Client Situation
Our client is a leading Islamic insurance company based out of Dubai, providing Sharia-compliant insurance solutions to its customers. The client is merging with another Abu Dhabi based Islamic insurance company to form one of the leading Takaful providers in the UAE with a combined share capital of over USD 70 million. Two organizations had distinct technology landscapes, including core applications, technology infrastructure, and operating models. The Client engaged Cedar to assist in IT diagnostic of the current state of the two entities across applications, technology, Governance & IT organization and validate the way forward technology architecture of the merged entity. Cedar was also mandated to develop the IT integration plan.
Cedar’s Approach
Cedar used a 3-step approach to assess the current state of each entity covering, validate the way forward architecture, and develop the integration plan for the merged entity.
- Current State Review: Cedar reviewed the current applications, technology, Governance model, and IT organization structure of the two entities based on sufficiency and alignment to business strategy. Based on the diagnostic review, Cedar identified the critical IT implications across the 4 areas in the context of the successful integration.
- Way-Forward Validation: Cedar validated the way-forward technology architecture based on 4 guiding principles – (Functionality Consolidation, Cost Optimization, Product Capabilities & Flexibility, and Customer experience) identified specifically for the client based on the business strategy and priorities.
- Integration Plan: Based on the validation exercise, Cedar Identified the key implications for the interim and end state requirements and related timelines. Cedar developed the integration plan highlighting key activities, milestones, and dependencies to be considered for pre-LD1 and post-LD1
Outcome
The program resulted in the way-forward roadmap across the following key areas:
- Developed the validation principles along with the rationale & implications of the target IT applications & technology in alignment with the business strategy.
- Defined the Retain/ Consolidate/ Discontinue of different applications across the two entities to reduce application & vendor footprint, optimize cost and enhance capabilities.
- The validated way forward for the technology components across Hardware, Database, Application, Network & Web Servers.
- Validated the run-off approach for existing policies in core applications and operation implications of parallel processing of new and legacy applications.
- Developed a three-phase integration plan based on application readiness to reduce risk and optimize business value migration to the new platform.