Groupama, France's second largest multiline insurance company, entered the Chinese insurance market, but a suitable IT solution in Chinese was lacking. “It will be Impossible to be operational within six months”, was always the answer of the information technology experts. Until Jean Pierre Borges, Groupama - Direction Generale International, found a solution with IDIT™ software suite.
The Challenge
Groupama was granted a license from the CIRC - China Insurance Regulatory Commission - to sell non-life and health insurances in China. As the first foreign company to be granted such a license, Groupama realized that there was no approved software solution available in Chinese that complies with the necessary local regulations. Moreover Groupama’s IT-department made their special demands to open the international system chosen for China into several networks, and make it suitable to contain several products and also be versatile enough to be used at other Groupama international locations. Furthermore there was a long list of technical and operational requirements, such as reporting opportunities, workflow management, invoicing opportunities, registration of customer contacts, demands in the field of security and history etc, etc. Finally there were also severe performance demands to support high volumes in timely manner. It seemed that no product-based solution supplier, complying with all the demands could be found. Not to mention the demand that one must be able to use the software in the Chinese language, and that it must comply with Chinese insurance regulations.
The Solution
IDIT was approached by Jean Pierre Borges and Mi Qing (Groupama, Asia) to develop the necessary software solution, and decided to take up the challenge, including the entire Chinese translation, together with IBM France.
“When IDIT learned that the system had to be operational within six months, they really had to do their utmost in Paris and China to make the mission successful, working alongside Groupama’s top management. The strong ties which were developed between Groupama and IDIT turned into a real partnership, geared towards a common goal”, says Borges, who thereby referred to the most exciting period of his career.
The Result
After six months from kick-off, the Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission visited the offices of Groupama, and following a very intensive inspection, the insurer was granted with the green light to go live in China, and start selling insurance policies. The entire implementation was completed and Groupama is in full operation in the “Middle Kingdom”.
