P&V Group fully embraces the digital age with Comarch

Cooperative insurer P&V Group is embracing the opportunities of the digital age through a sweeping transformation of its IT landscape. Moving away from its legacy systems, the organization has partnered with Comarch and transformation consultant Ensur to implement Comarch’s innovative modular software. The project supports the company’s fresh focus on product innovation and an improved user experience, allowing P&V Group to once again be the benchmark in its market.

With roots dating back to 1907, P&V Group is a cooperative insurance group that distributes the P&V and Vivium brands through a network of 170 exclusive P&V agencies and more than 1,000 brokerages. For a long time, P&V was considered the market leader in the Belgian life insurance sector, offering products such as term life insurance, pension insurance, and savings insurance. Over time, however, the company found its market share was declining as it became increasingly difficult to respond swiftly to market changes. Legacy IT systems were holding the group back.

A comprehensive strategic review marked the beginning of the company’s efforts to regain its leading position. “We wanted to gain insight into what was holding us back and how we could remove those obstacles,” says Roel De Spiegeleer, CIO at P&V Group. “We found that brokers, agents, and customers all want to work faster, simpler, and more digitally. Next, we weighed up our options: should we build the necessary solutions ourselves or partner with an external provider?”

Tripartite

After carefully considering the options - and conducting extensive market research - a collaboration with software company Comarch proved to be the most suitable solution. The approach outlined by P&V Group is based on a tripartite co-creation model. Alongside Comarch and P&V Group itself, Ensur plays a crucial role, with its invaluable experience guiding companies in the sector through transformation processes.

“We offer a software package for the insurance industry,” says Wim Van Wilderode, Sales & Account Director Insurance at Comarch Benelux. “The solution already includes a great many functionalities as standard, but in collaboration with P&V Group and Ensur, we’ve added quite a few custom extras, carefully designed to work with very complex products in the very specific, highly regulated Belgian market.”

Connecting with growth

Launched in 2020, the five-year transformation program has delivered tangible results for every stakeholder: the customers, the brokers, and the employees of P&V Group. “Together, the three partners have succeeded in making P&V and Vivium leading life insurance brands again,” says Moustapha Kharbouch, Co-Founder and Program Manager at Ensur. “The group is once again achieving strong growth, in a cost-efficient manner and with higher service levels.” The innovative solution ensures a fresh, smooth user experience for customers, brokers, and agents alike.

The role of IT has also evolved during this time. “Comarch’s modular architecture has allowed us to gradually phase out our legacy software,” says De Spiegeleer. “So our IT department is stepping more into the role of internal integrator.” That, too, proved to be a major challenge. “This was an ambitious fast-paced project with a sharply defined scope, and we had to keep our day-to-day business running at the same time,” says Dirk Geerinck, IT Service Manager at P&V Group. “That was certainly a technical challenge, but it also demanded careful people management to keep everything on track.”

For and by business

P&V Group is now fully leveraging the experience it has gained from the switch to Comarch software for its employee benefits products. “Sponsorship from top management is essential for the success of such a far-reaching transformation,” says Patrick Van Geystelen, Portfolio Director Life & Employee Benefits at P&V Group. Other key success factors include the close alignment between business and IT, and a clear, shared roadmap.

“Ultimately, this was a program for the business and driven by the business, with IT as the enabler,” concludes Van Geystelen. Above all, the result depends on how well the partners work together. “Yes, IT plays a key role,” he adds, “but the business remains the true driver.” The positive response to the transformation from customers, brokers, agents, and internal employees has been a huge incentive for P&V to continue down this path and pursue a similar transformation in the non-life sector.

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Article published in DataNews