Dive Brief:
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Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE, a unit of insurance giant Allianz Group, has appointed Olav Spiegel as CIO, the company announced Thursday. The executive will report to Bettina Dietsche, COO and board member.
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AGCS is tasking Spiegel, who joined the company in 2016, with leading the new IT organization "as it transforms itself into an agile IT product delivery organization," the company said in the announcement.
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In his new role, Spiegel will lead AGCS's effort to establish a new global IT organization that will replace legacy solutions and introduce scaled agile methodologies.
Dive Insight:
By increasing their investments on technologies such as APIs, cloud and microservices, companies in the financial sector are responding to the pressures of shifting consumer patterns. Driven to reduce high-touch processes and boost cost optimization, half of leaders in the space plan to invest in automation technology.
Allianz's appointment of Spiegel is aimed at transforming its global IT Master Platform (ITMP), which is cloud-based, the company said in an email. The transformation effort began in 2020, and targets a holistic overhaul of AGCS' IT operating model.
Though financial services companies were long leery of embracing the cloud, the dominance of the technology and investments in cybersecurity protections around their infrastructure have stoked the transition. The impact and data breaches and heightened scrutiny from regulators have also accelerated cloud migrations.
Organizations wanting to modernize in 2021 will be searching for professionals who are able to inform the entire business, implementing timely decisions while displaying emotional dexterity through troubled times.