Murali G, Head-IT at SBI Life Insurance, that won the Advocate Enterprise Connect Award in the individual category this year, shares how IT insured efficiency and competitive edge for the company and what pitfalls to avoid on the way

CMN: What were the challenges, as you chalked out the IT strategy?

Murali G: We did have some major challenges. First, to roll out products faster and ensure a big bouquet of products. Second, to spread out in the market, and find ways and means to sell at various locations. IT for us had to be standard and flexible at the same time.

CMN: Any single peg that you used for deploying IT?

MG: We did not want to re-create the IT solutions that other insurance companies were already having. That is where we designed our overall strategy. We took both a reactive as well as proactive strategy that would fit short-term and long-term at the same time. Today we are selling insurance policies from SBI branches across India with a faster market speed. From the seventh largest insurance player, we have climbed up to the third largest player who is profitable too. A great portion of this growth came from IT.

CMN: Is it easy to wear the CIO hat?

MG: No. There are not one, but many difficulties, which I would rather call challenges. And the challenges keep changing too, depending on what phase of life cycle a company is in. They would be different in the growth phase, different when the business flattens out and different when the business is going down. Right now, my challenge is to manage the excess growth of 200 to 300 per cent per annum.

CMN: So do you adopt a menu-based approach or a build-to-order approach in securing IT solutions from vendors?

MG: We try and assess what is best. We pick and choose the best fit. If the best comes in-house, we take it. If it comes off-the-shelf, but is easy to deploy and readily usable, we pick that. For sure, however, we don’t believe in re-inventing the wheel. Solutions are secured as per circumstances and business needs.

CMN: Do you agree that working around silos is a constant CIO challenge?

MG: Yes, it is important to make sure that IT solutions are not disparate but smooth and integrated. We ensure to see the big picture before we invest into anything. For the next three years, again we will draw the big picture first. For us, integration is the buzzword.

CMN: So what next would you invest into?

MG: We would be rolling out new branches and hence more services like self-service options. We would also try to go nearer to the POS (Point Of Sale). All this will be done with the help of IT.

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