Impact of Digital Transformation in Insurance
Mohammed Sadiq, Head of Digital Analytics, BI & Automation at Al Rajhi Takaful.
Mohammed Sadiq, Head of Digital Analytics, BI & Automation at Al Rajhi Takaful.
Mohammed Muzamil Sadiq started his career in Digital as a web developer in 2008, went on to win various Awards (IBM, Yahoo), and is a Global Keynote speaker on (Digital, E-Commerce, AI, Data, etc.) he has a very strong mix of academics and professional experience at world-renowned organizations and institutions. Sadiq has very strong competencies using right brain solutions (Creativity) with left-brain expertise (Analytical), Assessed on GALLUP CliftonStrenths Leadership Strensgthsfinder 2.0®.
What are the primary challenges in MENA’s digital transformation space today? How can businesses address these emerging challenges?
Digital transformation in MENA is revolutionizing organizational operations. Being part of Fintech, which is also leading the race here as an industry first in whatever is digital, organizations in our space are following the highest levels of data governance and practices, which are the latest around the globe. This is also very much witnessed by users, and customers who experience improvements, and ease of conducting transactions in trusted environments.
The pandemic has functioned as a catalyst for digital transformation. How has this trend impacted the insurance industries in MENA?
The pandemic has positively impacted businesses with investments and teams focused on digitizing businesses across portfolios. The pandemic was also very helpful in increasing user awareness and onboarding newer customer segments. The end of Pandemic actually impacted offline businesses where physical branch business operations were reduced drastically.
MENA's digital transformation market is expected to be influenced by cloud computing, mobile devices, and social networking. How can businesses leverage these emerging technologies to enhance their value proposition?
Being one of the leading and oldest Fintech in the region, we have seen most of the business operations moving to digital. Data processing regulations are very strongly followed, which has dictated how data residency will play a pivotal and important role in conducting operations.We have also seen major multi-nationals investing in data centers in the region due to these conditions.
Mobile computing has always been part of design and planning in most of operations, including commercial, customer oriented, or new developments. We have seen the formation of NDMO (National Data Management Office) of Saudi Arabia, which is leading in regulating data governance across industries. We have also seen big players like Google, Oracle, and the like invest in hosting solutions and bring commercial cloud offices inside the kingdom.
We have also seen improvements in the organization moving faster and leveraging other tech stacks like AI, Digital, and Data which are supported through cloud businesses in the region.
Legacy systems, for a long, have held back the insurance sector. In light of the digital transformation that the insurance industry is undergoing, how do you see this facet of the sector changing in the upcoming years?
A drastic change occurred during pandemic in 2020 when both the business and the customers were forced to go digital. With enough support from the government, the insurance industry in the kingdom was successful in leveraging digital technologies and digital transformation to the best of its abilities. Organizations were able to launch insurance products through a multi-line of businesses and their variants. Most of the companies in the region were successful in converting physical branch operations into digital operations, which impacted reducing the number of branches being managed as operational units. This also brought more profits and operational cost savings. These moves are definitely fueling the upward trend of moving away from being a legacy organization to becoming a digital organization. This has also empowered the organizations to better manage businesses in making faster data-driven decisions, bringing in data-culture and upskilling, and bringing in more expert workers to the scene.
You have had hands-on experience working across numerous industry giants. How does Al Rajhi Takaful benefit from your expertise?
This opportunity allows me to deliver leadership contributions in the roles and responsibilities I have been taking up in the field of Digital, Data, Analytics, and AI. The industry faces a real challenge in retaining and bringing in new talent in this area. Through my expertise, ART benefits from supporting Saudization (Training Nationals) in taking up more digital roles and responsibilities and successfully delivering the projects on time and budget. Also, bringing the best in the industry to suit what is best for Al Rajhi as an enterprise.
The pandemic has positively impacted businesses with investments and teams focused on digitizing businesses across portfolios
Can you discuss some of the latest initiatives you have been working on? What innovations or trends have been a recent addition to Al Rajhi Takaful’s portfolio?
In General, ART strives to offer the best customer experience, which is digitally advanced, reliable, and trustworthy. Most of the projects are focused on delivering on this promise. We have seen real customer benefits transform into a better and faster customer experience. Most of the efforts in my areas of focus have been in bringing in new AI capabilities which are changing hyper-personalization around customers and stakeholders involved.
What advice would you give to market players and budding entrepreneurs?
Patience and perseverance win the race. Studying the pain points of the brands carefully helps in more than one way. Reaching to the right person at the right time with the right solution makes the difference.
