in this project IBS will gain unique expertise. Thus, we will have profound knowledge of the solution to better serve our prospective insurance customers, offer the best solutions to attain their objectives in supporting business processes and assure high quality of implementation. We can already see big insurance companies showing considerable interest in SAP for Insurance, but the lack of localization is making prospective customers cautious. We expect that interest to grow into real implementation projects after the adapted solution is brought to the Russian market", says Artem Efremov, Director of the Financial Institutions Segment, Corporate Management Systems Department, IBS.
The project is planned for completion in the first quarter of 2008.
Profiles of the companies
SAP AG is the world’s leading vendor of business management software. Today over 38,000 companies in more than 120 countries across the world use SAP software in their operations. SAP AG is represented in more than 50 countries across the world and traded on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. For further information please visit www.sap.ru (in Russian).
IBS is Russia’s leading player in the IT and consulting market. It was formed through the merger of IBS and Borlas Consulting Group. It is part of IBS Group Holding Limited, along with Luxoft and Depo Computers. Its core lines of business are management consulting, business applications implementation, IT outsourcing and IT infrastructure. IBS headcount exceeds 3,400 employees including over 1,500 certified consultants. 84 of Russia’s top 100 companies are customers of IBS.
IBS is the first Russian company to become Local Service Alliance Partner (the top partner level) of SAP AG, and the first SAP partner for business analytics solutions. In 2005 IBS was named the best Local Service Partner of SAP AG in Russia and the CIS. IDC, the global market research firm, named the IBS team of SAP implementation consultants one of the best in Russia.
For detailed information about the corporate management systems practice of IBS, including descriptions of products, technologies, operating principles and projects completed, please visit http://www.mis.IBS.ru (in Russian).
For further information on IBS please contact Lada Scherbakova, PR Director. Telephone: +7 495 967-8080, e-mail: lada@IBS.ru.
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