(Image credit: Tobias Jakobs.)
Global insurance software vendor Sapiens (Holon, Israel) has announced that in anticipation of double-digit growth in 2016, it will expand its workforce in Cardiff, Wales. Sapiens expanded its U.K. permanent workforce to over 200 people in 2015 and employs over 1,500 people worldwide. The vendor has had a presence in the U.K. for over 20 years.
Roni Al-Dor, Sapiens’ CEO, recently met senior Welsh officials in Cardiff—the country’s capital—to share Sapiens future plans for growth. Deputy Welsh Government Minister Ken Skates, Secretary of State Stephen Crabb and Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales, all supported the visit organized by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).
Roni Al-dor, CEO, Sapiens.
“Sapiens is committed to the local community in Wales with strong links to educational facilities in the area and are a key employer of young people,” commented Al-Dor. “We run a highly successful Internal Trainee Program that enables new employees to be fully productive after just three months. We also engage with numerous Welsh Government training programs that has enabled 30 of our Team Leads to undertake an Apprenticeship in Management during the last year and with more to follow in the coming year. Providing top-quality training ensures that we continue to develop home-grown talent and maintain delivery excellence to support future growth and our clients around the world.”
Sapiens’ Cardiff operation is the Delivery Competency Centre for the vendor’s insurance solutions including the ALIS core insurance solution suite for life, pension, annuity and health insurance. The team in Wales carry out ongoing research and development as well as working on deployment. Sapiens reports that its growing of the workforce in Cardiff represents a long term commitment of strategic importance to sustain the ongoing development and deployment of the ALIS life and pensions solution.
“The life and pensions market has seen fundamental changes in the last few years, particularly in the UK, with more recent legislation giving people more freedom as to what they do with their pension pot,” comments Raj Ghuman VP Business Development, Sapiens UK, Nordics and Africa. ‘At the same time, people are retiring earlier, but living longer and have differing needs as they progress through the different ages and stages of retirement. The work of the Cardiff office through ALIS helps insurance companies to deploy innovative products that support their customers as they seek new and innovative retirement solutions to fund their retirement.”
Sapiens team in Cardiff will continue to existing and new customer deployments globally for ALIS as well as other insurance-focused solutions, according to Ghuman. We anticipate continued and rapid growth of the UK workforce, many of whom will be in Cardiff office,” he adds.
Run of Success
Sapiens reports that it has enjoyed a run of success with new customers for many of its insurance solutions. The vendor celebrated two customer wins for ALIS: Eurolife in Nicosia, Cyprus is using the solution to support the complete policy lifecycle and replace the company’s legacy environment and support all of their investment and health lines of business. ALIS is also being deployed by FNB (Johannesburg), a financial institution providing personal, private, business and commercial banking services to millions of customers across South Africa, who has selected Sapiens ALIS for the launch of its new life insurance company.
Sapiens IDIT Software Suite was recently selected by Tradex Insurance Company Ltd. (London), a specialty insurer in all sectors of the automotive industry, to modernize and enhance its core insurance processing environment. U.S. regional P&C carrier West Bend Mutual (West Bend, Wisc.) recently announced the successful go-live of the Sapiens Reinsurance. The project was completed on budget and within an aggressive timeframe of just eight months, according to the vendor.