AXA Partners – Brochure 2019

AXA Partners: Digital transformation by the business, for the business

P ROJ E C T PA RT N E R S

AXA Partners: Digital transformation by the business, for the business WRITTEN BY A n d rew Wo o d s PRODUCED BY A l ex P a g e

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We speak to Romain de Maud’huy Chief Transformation Officer for Travel at AXA Partners, to see how the global insurer is harnessing the latest technology to reconfigure its offerings‌

T

echnology is reshaping the world on both macro and microscopic levels. Industries,

enterprises, processes and products are being constantly reconfigured by the sheer disruptive speed and scale of technological change. The customer and his or her expectations are at the heart of any commercial shift, and the reaction to this on behalf of business is crucially people-led also, no matter how sophisticated the changes.

In no market is the customer more focused upon than insurance. When a client needs coverage or help, insurers need to be swift and smart in all their internal and external operations in a market experiencing massive change and numerous challenges from customers and competitors. Insurers need to 4

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FIND OUT MORE

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“A good example of what we do is called corporate mobility; basically, business travel. We’re here to help businesses protect their employees when they’re abroad” — R O M A I N D E M AU D ’ H U Y C H I E F T RA N S FO R M AT I O N O F F I C E R , T R AV E L A X A PA R T N E R S

be both global in reach, coverage and

role, thus ensuring that the subsequent

culture and yet local and empathetic in

work would be ‘by the business, for the

exactly the same regard.

business’.

As one of the largest global insurers,

AXA Partners operates worldwide

AXA’s purpose is to empower people to

on Travel with a physical presence in

live a better life. AXA Partners – an AXA

more than 25 countries and therefore,

transversal business unit - designs,

one of the insurance offerings that

implements and manages projects with

is truly global. “Our distributors are

selected global partners and supports

global,” says de Maud’huy, “and when

AXA entities to develop successful

you distribute to an online travel agent,

local partnerships covering automotive,

they want the same kind of experience

banks and credit cards, retailers, utili-

wherever they sell the product. When

ties and telecoms, digital players, public

you sell through an airline, the clients

sector and non-government organisa-

want the same customer journey and

tions. In 2018, AXA Partners’ revenues

experience. So, it’s global in the sense

reached €3.03 billion.

that it’s a global 24/7 operation serv-

Romain de Maud’huy drives digital transformation of Travel at AXA Partners having joined the company

ing global partners which customers travel globally…”

Digital transformation allows enter-

in 2017. The CEO at the time wanted

prises such as AXA Partners to build

someone from the business to take the

truly global target operating models for w w w.th e in te r fa ce . n e t

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global footprints that can then administrate across the planet. “We’re mostly in B2B2C and so technology allows us to build only one set of products but with a different customer journey, according to the distributor,” he explains. “We can build a customer journey within the customer journey of our distributor, which all have their own personalities.

I’m not just talking about connectivity through API, it’s really the different tools and the flexibility that allows you to build one set of products – so it’s really industrialised – while enhancing your distributor’s customer journey.”

De Maud’huy built a very tiny transformation team within the different models they could have adopted. “We could have decided to do what most people do, which is to build an independent transformation team which goes full speed and is very efficient with everybody focusing only on that, but then the risk in that is that at the end of the year, you have built something which is not indicative of what the business truly needs. We decided to have a truly tiny transformation team to have a transformation ‘by the business, for the business’.”

For de Maud’huy, speed is essential to a successful digital transformation 8

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as disruption in the market can happen very quickly. Speed is a key element, he says, because you don’t want to asphyxiate your business with a never-ending transformation. “You want to work fast, because you want nice success stories to come quickly and regularly, to keep the funding across the project, but also to keep people engaged; to keep the energy, to keep the momentum,” he explains. “The first rationale behind the digital transformation at AXA Partners was to put back the customer at the center of everything. It was also about efficiency and not being disrupted down the road,” de Maud’huy explains.

The work at AXA Partners is motivated by ‘simplify, simplify, simplify’.

AXA Partners had a claims system with 12,000 contract templates in it. “We

fundamental, game-changer tools or

changed up and leveraged the AXA

processes, which are pretty heavy to

Group center of expertise’s contract

change, and little quick wins, because

building tools,” de Maud’huy explains,

if you do only the former, people get

“we went from 12,000 templates to just

bored and the energy disappears.

under 50. Simplify, simplify, simplify!”

Another killer is the mix between what

The idea behind the digital transfor-

you invest in the transformation and

mation at AXA Partners was a funda-

what you invest in your BAU to main-

mental revamp, while making sure that

tain your legacy tools a few years more.

in 3-4 years’ time, all the moving parts

You have tools already working, they’re

continue to move together and make

not state-of-the-art digital, but they

sense. “What is essential is the mix

are working. However, if you invest

between what I would call essential,

everything in your transformation, you

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“ Start your digital transformation with the basics, de Maud’huy suggests. “It’s building or confirming your vision; basically identifying your key differentiators” — R O M A I N D E M AU D ’ H U Y C H I E F T RA N S FO R M AT I O N O F F I C E R , T R AV E L A X A PA R T N E R S

asphyxiate your business for 3-4 years

customer journey that you imagine for

and if you don’t invest enough in your

your client, so it’s putting the customer

transformation, because it’s costly, then

back in the middle. The customer

it takes too long.”

experience is at the centre of it and in

Start your digital transformation with

the travel business our vision at AXA

the basics, de Maud’huy suggests. “It’s

Partners is to always have the backs of

building or confirming your vision; basi-

our clients, in whatever they do, wher-

cally identifying your key differentiators.

ever they are. The key differentiator we

I think too many people start trans-

identified in Travel in AXA Partners, is

formation thinking about tools; but it’s

that we believe that we have an edge

really about your vision of your business

in the medical assistance we offer; it’s

and your key differentiators. You build

a real differentiator for us, because it’s

your target operating model around the

actually a life changer. It’s important for e n .c l p.pa r tn e r s.a xa

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you to be reimbursed if your suitcase is damaged, but it’s far more important that we care of your kids or repatriate your partner if you’re traveling abroad.

So, it’s really about your vision first, then identifying your key differentiators, and building your target operating model around your customer journeys.”

Digital transformations affect people just as much as processes and tools.

Change management can be a real challenge when implementing new operating models and systems and is often not anticipated enough. De Maud’huy likes to tackle that particular obstacle right from the start. “Technical, digital people, business people, tend to forget that change management is essential,” he says. “IT teams tend to focus on delivering their projects and the milestones of those projects, whereas the only thing we should worry about is the impact the project will have after it’s delivered, and the team has been dismantled. Change management is an absolutely key component. You have to work on it at the beginning of your project, because you need to do the change assessments, and train your sponsors. It’s not natural to be a sponsor, especially when you’re using different programmes or project techniques. Whatever you 12

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estimate you need to invest in change management, the truth is that you probably need to double it. One often undermines that component, sadly.”

Another problem with large organisations is how to integrate new and Agile modes of work within big corporations operating with a strict and strong governance. “Agile gives great flexibility, great speed, so that’s great, but the difficulty is most of the big corporations are ‘waterfall’ type of organisations. When you’re actually running Agile projects, you want people to think in Agile, to have daily meetings and to empower the team on their decisions.

But many companies operate in financial quarters and have monthly meetings, yearly budgets and roadmaps.”

De Maud’huy also cites issues surrounding the retaining of the right talent and creating alignment between business teams, IT teams and providers’ teams. “Your business people know the business, and what’s needed and will be able to imagine the business differently.

If you take only people from outside the business, they might have loads of ideas, but they might completely miss the complexity and diversity of the business. However, if you take only people who have been doing the same e n .c l p.pa r tn e r s.a xa

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“The PLEEZ app offers multiple services through simple voice command or chat access.

With this innovation, ‘AXA Partners sets out to enrich its partners’ customer experience” — R O M A I N D E M AU D ’ H U Y C H I E F T RA N S FO R M AT I O N O F F I C E R , T R AV E L A X A PA R T N E R S

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process for years and years, it’s very difficult for them to imagine something radically different. That’s where diversity helps. It’s about managing that balance.”

De Maud’huy realised early on that AXA Partners could not do everything by itself. A helping hand in locating and utilising technological talent, the world over, comes in the form of AXA Next; an entity in charge of innovation at AXA Group level. “It’s in charge of monitoring what’s happening in the tech world and so we have labs in several parts of the world. This division is also in charge of investing in start-ups through funds with AXA Venture Partners. It’s also in charge of identifying interesting business models, looking for entrepreneurs and incubating those business models with Kamet.”

“We’re using one of the Big Five as an integrator on one of our main projects and it’s working very well,” he says. “The Group used them in Asia on a similar project, so the ramp-up was much faster as they knew how to work with us. There are so many things it will be difficult for us to be experts of all, and if you have a start-up which raises 20 million to work on AI, and it is focusing only on that, they will most certainly have an edge.

Having your internal IT experts working with them on a mixed solution is probably to best way forward.”

De Maud’huy believes the soul of AXA Partners’ digital transformation is in putting the customer at the center of the process. “At AXA, we are making the change from being a “payer” to being a “partner” to our customers. In traditional insurance, you only have contacts with your insurer when you pay or when you have a claim, and when that happens the e n .c l p.pa r tn e r s.a xa

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customer might even feel like he or she

what’s happening in the areas where

is being treated like a potential fraud-

their employees are.”

ster. Basically, at AXA we are moving

“Teleconsultation and parametric

to another paradigm where we are the

insurance are also very interesting,” de

partner of our customer. A good exam-

Maud’huy explains. “In parametric insur-

ple of what we do is in the corporate

ance there is an external provider of

mobility world; basically, business travel.

that data which automatically triggers

We’re here to help businesses protect

reimbursement (through pre-defined

their employees when they’re abroad.

parameters). Reimbursement features

AXA Partners and its clients are bene-

no human decision or discussion and it’s

fitting from Travel Eye which harnesses

completely automatic. The advances

innovations such as feeding the plat-

at AXA Partners are truly enhancing all

form with live geopolitical or natu-

of the emerging technologies through

ral catastrophe events, so they know

the arms of the AXA Group’s Kamet

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division, which incubates technologies.

experience’. PLEEZ helps make users’

“Kamet has incubated the teleconsulta-

daily lives easier by providing them

tion technology, parametric technology,

with everything from recommenda-

medical platforms we have in use and so

tions to reservations when it comes to

through that incubator, we can actually

restaurant, transportation, hospitality

have access to these technologies.”

and culture and leisure services. The

AXA Partners also offers a completely

app’s AI learns about the preferences

digital concierge based on AI produced

and tastes of the user on a continuous

with a French company based in

basis to improve the services it offers.

Bordeaux. The PLEEZ app offers

Dedicated experts take over to answer

multiple services through simple

questions when required, without

voice command or chat access. With

impacting response time. PLEEZ’s many

this innovation, ‘AXA Partners sets

services are based on AXA’s interna-

out to enrich its partners’ customer

tional network of concierge service

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providers, which has evolved over more than 20 years.

“YourPass is a central Europe e-wallet producer we work with in Czech Republic. It’s very energetic, focused and innovative and we hope to be rolling out this solution in other regions soon.

When you buy insurance, we would send you an e-card with a link to the terms and conditions of your contract. When you are travelling, you have your boarding card so receiving your insurance details on an e-wallet is natural. It is also very useful to interact positively with the customer providing him or her with additional services such as PLEEZ or information on the destination. And the customer through the e-card can easily contact us would he or she needs us without having to look for our number or webpage or to travel with the PDF with the insurance contract details.”

The digital technology we approve and provide will transform the way people are working,” says De Maud’huy and will be focusing less on process and even more on the customer. Ironically the technology allows us focus more on empathy and listening.”

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Romain De Maud’huy Head of Travel Transformation at AXA Partners Romain de Maud’huy is the head of the Travel business line Transformation at AXA Partners.

He leads this digital and human multi-dimensional transformation over 20 countries dedicated at improving processes and capabilities. To shape an efficient and customer friendly Travel insurance business he leverages internal and external technologies and numerous change management initiatives focusing on innovation and customer centricity.

Prior to that Romain was responsible of distribution through Partnerships at AXA Mexico. Within this role he oversaw the development of new and existing partnerships including the offer, the sales activation and the quality of service. He also spent 2 years as Head of Strategy and Corporate Finance at AXA Mexico.

During the 2008 financial crisis Romain was heading the Investment Solutions department at AXA Investment Managers in London, after overseeing the AXA France account in Paris for 2 years.

Romain initially joined the AXA Group Head Office in Paris in Finance and Strategy roles. He graduated from a French business school and holds a degree of proficiency in Mandarin from Beijing Language and Culture University and from Fudan University in Shanghai.

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