Keeping Up With The Times

Allianz Malaysia Berhad goes digital to serve its customers better

Digital transformation is a buzzword that businesses can no longer ignore. Just last year, close to 7% of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) was derived from digital products and services, which entailed the use of digital technologies including mobility, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI).

Moreover, there will be an estimated US$10 billion contribution to Malaysia’s gross domestic product by 2021, says the joint-research by Microsoft and IDC Asia/Pacific entitled ‘Unlocking the Economic Impact of Digital Transformation in Asia Pacific’.

Heeding this necessity to ensure business continuity, even an industry that many would associate with being traditional has taken the step to digitalise. Leading research and advisory company, Gartner, has defined digitalisation as the use of digital technology to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities. In essence, it is the process of moving towards a digital business.

For Allianz Malaysia Berhad (Allianz), digital transformation was a natural progression for the company as it strives to be the most reliable partner in delivering innovative insurance solutions.

Business Today speaks to Michael Fong, Head of Digital Partnership and Innovation, Allianz Malaysia, on the company’s efforts in keeping up with the times.

Fong reveals that Allianz is evaluating tools within the financial technology – or Fintech for short – sector: “From AI to IoT, these technologies can assist various industries and companies; they are industry agnostic.

“We are very interested in the areas of AI and Blockchain for data. IoT is also very interesting for us, in term of connected homes, connected properties, connected cars – that’s something that we are looking into.”