Securian on How AI Is Redefining Enterprise Operations

Shiva:

Hi, my name is Shiva and I'm delighted to be here with Securian SVP, Operations Frici. Welcome Frici to Infosys.

Frici Csatlós:

Great to be here Shiva.

Shiva:

What are your top three priorities for the business operations at Securian?

Frici Csatlós:

I would start with our headline. That's something that I always talk to our organization about. We continuously want to improve the customer experience while driving operational efficiency. So that's the first one. The second one in business operations. For many, many years, we haven't invested in operations. So we want to develop a what I call the target operating model, leveraging the strong partnership with Infosys BPM that we developed, as well as technology, more importantly, the AI capability. So that's the second priority. And then the third one is the associate experience. So how do we upscale our associates in this new AI world and make sure that their skills and they're relevant to the work they do? And then I can elaborate a little bit more on that. So if I go back to the first one, the continuously improving the customer experience while driving operational efficiency, that's a very simple statement, but very, very few organizations are able to actually achieve that, right? If you want to improve the experience, you can just throw money at it. Or if you need to drive operational efficiency, you don't invest in the people. So that's why that's so important for us that we continuously want to improve the experience while we're driving operational efficiency. And then how does that relate to the target operating model? With our Infosys BPM team, we've been on a journey of leveraging the capabilities and the resources Infosys has in our Securian operations. So how does that then impact our future operating model? So now we have a global partnership and how do we leverage that in addition to the AI capability? So how do we improve our AI capability, AI agentic agents to do the work in alongside with our Infosys and our Securian associates. And lastly, that associate experience is so important. We at Securian strongly believe that associates are the biggest assets of the organization. So how do we bring them along on this AI journey so we can upscale them, train them and get them ready for the future?

Shiva:

Based upon your second priority, Frici, that you mentioned, what's your vision of AI adoption in the enterprise business operations?

Frici Csatlós:

As I mentioned, that's part of our second priority in business operations that a future target operating model and I would say an AI-enabled, so how we leverage the AI capabilities.

I look at AI as the industrial revolution, right? So we can't even imagine how AI will transform our life, both at work and in our personal life. So then if we take that concept that AI is the next industrial revolution, then how do we as an organization secure and prepare for that transition? And there are so many areas in the organization that AI will touch. There will not be an area where AI will not touch our lives. More specifically in operations, I can’t think of any areas that AI will not be impacted.

Shiva:

How do you think Infosys can play a partnership role in your journey?

Frici Csatlós:

Securian is a mid-size organization. We don't have the scale, we don't have the resources, we don't have the innovation capabilities that Infosys has. We've seen it the last week in our visit both in Mangalore and now in Bangalore that Infosys is definitely leading the way in the AI innovation and building AI capabilities. So every discussions, every meetings we have, I keep asking the question to myself that how can we leverage Infosys infrastructure capabilities, resources, the scale, to bring that mindset, bring that capability into Securian, not just into our operations division, but even to our broader organization.

And I feel that there is such a great opportunity for us, Securian, to continue to learn how Infosys is leading the way and then how do we then create these partnerships where we have meaningful capabilities we need to invest and develop and do it together.

Shiva:

Frici, we have been celebrating the two-year journey in our partnership of Infosys, BPM, and Securian and business operations. Can you reflect on the journey so far? And how do you see your journey going forward?

Frici Csatlós:

Our partnership started in 2019 with our technology team, and in 2024 when we had our first visit here in Bangalore and Mangalore. If I reflect on the journey, I would probably start with the strong partnership and the one team mindset we had from the very beginning. And we focused, instead of focusing on how quickly we can transition the work, our top priority was quality versus speed. And I think that guiding principle for us that we wanted to accomplish this work with the highest degree of quality, it really, in my opinion, it's paying dividends now in the long term.

We cannot do everything ourselves. We have to rely on the strategic partnership. So it was extremely important to make sure that the quality of the work was there. So that was one item. The other one that initially our approach was that we're going to have three waves and in six-month increments, so in 18 months we were going to complete the full three waves. And as we completed our first wave, we recognized that we had to slow down a little bit to maintain and ensure that high degree of quality. So we had to adjust from a six-month wave cycle to an almost annual, like one year at a time cycle. And that was not easy.

Both on our side, for Securian, it was costing more money to have both resources, right, the Infosys and our Securian resources. And of course, on the Infosys side, you had a plan of getting the Securian account up and running in 18 months, and now that became 24 or 36 months. So I really applaud even the Infosys senior leadership team of not pressuring us to get it done in 18 months.

And on our side, our CFO, being understanding that, yes, we may have to slow down a little bit to have the highest degree of quality. What the results that we delivered, in my opinion, it's absolutely outstanding. So if you look at how we delivered these waves, and now we have over 100 associates in our Mangalore campus, it's absolutely outstanding.

Our associates at Securian, they're satisfied, they're not scared that they're losing their job because they know that there's more meaningful work that they're part of. We view the Infosys Mangalore team as part of our team, right? So we built long-term relationships because we are doing this together. Now we look at beyond the third wave and say, what's next? What is the next opportunity for us? And then we prove that this operating model is absolutely the future. So then as we look at beyond the first three waves, I see a couple of really great opportunities. One is we touched on the AI, right? So I'm super excited about continue to learn about the AI capabilities that Infosys offers and how do we bring those AI capabilities into the Infosys BPM as well as into the Securian operations. Cause I think it's broader than just the Infosys Mangalore office. The second area that I see as opportunities is building and leveraging the capabilities that Infosys has. Infosys BPM, if I remember correctly, has over 50,000 associates and they built tremendous capabilities like training, quality, workforce management, knowledge management, the list goes on, that how do we leverage these strong capabilities that the Infosys BPM built and bring those frameworks, leverage those frameworks in Securian? And the third opportunity that I see that we already are having some conversations with our leadership team. We, one of the business units, have our institutional retirement solutions and we're building out new products in that space. And I had numerous conversations with the senior leader in that space that as we build out our operating model for those new products, can we start with Infosys BPM versus we need to build the operating model at Securian and then transition it. So what I see that even our senior leaders within Securian, they starting to think and they’re seeing Infosys BPM as part of our team versus just an offshoring opportunity.

Shiva:
Thank you, Frici, for sharing your experiences on this journey. And this has been successful only through the collaborative nature that Securian, as your leadership, brought to Infosys and how we collaborated to make this journey successful so far. And I think we are looking forward to working with you in the areas that you mentioned around AI and other aspects on how we can deliver more value to Securian.

Frici Csatlós:
Thank you, Shiva. It's been our pleasure of developing the partnership with our Infosys team and I personally look forward to what the future brings us. The opportunities are endless.