WEBVTT 1 00:00:013.010 --> 00:00:16.010 'Kate, tell me, what is your role at BUPA?' 2 00:00:16.011 --> 00:00:27.031 'I am Head of Financial Projects and Systems at the Centre, so I'm responsible for legacy 3 00:00:27.032 --> 00:00:36.500 systems, for new implementations and a whole range of projects across, mostly around process controls and compliance'. 4 00:00:36.501 --> 00:00:43.053 'You're basically responsible for all Financial systems at BUPA...'. 5 00:00:43.054 --> 00:00:54.064 'Financial systems from a Centre perspective. We run a federated model: financial systems from an ERP type perspective 6 00:00:54.065 --> 00:01:03.075 those are largely owned by the market units and we do have our area for our central ERP. 7 00:01:03.076 --> 00:01:12.079 Mostly the EPM aspect .... consolidation, regulatory reporting, management reporting aspect ... yes, I'm responsible for all of that'. 8 00:01:13.424 --> 00:01:23.230 'Bupa is an acknowledged leader really in its field, but it still faces competitive pressures changing business landscape. 9 00:01:23.231 --> 00:01:30.037 What would you say of the major issues and challenges that you're facing in your role within BUPA?' 10 00:01:30.038 --> 00:01:42.844 'I've arrived at Bupa just 18 months ago and the situation we had, probably, under anticipated 11 00:01:42.845 --> 00:01:52.651 what Solvency II was going to be doing to the market, in terms of the rigors behind the reporting 12 00:01:52.652 --> 00:02:02.459 time frames, the requirements, the data sets, all of that sort of thing. We had legacy reporting 13 00:02:02.460 --> 00:02:12.266 systems that had been under invested in for years and that was a problem, 14 00:02:12.267 --> 00:02:22.073 that we need to take a more coordinated approach to what we did, from a group consolidation perspective, and move it to cross into 15 00:02:22.074 --> 00:02:29.880 the Solvency II. That was probably the biggest challenge'. 'A regulatory challenge'. 'It was driven by regulatory... 16 00:02:29.881 --> 00:02:41.688 because we would have continued prodding along had the regulatory challenge not presented itself'. 'And this is really because you are a health insurer'. 'That's correct'. 17 00:02:41.689 --> 00:02:51.495 'What factors drove you to invest in CCH Tagetik?'. 'We went out on a request for proposal to the market 18 00:02:51.496 --> 00:03:01.302 and we looked at numerous of the big players. It needed to be that we could run literally our consolidation, our plan, budget, forecast, 19 00:03:01.303 --> 00:03:11.109 our regulatory reporting, do our BI, have a data layer. We really wanted a one-stop shop'. 'You looked to cover your statutory, regulatory and 20 00:03:11.110 --> 00:03:20.917 management information requirements only in one environment'. 'Absolutely, you don't have to... but for me, 21 00:03:20.918 --> 00:03:30.724 given the state of where we were at with the estate, it just seemed to make sense and I think BUPA felt very comfortable with the fact we needed a 22 00:03:30.725 --> 00:03:37.531 review and it does hang together very nicely and it does create efficiencies and effectiveness'. 'And you're future-proofing, aren't you'. 'Yes, absolutely'. 23 00:03:37.532 --> 00:03:50.338 'One of the things we constantly find with people in your position and CFOs is the difficulty of persuading your business colleagues to invest in 24 00:03:50.339 --> 00:04:00.146 new systems. How did you go about that challenge?'. 'I think that it had become abundantly apparent that 25 00:04:00.147 --> 00:04:09.953 not only was the data set that was required to fulfill all of the EIOPA requirements enormous and it was going to be somewhat of 26 00:04:09.954 --> 00:04:19.760 a challenge for us to collect that data at that level of granularity and to be able to channel it and ensure data integrity, there were lots of issues ... the quality of 27 00:04:19.761 --> 00:04:29.567 the data coming through sporadically on Excel spreadsheets... we just couldn't place any reliance on it, so it was that type of a challenge. 28 00:04:29.568 --> 00:04:39.375 Business had started to see during the prep phase that we weren't always able 29 00:04:39.376 --> 00:04:49.182 to guarantee that our numbers hung together properly and I think that they were well aware of the reputational risk, in terms of submitting something that 30 00:04:49.183 --> 00:04:50.500 didn't quite hang together'. 31 00:04:58.990 --> 00:05:08.796 'Ignoring the capabilities of the software itself, what of the other characteristics you think are important in a progressive software vendor?'. 32 00:05:07.797 --> 00:05:18.603 'One of the biggest things I was looking for was somebody who understood the responsibility behind regulatory reporting, I had experienced this 33 00:05:18.604 --> 00:05:28.411 in the past ... it's all too easy for vendors to take on something that is possibly seemed to be a project and a good little 34 00:05:28.412 --> 00:05:38.218 revenue generator, etc... but without the deep understanding of just how onerous maintaining a piece of software like that is, 35 00:05:38.219 --> 00:05:48.025 it's not only that continues to be updates coming through from the regulators, whether you're talking in the Solvency II 36 00:05:48.026 --> 00:05:57.832 or in the insurance or in the financial arena, that's the reality of it, and it needs to be invested in constantly and it needs to be 37 00:05:57.833 --> 00:06:07.500 a really good process around how the software is updated and how it's rolled out to the people who are consuming it. 38 00:06:07.501 --> 00:06:17.447 It's really good to have something that is truly a collaborative relationship, where your vendor understands the nuances of all of your business and 39 00:06:17.448 --> 00:06:27.254 what you're trying to do and helps you get to a good solution. That was for me very important, I didn't want just to be a number in one of the 40 00:06:27.255 --> 00:06:37.061 big vendors books any longer, I wanted something where they would listen and they would collaborate, because, actually, by doing that the vendor benefits 41 00:06:37.062 --> 00:06:42.869 and the whole industry does, because we collaborate together towards a better product'. 42 00:06:42.870 --> 00:06:56.676 'You make the point very clearly, you were looking for a partner, effectively, in this endeavor, not someone is just going hand over the software and walk away. Turning to CCH Tagetik, what would you say 43 00:06:56.677 --> 00:07:06.483 were the three most appealing characteristics of them as an organization'. 'I think they truly do care about their customers, 44 00:07:06.484 --> 00:07:16.290 I think they are very keen to listen, to collaborate and to work towards enhancing the product range. 45 00:07:16.291 --> 00:07:26.098 I know for a fact... without our experience they don't bring a product to the market and say 'that's it', if you see opportunity 46 00:07:26.099 --> 00:07:35.905 with that product, they absolutely want to listen and want to grow what they offer and I think it's a family feel, 47 00:07:35.906 --> 00:07:45.712 the whole organisation is passionate about what they do ... I'm passionate about what I do and I like to work in that environment. 48 00:07:45.713 --> 00:07:55.519 It's important to me'. 'So, turning now to the capabilities of the software and really the complexity of what 49 00:07:55.520 --> 00:08:06.000 you are handling both now and in the future, how did you satisfy yourself that the software was up to the job, if you like?'. 50 00:08:06.705 --> 00:08:16.643 'We ran a proof-of-concept, having gone through exhausting number of 51 00:08:16.644 --> 00:08:26.583 reviews ... the RFP... sort of questioned to nth degree and we had loads and loads of demos, 52 00:08:26.584 --> 00:08:36.523 we spoke to existing CCH Tagetik clients and we understood the challenges, we all had a background of understanding the challenges 53 00:08:36.524 --> 00:08:46.462 with the Solvency II reporting in any event ... that was pretty much how we went through, there were a couple of other companies 54 00:08:46.463 --> 00:08:56.402 that did have offerings but it occurred to us all at BUPA that CCH Tagetik really was offering 55 00:08:56.403 --> 00:09:06.342 the most robustly controlled ... it's a cutting-edge Solvency II reporting product, 56 00:09:06.343 --> 00:09:07.343 it's very good'. 57 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:26.221 'We've talked about the complexity of your requirements and CCH Tagetik have analytical performance management platform which I understand is a sort of data staging and analytical area, 58 00:09:26.222 --> 00:09:36.161 how did that particular innovative bit of that software help you with meeting your statutory and regulatory requirements?'. 59 00:09:36.162 --> 00:09:46.101 'This was quite fabulous, because there were other players in the insurance market using APM, but with a very different 60 00:09:46.102 --> 00:09:56.041 approaches, reasons to what we had as a vision for it. We understood at BUPA that we needed to have 61 00:09:56.042 --> 00:10:05.980 a data layer of source, because of our federated model this was going to be inordinately difficult and inordinately expensive to put together 62 00:10:05.981 --> 00:10:15.920 and we had actually done a lot of work on it, probably about 18 months to 2 years before I joined, it had been a lot of work done on it, papers written, 63 00:10:15.921 --> 00:10:25.860 understanding all the various integrations that would be required, and I was at one of the CCH Tagetik User Days in London and I was actually 64 00:10:25.861 --> 00:10:35.799 chatting to Manuel Vellutini and he mentioned that he thought... when we were talking about this data issue, 65 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:45.739 that a APM would be a product that we could consider and we literally just grew the vision of using this as our 66 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:55.679 data repository, almost. We are on a journey with CCH Tagetik's Analytical Workspace, we are using it quite simply to start 67 00:10:55.680 --> 00:11:05.619 and we have a vision for how it would really become, very much more integrated, we're going to use it for extensive 68 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:15.558 validation and transformation of our data, we also have a situation that we can let an extended data set beyond 69 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:25.498 that is just required for the Solvency II submission, and we use that extended data set to provide our market units 70 00:11:25.499 --> 00:11:35.438 and business units with the level of analytic possibility but also for them to validate against the data sets that they are actually submitting 71 00:11:35.439 --> 00:11:45.378 and that's been one of the most positive feedback that we've had from our market business unit area, they now understand 72 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:55.317 the data set better because they are able to see it, it's no longer just submitting reams and reams of data into what felt like almost the black hole, 73 00:11:55.318 --> 00:12:05.257 they've not understanding what the data set, how it hang together, what value was there, now they can actually look at it and they can understand 74 00:12:05.258 --> 00:12:15.197 the asset data set'. 'You're using CCH Tagetik's Analytical Workspace to gather lots of data, to exert control over that data 75 00:12:15.198 --> 00:12:25.137 and also for analytics... so that's a great description, Kate. 76 00:12:25.138 --> 00:12:35.076 And it sort of brings me on to my next point about cloud capabilities, people being able to share in the data, to being able to see it, which is a point 77 00:12:35.077 --> 00:12:45.016 you bring out strongly, but something I've noticed with the cloud and with newer capabilities of the software is the ability to handle larger volumes of data 78 00:12:45.017 --> 00:12:54.956 very competently, did you ever worry you, that you were trying to hold too much information?'. 'Not at all, because I understood the volumes of data that companies like Generali 79 00:12:54.957 --> 00:13:04.895 are using CCH Tagetik's Analytical Workspace for, so no, I don't have a problem with that, I think one of the other huge benefits, if I just go back a little, is 80 00:13:04.896 --> 00:13:14.835 it provides me with the ability to have one point or source of the truth across all of our reporting requirements and 81 00:13:14.836 --> 00:13:24.775 it brings efficiencies, in terms of we only collect the data set once across all the reporting, so that's great... I don't have a problem with the 82 00:13:24.776 --> 00:13:34.715 volumes that CCH Tagetik's Analytical Workspace will cope with, I think we are only skimming the surface at BUPA and we will look to explore that further 83 00:13:34.716 --> 00:13:44.654 and I am very excited as you know to use the cloud and very excited about the cloud offering: 84 00:13:44.655 --> 00:13:54.594 it's cost-effective and it's great in terms of being able to maintain your estate 85 00:13:54.595 --> 00:14:04.534 relatively simply, you don't have that prospect of every 2 to 3 years having a major upgrade that takes you sometimes months 86 00:14:04.535 --> 00:14:14.474 and months to work through from your first thoughts about how you are going to upgrade right the way through to UAT and regression testing, so I'm excited about it'. 87 00:14:14.475 --> 00:14:24.413 'Kate, what of the main challenges which you say of Solvency II, Pillar 3?'. 'I think it's probably the amount of data 88 00:14:24.414 --> 00:14:35.000 that is required to be gathered and in our case as I mentioned earlier to validate against the extended data sets, I think that is quite something... 89 00:14:35.001 --> 00:14:44.293 and of course the ever accelerating reporting time frames, that has been an enormous challenge 90 00:14:44.294 --> 00:14:54.193 for BUPA. We literally have to change all of our processes within our BU's and MU's in order to realize that acceleration'. 91 00:14:55.518 --> 00:15:04.000 'How often CCH Tagetik helped you with this process of getting more business benefit out of it?'. 92 00:15:04.001 --> 00:15:15.057 'I find that they are very engaging and wanting to understand where we see the benefits could be. 93 00:15:15.058 --> 00:15:24.828 They have a very collaborative approach, they were talking to us and then they talked across another leaders in the industry and say 94 00:15:24.829 --> 00:15:34.598 'Where do you see this going, do you see any benefits in this area or that area?', and they say 'Well, this is what we see'. They bring best practice 95 00:15:34.599 --> 00:15:44.369 to the table as well across what they're seeing with all of their other clients, within the insurance sector'. 96 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:54.139 'How did you partner with CCH Tagetik to get the best out of both sides, to get the best use of your skills within BUPA, 97 00:15:54.140 --> 00:16:03.909 the best skills within their organization, and of course also all the skills transfer, so that at the end of the day, you are independent'. 98 00:16:03.910 --> 00:16:13.680 'Skills transfer is inordinately important to me and so what we did .... we have some CCH Tagetik 99 00:16:13.681 --> 00:16:23.450 consultant resource and also have some independent consultant resource that I have worked with over many years, who understand 100 00:16:23.451 --> 00:16:33.221 not only the consolidation, but more importantly at this stage, the Solvency II arena, and then I have a BAU team. 101 00:16:33.222 --> 00:16:39.500 It's between those three aspects that we have built the product'. 102 00:16:42.992 --> 00:16:52.761 'You've been working with CCH Tagetik for quite a while now, I think about 18 months, how would you characterize the relationship now, you've been 103 00:16:52.762 --> 00:17:02.532 through the honeymoon period with them, you've done a lot of initial work, but what's it like now?'. 'We have had some challenges because 104 00:17:02.533 --> 00:17:12.302 from the BUPA perspective, and I'm sure we're not unique, it's quite difficult to manage the change and to get 105 00:17:12.303 --> 00:17:22.073 everybody to be on board and to move at the speed that we need to, and sometimes we found ourselves 106 00:17:22.074 --> 00:17:31.843 relying on CCH Tagetik to really come to the party very quickly, once we finally made the decision, and I must say they have been fabulous, the thing that I do 107 00:17:31.844 --> 00:17:41.614 enjoy is that they won't compromise the delivery so they will push back if this is not possible ... they are very realistic 108 00:17:41.615 --> 00:17:51.384 about what they're going to deliver and how they're going to deliver. I do appreciate that, you know that you can rely on them to understand 109 00:17:51.385 --> 00:18:01.154 your problem and to deliver what you need'. 'And that was about ... you need that frankness within the relationship to make sure that everybody doesn't 110 00:18:01.155 --> 00:18:10.925 doesn't over promise somebody deliver what they say they're going to deliver. Where would you say CCH Tagetik have added the most value 111 00:18:10.926 --> 00:18:20.695 to what you've done over all, I know it's a difficult question but you could pinpoint one thing'. 'Every time I've worked with my team we've had 112 00:18:20.696 --> 00:18:30.466 a vision, I've approached CCH Tagetik and they have literally sent over the product owners SME's from within their area, 113 00:18:30.467 --> 00:18:40.236 collaborate between CCH Tagetik UK and the Italian team and literally sent us the best people who would be able to workshop for 114 00:18:40.237 --> 00:18:50.007 2, 3, 4 days and talked through how we should best approach this new problem and it's not always simple as 115 00:18:50.008 --> 00:18:59.777 there were often numerous ways that we could approach or solutionize but CCH Tagetik has been really really good with that, that for me 116 00:18:59.778 --> 00:19:09.547 has been absolutely incredible. We just have access to literally the product owners to help us talk through'. 117 00:19:09.548 --> 00:19:19.318 'You've been moving more consolidation onto the CCH Tagetik platform, 118 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:29.088 what further uses do you see of CCH Tagetik?' 'We will be moving our consolidation onto the platform 119 00:19:29.089 --> 00:19:38.859 toward the end of 2018, we will have a few reporting cycles, because we do this monthly, before we go into 120 00:19:38.860 --> 00:19:48.629 the year end 2018, we're looking to enhance regulatory analysis and in fact our analysis across 121 00:19:48.630 --> 00:19:58.399 in terms of BI, and we're looking to start putting our 3-year plan on. Literally we see CCH Tagetik as our strategic 122 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:08.170 reporting solution across all Centre reporting'. 'The model of a unified CPM environment is really beginning 123 00:20:08.171 --> 00:20:17.940 to take shape and it sounds to me like you had a very good experience with CCH Tagetik. 124 00:20:17.941 --> 00:20:27.711 Would you recommend them?' 'Absolutely, I really would, I don't see another solution out. There are other solutions out in the marketplace that will care to just 125 00:20:27.712 --> 00:20:37.481 Solvency II, and that's fine but if you're looking for something that's integrated, something that you see is the most strategic, I would absolutely recommend the product'. 126 00:20:37.482 --> 00:20:47.217 'And just taking it to a personal level, what would be your crowning glory, your best achievements out of all this, I would you say'. 127 00:20:48.633 --> 00:20:57.941 'I guess polling it all together, hanging it together and to see our business being really thrilled after the reporting 128 00:20:57.942 --> 00:21:07.251 cycle, how smoothly it went and how they feel more comfortable with the integrity of the data that they are submitting, it seems 129 00:21:07.252 --> 00:21:16.560 to have taken a fair amount of the stress out of what they're doing and, it will happen 130 00:21:16.561 --> 00:21:25.870 overtime but it's going to reduce the very long hours that our teams have been having to work in order to meet the 131 00:21:25.871 --> 00:21:26.500 deadlines'.