In Person: Allianz Insurance’s chief information officer, Jacob Abboud

On being a technological company, what it has changed for brokers and customers as well as what is coming next.

Globally the investment runs into billions for Allianz, it may be big but its “necessary” according to Abboud.

“We are still running a lot of back-end systems that are legacy systems,” he notes.

“The underlying system of record is a legacy system and that is the part I am keen to replace with a new platform. It will be a minimum of three years.”

Abboud did not come straight into insurance after studying for a degree in mechanical engineering at Bath University.

In fact he liked the subject so much that he did a PhD in computer aided engineering.

Working in Swindon he put it all to good use in a global role in computer aided engineering but laughs that what was at the sharp end of the new technological horizon then is simply commonplace now.

As his career progressed through stints at the likes of Capital One, where he was senior IT manager, and Lloyds TSB, where he was chief technology manager, the real step into insurance came with Legal & General in 2008.

The attraction was transformation and delivering the deliverable.

“The insurance industry is an exciting place to be because it is transforming. Look around every insurer has been through a transformation journey.”

The role of the CIO is changing. It is less about the transactional way of how IT used to be delivered in the past and a lot more about the outcomes that we need to deliver and deliver in a different way

Initially he started by working in the savings arm of L&G, then both life and general insurance and finally in a digital role that encompassed the whole group.

He remembers the insurer as “fantastic” and “very focused”.

Which all leads around to Allianz in November 2015 and the key word, the T word, is to the fore again. The attraction was the “34^th largest company in the world by revenue” making big investments in infrastructure and one set for “transformation”.

Outside of insurance Abboud keeps fit by running and cycling but his real passion is music.

He plays the drums, the guitar and owns two pianos, an electronic version and a baby grand built in 1906 which he has had restored.

“If I hear a song and I like it I’ll play it,” he notes.

Three musical instruments and three hats.

Three hats which sit on a head that has quite a lot of learning inside it.

The industry certainly needs knowledge.

There are way too few examples in the sector where elusive new technology, scale of business, management support at high level and market appetite coincide.

Hand on heart who would really say that the public sees the insurance industry at the cutting edge of technology or even rates it on a par with that delivered by other sectors?

The prize then for Allianz, and others, if they can deliver it will undoubtedly be worth the effort.

“The role of the CIO is changing,” Abboud concludes.

“It is less about the transactional way of how IT used to be delivered in the past and a lot more about the outcomes that we need to deliver and deliver in a different way.”

Also, watch the quick-fire quiz video and see Abboud explain his “digital by default and design” catchphrase and reveal where he would be go if he could travel through time.

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