Kyobo Life Insurance, How Far Will 'Digital Innovation' Go... Headquarters Staff Reallocation Begins

Shin Chang-jae Declares 'Digital Transformation'
Workforce Efficiency Focused on Digital Organization
Introduction of Education and Key Talent Recruitment Plans

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Kyobo Life Insurance has begun efforts to streamline personnel centered on its digital division. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the company declared a 'Digital Transformation (DT)' to prepare for the post-COVID era, with a plan to first change its organizational structure.

According to the insurance industry on the 21st, Kyobo Life Insurance plans to conduct a research project from next month until March of next year to promote the 'Human Resource Reestablishment Project for Digital Transformation.' Through this, the company aims to streamline personnel centered on the digital organization and establish measures to enhance in-house digital capabilities and secure digital talent.

Currently, the priority task is to determine the appropriate number of employees among the approximately 3,000 headquarters staff and reassign personnel to the digital organization. The company will create digital leaders for each organizational unit and prepare personnel management plans suitable for flexible organizational structures such as small-scale Agile teams.

Additionally, Kyobo Life Insurance plans to introduce educational programs to enhance employees' digital capabilities and recruitment plans for key talent. The company aims to establish a system to measure employees' digital skills and reflect these capabilities in promotions and performance management.

This initiative stems from the digital innovation emphasized by Shin Chang-jae, Chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance. At the 'Second Half Start Strategy Meeting' last July, Chairman Shin stated, "We must accelerate digital transformation in response to the COVID-19 crisis," and emphasized, "All employees and consultants must strengthen their digital work capabilities to be competitive in the digital era."

To this end, Chairman Shin declared a digital transformation that fundamentally changes the entire corporate culture, including communication methods, work processes, and business models, starting with the organization.

Kyobo Life Insurance is focusing on management centered on digital innovation and has achieved results such as developing the AI underwriting system 'BARO' and creating the open innovation platform 'InnoStage' for collaboration with startups. Last year, the company also introduced the 'Next-Generation Insurance System V3' based on digital innovation. This system revolutionized business processes through customer-centric operations, support for field sales activities, and a flexible IT platform.

In particular, Kyobo Life Insurance recently participated in the preliminary bidding for AXA General Insurance as part of its transition to a digital insurer. Along with the online life insurance company 'Kyobo Lifeplanet,' the company expects new synergies in the non-face-to-face insurance sector.

A Kyobo Life Insurance official said, "We will strengthen competitiveness based on digital technology and secure future growth potential, ultimately providing better value through digital innovation," adding, "We plan to establish strategies and execution tasks to enhance capabilities by utilizing digital technology company-wide."