Suncorp NZ Invests In A Technology-enabled Workforce

Suncorp New Zealand has announced it is doubling down on developing a technology-enabled workforce, following its success in adapting to fully remote work during last year’s COVID-19 lockdowns.

Suncorp NZ began a major digital overhaul in 2016 with a focus on offering employees the freedom to flexibly balance work, family and other commitments. This strategy proved prescient, enabling Suncorp NZ to continue serving the needs of its customers throughout the height of the pandemic.

Suncorp’s existing hybrid cloud architecture, built around the Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), enabled it to seamlessly shift its employees to fully remote work, which it says has validated its investment and accelerated its appetite for hybrid working.

Now Suncorp NZ is looking to further support its new ways of working and build on its efforts to foster a digital mindset among its employees, by bringing in additional Nutanix capabilities such as Clusters – a multicloud extension tool between public and private cloud environments. Clusters is anticipated to be central to the insurance firm’s technology roadmap.

Jane Brewer, Suncorp NZ’s executive general manager Technology and Transformation, said the resiliency, performance, security and simplicity of the Nutanix platform meant the insurer could focus on supporting its employees during the Covid crisis.

“We had two days’ notice before the country went into lockdown,” she said. “But because we didn’t have to worry about our underlying technology infrastructure, we were able to focus on ensuring our people had the equipment they needed to work safely at home, and on supporting them during the transition.”

“Although we were in lockdown, we were still serving our customers’ needs as if nothing had changed. Our flexible approach has always been about supporting our people to integrate their work and home life in a way that suits them, and although for many juggling personal and professional commitments became much harder during Covid-19, we’re proud that our technology only served to support our people and make this transition easier.”

The scalability and simplicity of the Nutanix platform were central to Suncorp NZ’s seamless transition to remote work, but the benefits also support the insurer’s long-term strategy of digital-first customer engagement.

“Because we’ve led with an infrastructure-first approach, much of the day-to-day operations and maintenance of our infrastructure have been greatly simplified, and our IT teams are empowered to focus on projects that generate more value for our employees and customers,” Brewer said.

One of these projects is the development of application programming interfaces (APIs) and portals to enable its network of brokers and advisers to integrate directly with Suncorp NZ’s core systems, to make its processes – from initial quotes through to claims – as streamlined and customer-friendly as possible.

“Our infrastructure means we have no constraints and are in a position to focus on our business transformation,” said Brewer. “This approach has helped us attract and retain high-performing employees who believe in the value of what we do and are committed to continuously doing more for our customers.”

The company is already the A/NZ region’s largest adopter of Files, Nutanix’ software-defined, scale-out file storage solution for unstructured data.

“Our infrastructure has played a huge part in supporting our employees to find a balance between individual preferences, productivity rhythms, and the needs of our customers and the business,” she said. “We’re now focussed on further developing our digital-enabled workforce and building the technological capability of our people.”

Lee Thompson, managing director at Nutanix A/NZ, said Suncorp NZ was a perfect example of an organisation successfully deploying hybrid cloud to meet the needs of its customers and ensure business resiliency in the face of disruption.

“Suncorp NZ’s mature approach to digital transformation meant it recognised early that if you want to digitise the customer and employee experience, you need to first start with the infrastructure that supports it all.

“With the core infrastructure in place, they will be able to pursue a multicloud strategy spanning AWS and Azure for the applications suited to public cloud, while their private cloud supports the workloads they need to keep closer to home. This flexibility has enabled Suncorp to remain resilient in the face of world-changing events, supporting its customers in their moment of need,” Thompson said.

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About Suncorp New Zealand

Suncorp New Zealand is part of Suncorp Group Limited, a leading financial services provider that offers banking, wealth management and insurance products and services through our well-recognised brands in Australia and New Zealand.

Suncorp delivers insurance and finance products to New Zealanders through its go to market brands Vero Insurance, Vero Liability and Asteron Life, and its partnerships with the NZ Automobile Association - AA Insurance, AA Life and AA Money.

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