(Sailboats on the Paraná River near Rosario, Argentina’s third largest city. Photo credit: PampasIncoming.)
Editor’s Note: Daniel Gabas, CIO, San Cristóbal Seguros, is one of 16 finalists for Insurance Innovation Reporter’s Four Stars Award, which recognizes outstanding insurance IT innovators across four regions of Latin America: Mexico, Central America & Caribbean, Andean, and Southern Cone.
Under the leadership of CIO Daniel Gabas, San Cristóbal Seguros SA (Rosario, Argentina) is transforming not only from legacy systems but from a legacy approach to technology, and all that means for the company in terms of innovation, efficiency and customer service.
Daniel Gabas, CIO, San Cristóbal Seguros.
San Cristóbal needed to make the fundamental transition from its tradition of building solutions in-house to accessing the benefits of today’s world-class third-party solutions. This was not merely a change in the insurer’s approach to sourcing, but rather a transformation of culture requiring not only the acceptance of management and rank-and-file IT professionals, but also the acquisition of new skills and capabilities.
Faster Pace, Greater Agility, More Rigorous Focus on Efficiency
Gabas was tasked with imposing a new approach to work with a faster pace, greater agility, and a more rigorous focus on efficiency. That approach required a new paradigm of interaction between IT and the business, the jettisoning of a reactive posture in favor of a proactive mindset, and the embrace of disruptive technologies to create new business models that decrease the distance between the insurer and its policyholders.
During 2016, Gabas oversaw an ambitious range of projects, including the a core legacy replacement project to implement Guidewire’s ClaimCenter, PolicyCenter and Billing Center. Other initiatives include the development of a mobile app; SAP HR solution; Salesforce CRM; and the development of an infrastructure plan with a focus on telecommunications, including replacement of mobile devices, bandwdith expansion for all branches, and communication contingency links. Wherever appropriate, Gabas sought cloud-based options for sourcing.
As part of the readjustment of San Cristóbal’s IT organization, Gabas drove several initiatives directed at performance and governance, including the implementation of an IBM budgeting solution; IBM Balanced Scorecard solution; incorporation of methodologies with dashboards for projects, quality and processes; ISO9001 certification for internal customer service management; and the launch of an IT security plan including culture, risk management and software tools for monitoring and mitigation.
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