Culture of innovation
Innovation is one of the key values for the PZU Group.
Innovation thinking outside the box, breaking molds and looking for opportunities to streamline functioning of the company. Innovation in the PZU Group is not limited to a single division, project or area. Smaller and greater changes are constantly being made to every aspect of how the firm operates, and they combine to form a picture of one of the most innovative companies in the financial industry in Europe. PZU’s innovations contribute to client satisfaction, which is a top priority for the Group, and to employee comfort, and at a micro scale, to the development of the overall economy.
Innovation strategy
The innovation strategy adopted by PZU in supports the pursuit of the overall PZU Group’s mission and strategy. Four major areas are set forth thereunder, in which particular effort is expended to find new solutions:
- Advanced analytics and using big data sets;
- New client interactions / Ecosystems;
- Digitalization (in particular emerging technologies);
- Employer 2.0.
The innovation strategy is reflected in the projects and initiatives executed by PZU. The Group is fully aware that innovations call for making creative space conducive to generation of ideas, as well as prototyping, testing and implementing unique original solutions. This is the role of PZU’s Innovation Lab. Its overarching task is to search for modern solutions, check them, perform tests and support rollouts. Moreover, special processes have been forged in the entire organization to facilitate rapid testing and implementation of innovative solutions. In 2022, nearly 1,000 start-ups and ideas were analyzed; and 14 pilots were carried out. There were nine which were completed, and eight out of those nine were advanced to the implementation phase. Within the last five years, PZU received several industry prizes, including in 2022: commendation in the Masters of Hyperautomation (Mocarze Hiperautomatyzacji) – for the project Czatbot for COP), prize in the Wprost Weekly’s Innovators contest (Innowatory Wprost) – for the project: Minuta dla skóry, and the Banking Gazette Leader and the ICXA Bronze Awards Winner – for the project: AI Assistant (Artificial Intelligence in Claims Handling), and two more awards the Efma-Accenture Innovation In Insurance Awards – for the project „Minuta dla skóry” – golden statute, and Agro Lab – silver statute).
At the center of PZU’s technology initiatives is the Data Warehouse, which integrates collections from all the Group’s business areas. The origins of this initiative date back to the 1990s. Since then, there have been many technological changes, such as the processing of information from hundreds of systems or the analytical and reporting tools used. Nowadays, advanced algorithms and analytical techniques are used to take key decisions in many business processes. An example of this are analytical CRM solutions that provide knowledge of the PZU Group’s several million clients by segment, which makes it possible, among other things, to provide personalized offers in sales campaigns. Analytics based on a Data Warehouse based on machine learning, artificial intelligence or graph networks allows building many other advanced systems. Among other things, we have FMSclass solutions for multidimensional identification of fraud or implementation of preventive actions in the area of insurance crime prevention. Real-time solutions are also becoming more widely used, allowing rapid response to market conditions or supporting maintenance operations. Currently, these are particularly processes in the areas of claims handling, tariffing, sales support or risk management. From the market perspective, access to such collections makes us a good partner for startups or insurtechs that can test their prototypes on real and complete data with a very long history. Implemented reporting solutions make us a reliable provider of information to our shareholders, market analysts or business partners.
Best practice of PZU and PZU Życie
Idea Generator
In PZU, the Idea Generator has been operating under the auspices of the Innovation Lab. It is an internet portal where the PZU employees may submit their ideas for innovative solutions. New editions of the competition for the best ideas on a specific topic are regularly announced. In 2022, the Idea Generator served to provide ideas for three business challenges which could support the attainment of selected business objectives. The topics of the competitions are: Lasting friendship with the client, i.e. how can PZU build long-lasting relations with clients, the SDG Challenge 2022, i.e. how can PZU support sustainable development of cities and rural areas, Client Focus: the senior ecosystem or what we can expand our PZU Group offerings to include clients 60+.
Every portal user is able to not only submit the ideas but also vote for his/her favorite ideas and post comments. The authors of the three best ideas from each edition will receive financial prizes, and can have the opportunity to get involved in the implementation of the proposed solution. From the beginning of the Generator, in 12 editions, nearly 700 ideas for internal improvements and brand-new innovative solutions were submitted.
Acceleration program
In 2022, PZU was a partner in another edition of the Poland Prize acceleration program funded by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. The accelerator supported by PZU operates under the patronage of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – a renowned research center which for many years has been actively supporting young companies in their development and expansion to new markets, and it has been setting the direction for discourse and development of the entire modern technologies industry.
As part of the cooperation and two editions of the program taking place in 2022, PZU gained access to about 500 technological startups from all over the world, from which, following a selection process, a series of dozens of interviews and workshops, two were ultimately chosen for cooperation under the program.
PZU is also the partner of the fifth edition of the acceleration program of Alior Bank – RBL_START. The purpose of this edition was to find solutions in the area of human-mobile interactions. Five startups from more than 100 applications qualified for the program. The winners of the program can count on, among other things, a cash prize of €10,000 and cooperation with Alior Bank, PZU or other program partners.
For startups, participation in the accelerator offers a number of benefits – including business model development, expert support (e.g. legal), expanding the network of industry contacts in Poland and abroad, but most importantly the opportunity to work with leading corporations and jointly test the startup’s solutions in real market conditions as part of pilot projects. PZU is an active participant in the start-up environment in Poland and around the world, and regularly brings the best fintech and insurtech solutions to the organization. Acceleration programs have consistently, for nearly five years, supported PZU in seeking inspiring solutions and establishing cooperation with valuable start-ups.
PZU began working with the startups in partnership with the accelerators already in 2018.
Innovation if the PZU Group’s product and service offering
Innovations in subsidiaries – banks
In Bank Pekao, the unit responsible for creating an innovation culture, accelerating the implementation of innovative solutions and cooperating with fintechs, startups and technology companies is the Innovation Lab. In its activities, the Lab focuses especially on innovations that support building modern banking and tailoring products and services to client expectations. The Innovation Lab draws on both market and non-market practices, as well as trend research, crowdsourced ideas, and technologies provided by young companies.
The Innovation Lab also serves a key role in the creation process of new functions planned for implementation as part of the Bank’s mobile application development strategy – PeoPay 3.0. Moreover, the Innovation Lab will also cover the area of the Business Banking Division and the Corporate Banking Division.
In 2022, the activity and size of the community of bank innovators centered around the internal crowdsourcing platform IdeaCrowd increased. Since May 2021, the total of 5,520 ideas and submissions were collected on the intranet platform implemented by the Innovation Lab, including those developing projects and supporting innovative initiatives. In 2022, employees participated in 10 challenges, submitting 1,836 ideas. The IdeaCrowd community grew by 965 employees – thus the ranking of active innovators was 3,863 people from various units of the bank. Involvement can be perceived among both sales network employees and support units.
The process of implementing trends in the organization also continued. Within its framework, ideas and solutions are inspired by trends. They are based in the perception of how the future of banking will be look. The Innovation Lab has a team that studies trends and signals of change. Trends, signals of change and inspiration are used in the processes of generating solutions as well as diagnosing and identifying challenges facing the Bank in specific business areas. The goal of the project is to build competitive advantages in areas that are not obvious in the financial sector, such as by creating new business models or customer segments, including in the ESG sector
In 2022, the Innovation Lab initiated tests of 15 start-ups at the Bank, among others with Sharebee, Alphamoon, nuDelta, or GetPin. The Lab also cooperated with two accelerators: Space3ac and MIT EF CEE under the Poland Prize program, organized by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. An important activity for the Lab was to support Ukrainian start-ups in launching their expansion on the Polish market. A decision was made to pilot five projects from the region.
Furthermore, in 2022, the Innovation Lab:
- launched the start-up application manager system – SRM (Startup Relationship Manager),
- after accelerating and piloting Sharebee (a platform that engages company employees as brand ambassadors to increase sales) decided to commercially implement the solution,
- as a result of piloting Getpin start-up (a platform that collects customer experience data in a single tool) increased traffic to the Bank’s website,
- as a result of conducting ESG research and scouting on behalf of the Bank’s ESG Council, decided to conduct pilots with two technology companies offering carbon footprint measurement technology,
- materially increased the Bank’s presence and visibility in the start-up ecosystem by participating in key industry events and publishing press materials in the media,
- established a community of innovators in the Bank (business owners) and held regular meetings of Innovation Champions to share knowledge and experience in working with start-ups and implementing new technologies.
Alior Bank has the Innovation and FinTech Partnership Department operating outside the Bank under the RBL_Innovation by Alior Bank brand. The task of the unit is to increase the potential for developing innovations at the Bank. The Department is composed of separate units:
- UX Design Team – is responsible for designing user-friendly ways for using services and products offered by the Bank across all channels,
- UX and Product Research Team – conducts qualitative and quantitative user tests, exploring their needs and verifying designed product paths,
- Fintech Partnerships Team – deals with relations with the external fintech ecosystem and support in the implementation of innovative projects in the Bank with the participation of external providers,
- Open Banking Team – is responsible for the compliance of services provided by OpenAPI with the requirements of PSD2 regulations, the provision of Open Banking services based on other banks’ APIs (Alior in the role of TPP), and the development of commercial APIs beyond PSD2 requirements,
- Remote Process Development Department – develops technological tools as well as hard and soft competencies for communication and sales of the Bank’s products in remote channels.
In addition, Alior Bank has a separate Corporate Venture Capital Fund – RBL_VC, operating under the formula of an Alternative Investment Company (ASI), whose task is to invest in innovative projects, in particular supporting the implementation of the Bank’s strategy.