The Corporate Technology and Processes Division at MAPFRE, known by all its employees as “the DCTP”, designs, plans and manages MAPFRE’s technologies. It also boosts, collaborates and provides the support needed to manage processes, all with a clear orientation to business. Technology at the service of the organization
Text MARÍA JESÚS PÉREZ FUENTES Y EQUIPO DE LA DCTP |Cover Illustration THINKSTOCK
For MAPFRE, technology is a strategic asset, an essential element for adapting in order to meet the challenges posed by the new business models which impact on our entire ecosystem (clients, service providers, distribution channels, suppliers, etc.). For this reason, over the last few years the company – led by the DCTP – has been making a significant effort to equip itself with the necessary agility to address the paradigm of this new digital era.
The division, with Felipe Nascimento at the helm, promotes the cultural change undertaken by the company and reflected within the framework of the Digital Transformation Corporate Strategic Initiative. The DCTP is responsible for providing support to most of the strategic initiatives, as part of the Corporate Business Support Area to which it belongs, together with the Digital Business and Operations corporate divisions.
Today, the IT and Processes Area comprises almost 2,000 professionals all over the world, providing their services to both companies and corporate areas. Flexible work schedules, agility, collaborative work and project orientation are just some of the characteristics of the way the technology teams work. They take charge of planning and executing projects, as well as supporting the whole technological structure, thus enabling all the MAPFRE employees to carry out their functions in an efficient, productive, secure manner.
These professionals contribute in an outstanding fashion to advancing the profound process of transformation and cultural change currently ongoing within our organization. This process puts people first and foremost, and uses technology as an enabler and driver of change.
The activity of the DCTP is based on MAPFRE’s four strategic pillars: Client Orientation, Excellence in Technical and Operational Management, Digital Transformation, and Culture and Talent.
With Client Orientation, it contributes in two ways. Firstly, supporting the strategy defined by the Business and Clients Area and implementing it in the respective countries; secondly, defining and introducing the catalog of services in order to align the business expectations, their needs and the assistance provided by IT.
With Excellence in Technical and Operational Management, introducing the corporate technology platform, which is the series of technological solutions developed to support the business and IT processes throughout the world, a key element in MAPFRE’s globalization and digitization process. This platform affords uniformity, efficiency, sustainability and agility to the different processes.
The objective of the Digital Transformation is to respond swiftly to the changing needs of our customers and we have been working on it for more than two years. As of today, it is already fairly mature, although it is undergoing a process of continuous development. We know where we are, where we want to go, what the capabilities needed to transform ourselves digitally are, and how to organize ourselves to progressively develop them in a coordinated fashion. The goal is to digitize our operations and the relationship with our clients, relying for this purpose on IT and, above all, on our people, all with the idea of adding value to the business.
As regards Culture and Talent, the Talent Management initiative in the DCTP is in its final phase. It forms part of the corporate initiative and has a key role in the global transformation of MAPFRE, which needs people with global capabilities and skills to take on the new challenges and opportunities. The DCTP has identified and defined the global strategic profiles that respond to the strategic needs of Technology and Processes; moreover, it has identified those individuals with the greatest potential to match those profiles and who have gone on to form part of the MGTN (MAPFRE Global Talent Network).
In addition, the personnel in this Division use new work methodologies (Agile, Design Thinking, Lean…), as well as new tools that allow for collaborative working, all designed to improve our business response and better understand the needs of our customers.
All these factors are aligned with, and complement, a prime objective: to respond to the customer’s needs in an agile, effective manner, while creating value for the business.gfhsthsthat
FOR MAPFRE, TECHNOLOGY IS A STRATEGIC ASSET AND AN ENABLER OF TRANSFORMATION, BUT THE PEOPLE ARE THE DRIVING FORCE AND THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROCESS OF ADAPTING OUR BUSINESS TO THE NEW SOCIAL REALITY
The origin of the DCTP
For several years now, technology has been the driving force behind the transformation of companies. For this reason, among others, the decision was made in 2007 to create the DGTP (Technology and Procedures General Management) to assist with the transformation of MAPFRE. Previously, each company had its own independent IT teams, which acted as small autonomous units, rather than as an IT organization.
The DGTP was born to fully integrate IT into MAPFRE’s strategy, both corporate and operational, and lead a transformation process that would enable cost savings, thanks to making better use of common resources and IT assets. From 2007 to 2014 the business began to evolve toward a client-oriented approach and to integrate different businesses.
In 2014, MAPFRE focused its strategy on being a global company and global powers were afforded to DCTP. It is defined as the Corporate Division of MAPFRE which ensures technological support to its operations in a global, sustainable manner, providing innovative solutions in order to collaborate in the attainment of its business objectives. In addition, it promotes and develops the company’s orientation to processes, cooperating to define and improve them.
To comply with MAPFRE’s strategy, the DCTP’s Globalization Plan was started up. This defines the strategy and the operational governance and delivery model, and Technology is classified into three types of elements – Global, Specific and Local. The first step was to place special emphasis on the Global elements and the overall trend is to have all the other elements properly mapped and controlled so that, always under the premise of adding value to the business, work can be done on proposals for convergence and the reuse of common parts.
The different development phases of the Area are enabling us to move from an “artisan” technology – based on the programming and management of isolated systems, disconnected internally and externally, with sporadic innovation – to a truly “digital” technology, where we focus on the business model, there is full confidence in IT, and we concentrate on digital innovation.
Projects, the key to transformation
The DCTP works fully oriented toward the projects, which are the main transformative force in the company.
The projects which the DCTP is currently handling are distributed in different lines of work: those which respond to the core processes, those which respond to the support processes, those related to the infrastructure itself, and those that digitize the company. The latter develop our digital capabilities. Examples of some capabilities for which projects are already defined include Self-Service, Big Data, or Enterprise Architecture, which arise in response to a local challenge. All of them have a common objective: to furnish global solutions that can drive forward change within the organization.
Without a doubt, MAPFRE is already a good way along the path of technological development, and the DCTP will continue accompanying our company on this journey.
