Jahangiri: As Managing Director, how involved are you in formulating TOWER Australia’s (TOWER) future IT roadmap?


Minto: In the last few years IT has become the business. Everything we do is built into the technology environment.  In the past, technology was just one part of the business, whereas now the whole business is built around technology.  It is critical we get the appropriate technology interface on the business side, and the strategic objectives of the business aligned with technology and technology architecture.  The short answer is that I am very closely involved in the IT roadmap.  These are some of TOWER’s biggest decisions we make from a business and competitive sense. 


Jahangiri: How is technology changing your customers’ consumption habits?


Minto: Technology is helping our customers, in that life insurance is not well understood.  At TOWER, we have invested far more into technology around life insurance to help more people learn how to access life insurance both directly and through our business partners.  We have a market that has increased in size in 10 years and is predicted to quadruple in the next 15 years.  This means technology is very much one of the big enablers for this to happen. Technology helps consumers access more products and solutions by simply making it more effective and efficient for them to use. 


Jahangiri: TOWER is one of the few insurers to automate end-to-end claims and underwriting with its Accelerated Protection platform. What kind of an impact has this had on the customer experience; and how has success been measured?


Minto: We have had a very positive response from our customer’s perspective.  What we have tried to do is bring new ideas and new capabilities forward to enable people to access life insurance easily. Through their advisors, customers can get answers and insurance cover quickly.  The business can be completed faster and more efficiently. What used to take up to 90-days can now be completed inside a week, sometimes even within 20 minutes.  Because of this we now have a shortened underwriting time, we have lowered costs, and competitors have seen what we have done and responded through the industry. Accelerated Platform has brought a better experience to consumers and this is evident right through the industry. The feedback has been positive and I think that is one of the factors behind our industry growth.  We measure the success of the project by measuring how quickly we turnaround business on an end-to-end basis. From a customer perspective, we base success on how much gets completed and how many more people get their solutions and results.  It’s a very positive outcome, we have been more productive and as a whole the project has been very cost effective for us. 


Jahangiri: What are your key priorities for the year ahead?


Minto: We have another year of simplification of our business. We will be driving through some of our big IT solutions. Our major platform launch with Accelerated Protection will be going into its final phase and is fully operational now.  We had three former platforms that we’re steadily closing off by 30 June, so we will be moving solely across to Accelerated Platform on that date and it’s a big one for us. We are working with Australian Super to offer additional life insurance to nearly 1 million Australians. This will be going live at the end of May. This is a really exciting time for TOWER. We’ve got some other IT projects that are working on simplification of our business and bringing solutions to our other key clients. 


Jahangiri: In your view, what will be the next frontier of the evolving customer channel in life insurance?


Minto: Life insurance isn’t well understood, consumers are starting to find out more and more about it. They are using life insurance technology for research and for accessing needs. I think people will start to research more about ‘needs analyses.’  In the traditional sense, customers use technology for advice to work out “What sort of cover do I need – death cover, permanent disability cover, income protection cover, or critical illness cover?” They will choose technology to help them define those needs. Most clients will still need advice, but the use of technology coupled with research will help them validate their own needs.  


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Jahangiri: It has been reported that TOWER may be interested in acquiring AIA Australia.  How is this progressing (if at all)?


Minto:  AIA Australia I understand is not for sale. We have bought two companies in the last three years. First being, Pershore Life, and the second one is InsuranceLine. We always look at these opportunities and if we see a good quality business that can add value to our own, we have a good look at it. I understand AIA is not for sale now, and we’ll keep looking that end for other opportunities that come along. 


Jahangiri: How is TOWER responding to the increasing customer demand of real-time interaction with insurers?


Minto: We have done this through our InsuranceLine business. Ten years ago InsuranceLine was a separate business that TOWER worked with. InsuranceLine works interactively in a real-time sense with consumers and it’s built as a direct business. Over the years, it has become a major writer of business. People are interacting with InsuranceLine all the time. Interestingly, because life insurance isn’t that well known or understood, people still want to talk over the telephone.  We think online technology will start to play a bigger part over time. People want to know information now, they want the service now, they want the answers now and they want the business completed now.


Jahangiri: On a more personal note. What advice you can give to IT executives pitching a project to a board of directors?


Minto: This is a really challenging and daunting thing for IT executives.  As with anything, it’s important to try it, and not to be phased by it when you’re pitching a project. Try to put yourself in the mind of the director’s seat. The director is looking for a few things: that you have a background picture of what the strategy of the company is.  You will need to remind the director where this solution fits into the group’s strategy; you need to help demonstrate to them how the value of your solution is going to help the organisation with the strategy. Directors will have in their mind the cost and customer implications so talk to them in simple terms about what those issues are. The directors will also be thinking about risk and risk management. They will be thinking: what can go wrong here? What are the down sides to this project? Who else is using it? Are we doing something very experimental versus something that is established? They will want to see that the project is future-proof, that it is not something that will have to be replaced in a fairly short space of time.  So don’t be phased – do your homework, think through it well, try to visualise how they will feel about something and if you can visualise as how the directors will be feeling about it then you will do far better at your job and presenting to meet their needs. 


Jahangiri: From a Managing Director’s perspective, what qualities make a successful CIO?


Minto: A CIO is a leader of people, runs the technology part of the organisation and is very much an important part of the business.  Firstly, a CIO must be a leader, a strong leader, a person who has good self-awareness. If you have good self-awareness you can be a good leader.  This is because a CIO has to be someone who can build a good team, recruit good people, manage and motivate those people, set the goals for the technology team and work in conjunction with the business to put those goals together and manage the strategy. All those aspects are very key elements. Understanding that it’s about business and customer solutions and not just about technology solutions will make you very successful.


Jahangiri: Every leader, particularly at your level, has a legacy they wish to be remembered for. As Managing Director of TOWER Australia what is yours?


Minto: I am a customer person. I believe passionately about the value life insurance delivers for people. I started my career as what I would call an estate planner, this means looking at the implications for people, and what can happen when life insurance helps a family in times of illness and bereavement.  I would like to think that I am somebody who has always had the customer interests at the forefront and I have tried to lead and modernise the industry for the benefit of consumers to bring insurance to more people and to bring it to them more cost-effectively.  We are here for our people. I have tried to put that personal stamp on it and through our team we are here for our people.  We are working as a team for the benefit of our customers. As I see it, life insurance is there to help give people dignity in times of illness and bereavement and to give them dignity in their choices during those times.  This customer purpose and perspective is my stamp.