In a sector so traditional that digital disruption is not just poorly understood but often ridiculed, Mitsui Sumitomo CIO Richard Williams has shown the business that technology can add business value as well as remove transaction cost. He has created a digitally enabled insurance product for micro-businesses in markets where there is no traditional Lloyd's presence. His move to mobile web apps that put the user, rather than the machine, at the centre of the process has left Mitsui Sumitomo in a position to transact three times as much business with the same resource and sparked an enthusiasm for innovative and exciting digital ways of driving the business forward. Williams is one of the leading proponents of bringing down the regulatory barriers to adopting cloud services in the financial services industry, and is even leading a movement to create an industry-specific cloud for financial firms to share. In 2013, he also wrote an article on CIO UK about innovation, data management, budgeting, the cloud and risk in the insurance sector. When did you start your current role?2010. What is your reporting line?To the CFO. Do you meet with and discuss business strategy with the CEO every week?Yes. Are you a member of the board of directors?No. What other executive boards do you sit on?Strategy board and operations committee. Does your organisation have a CDO?No. What non-technology responsibilities do you have in the organisation?Responsible for facilities and data. How many employees does your organisation have?300. Does your organisation carry out significant trade in the EU?Yes. What number of users does your department supply services to?450. How do you ensure that you have a good understanding of your business and how your customers use your business's products?I meet regularly with both end-users and with heads of product lines and managers and staff throughout the business. In addition, we have an active cadre of SMEs and relationship managers working with us. Mitsui Sumitomo technology strategy and agenda Is your organisation being disrupted by the internet, mobility or technology-oriented start-ups?Yes. Are you empowered by your organisation to disrupt from the inside?Yes. Describe a disruptive measure you’ve led or played a major part inAs we work predominantly in the very traditional Lloyd's insurance market, digital disruption is poorly understood and often ridiculed but it is coming. To show the benefit of digital business in adding business value, and not just removing transaction cost, I have teamed with the active underwriter to create a digitally enabled insurance product for sale through cover holders to micro-businesses in markets where there is no traditional Lloyd's presence. We provide a mobile/web front end for our insurance products, white-labelled for a geographically local agency (who themselves have no digital capability), to allow them to start trading digitally with exclusively our products. This creates new market value by accessing clients that neither our partners or we would ever traditionally have had access to. It ensures data compliance and accuracy, to our standard, in an ever more tightly regulated market. And it proves that digital is core to the future of a market segment that is losing business to overseas competitors. What major transformation project has been recently completed or is under way at your organisation?We are undertaking a major, digitally enabled revision of our front to back operating model that is impacting both how our frontline staff operate and how we interact with middle and back-office staff and our wider partners. This was only possible after the work IS did to completely remediate our legacy systems and to move to new, mobile, HTML5 web applications that put the user, rather than the machine, at the centre of the process. The effect has been amazing. What impact will the above transformation have on your organisation?Apart from the obvious efficiency gains (we anticipate being able to transact three times as much business with the same resource), it has sparked a small 'digital re-imagining' of the business and opened the way for younger staff members to challenge the status quo and begin to propose innovative and exciting ways of driving the business forward. All this combines to allow us to transact new business, with new partners, in new, more efficient ways, and so avoid the challenges of poor rates and a slow market. In short we are ideally positioned to break free of the hyper-traditional practices of the Lloyd's market, something we all must do if we are to remain a relevant force in the insurance market. How has your leadership style contributed to the outcomes of the transformation projectMy approach has been to make it clear to all staff that the technology we use is everyone's technology and not just the remit of IS. Allied to this I have taken a demoralised IS department, primarily focused on maintaining increasingly archaic systems, and challenged them to re-create themselves as a digital powerhouse for the company. It hasn't been easy! But I have communicated till my teeth bled, challenged everyone to be 'better', and looked for external partners to guide and set the standard. I still stick to my mantra of creating a technology function that is the envy of the market for its vision, capability and delivery – focused on making the insurance transaction easier for all. What key technologies do you consider enable transformation?Cloud and mobile are central but more important than technology is the idea that humans have to be at the centre of the process once more. Modern technologies allow this and making sure that everything is built with how the humans will use it rather than how the process analyst says it should be used. After all, we employ bright people adept at working around problems – so we should go with them rather than compete. Are you increasing the number of cloud applications or infrastructure in use at your organisation?Yes. What is your information and data analytics vision for the organisation?Data is key. Timely, accurate information, presented at the time of decision, is key to every underwriting and claims decision. This must be fed from as many valid sources as possible – and we have a central, high-powered warehouse with a highly performant presentation layer on top that does just this. We need more data, from more non-traditional sources to get really good at this, but we are on the way to having what we need. How is mobile and social networking impacting operations and customer experience?Mobile is important to our field force but the true impact of social and mobile is yet to be realised. We are a highly social market and as such are already very good at managing our F2F relationships. This is an area for change and improvement, and is part of all of our core offerings. Describe your strategic vision towards shadow IT and BYOD. How do you influence and engage executives and employees around choice?I welcome it and we have thriving initiatives in both. We've had BYOD for four years. It is key to the 'our technology' theme that we encourage. Our view is that if it doesn't hold core, commercially sensitive data, or need to touch our systems it is fine and to be encouraged. Luckily, as the CIO, I have a veto over any application that I think is either unsuitable or unsafe. We need to remind ourselves, however, that we only stay relevant as a department as long as we can compete with other providers. Just saying no is not an option. What strategic technology deals have been struck and with whom?All our infrastructure and networks are outsourced to Lanware in a recent four-year deal and we have a new business starting to use SSP Pure for the underwriting and claims platform. Who are your main suppliers?Microsoft, Lanware, Xchanging, SSP, Gartner, PwC. Mitsui Sumitomo IT security and budget Has your organisation detected a cyber intrusion in the last 12 months?No. Has cyber-security risen up your management agenda?Yes. Does your organisation understand the potential cyber-security threats it faces?Yes. Has this led to an increase in your security budget?Yes. What is the IT budget?£12m. How much is the IT operational spend compared to the revenue as a percentage?2%. What is the strategic aim of the CIO and IT operations for the next financial year?Complete the digitalisation of the middle and back-office and create value through new digital channels at the same time as keeping ops costs flat and everyone safe and secure. Are you finding it difficult to recruit the talent you need to drive transformation?Yes. Has recruitment and retention risen up your agenda as a CIO?Yes. Are you looking for recruits in the EU to fill the skills shortage you have?Yes. Does your IT organisation operate an apprenticeship scheme?No. Mitsui Sumitomo technology department How would you describe your leadership style?Open, engaging, coaching, humorous and challenging! Explain how you’ve supported and developed your senior leadership team to support your overall objectives and visionThey all have regular coaching with me and a Gartner EXP programme coach, and are regularly given assignments that demand about 105% of their existing ability to challenge and develop them. In addition they are encouraged to present at increasingly challenging forums up to and including board level. I work on a process of guided self-discovery as they are a senior and capable team. I believe passionately in developing my staff and am fortunate to have a cadre of technical and leadership deputies who enjoy growing into the challenges they face. How many employees are in your IT team?35. What is the split between in-house/outsourced staff?50/50. Does your team include key skilled workers from the EU?Yes.