SDT Financial Software Solutions, established in 1995, offers business applications for the financial sector. This company particularly targets providers of life insurance, loans, health insurance and pension funds. With over twenty clients in eleven African countries years of experience have made SDT a household name in the African market. SDT's extensive knowledge of the market is reflected in their applications, which enable financial service providers to work with greater flexibility and efficiency. SDT is a Microsoft Gold Partner, and all its applications are based on Microsoft technology.

The decision: tailoring to an ever-changing market
The insurance sector is in a constant state of flux as a result of the developments in the realms of politics, economics and social circumstances. The South African insurance sector has, in recent years, seen a number of positive developments. The financial infrastructure has improved considerably, and there is a broader base among other things for the taking out of life insurance policies. Seeing as the insurance market is subject to constant change, SDT started scouting out the possibilities of an automated correspondence and document system a few years back. By integrating such a system into SDT's business applications, the company offers its clients the possibility of responding quickly to changes in the market or changes to the situations of clients.

The process: quest for flexibility and interaction
Initially, SDT started working on the development of a correspondence system itself, but after some time, it emerged that this tool did not match the dynamics of the African market. It turned out to be difficult to develop a solution that could be used with often complex African family structures. The average African family is made up of more than ten members. Insurers often have several different policies for the different family members, leading to many changes at customer level. This results in a very complex administrative organisation with lots of correspondence. SDT wanted a solution that offers the flexibility and functionality to deal with this kind of situation. SDT eventually decided to stop the development of its own correspondence solution and turned its attention to finding a standard solution. After taking stock of what is available on the market, the ITP Document Platform turned out to fulfil SDT's need for a flexible, interactive and user-friendly system. By choosing a standard solution, SDT can now focus on further developing and fine-tuning their core application Exergy.

The solution: user-friendliness first
It is crucial for SDT's clients to be able to work, independently, with the correspondence solution. They do not want to depend on SDT's consultants for the implementation of changes to documents. User-friendliness was, therefore, a key requirement of SDT's during the selection process. This requirement formed a perfect match with Aia Software's philosophy of giving the business user full control over document creation. Thanks to the integration of ITP into SDT's Exergy, clients can now automatically generate policies and personalised correspondence. Intensive training by Aia Software at the start of the partnership has made SDT a fully independent implementation partner for the ITP Document Platform.

The result
Gerhard Coetzee, Portfolio Executive at SDT: "Simply because the African market is in no way comparable to the European market, it proved tricky to find a system that fully meets our wishes and requirements. We have now found the right partner in Aia Software, and we are more than satisfied with ITP. Aia Software's vision and their high-quality product ITP dovetail perfectly with our objective of putting user-friendliness first. Nothing should stand in the way of the business operating independently when it comes to editing and modifying documents. ITP was designed for that, making it an excellent system for us that matches our corporate objective of offering our clients a user-friendly and efficient solution. We are currently working hard on taking full stock of the possibilities in developing a new service we can offer, as part of which we want to market ITP 3.5. The option of independently editing text blocks is one that we expect will prove particularly relevant to our clients."

SDT's popular conference, titled "Strategic Insight Into Life Assurance Opportunities on the African Continent", features a star-studded lineup of speakers, headlined by Grant Driver, a renowned business coach and international speaker. Driver will speak on "What now? How to survive and thrive in the global meltdown."
Other speakers and their topics:

• Professor Niek du Preez, CEO of Indutech, and Bernard Katz, business engineering services manager at Indutech, will speak on "Innovation: Part of your every-day business."
• Jaco Swanepoel, CEO of SilverBridge, will address: Convergence of products in financial services: A look at what can be done and has been done in the world."
• John Turnbull, MD of Hollard partner The Best Funeral Society, will speak on "Micro-insurance: The balance between regulation and micro-insurance."
• Business consultant Johan Reyneke will look at: "Marketing in insurance - taking service to your customer: differentiated needs, differentiated solutions."
• Magnus Rademeyer, managing director at AfriGIS, will investigate how cellphone technology is being used to bring products and services to clients.
• Colleen Velleman, head: management consulting and support at Ones&Zeros, will examine how business and IT can be aligned through enterprise architecture.
• JC Oberholzer, chief systems architect at SDT, will present his views on "Technology trends and their possible implications on the financial services industry."
• Johan Oosthuysen, product executive at SDT, will examine the Gartner Hype Cycle and map it against the vision SDT has for its flagship solution, Exergy.

"The African market is opening up in an unprecedented manner, and all involved in the life assurance market should know precisely how to address the opportunities," says Lee Kuyper, commercial executive at SDT. "Although a closed event, all interested life insurers are invited to register and attend the event at Emerald Casino Resort, Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng. Attendance is free, including accommodation at the Emerald Hotel on the Thursday night. Delegates will be given unparalleled insights into the opportunities that the African continent presents."

• To attend the conference, visit http://www.sdt.co.za/life or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Contact

Sumari Lottering, SDT, (011) 360 0100 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Karen Heydenrych, Predictive Communications, (011) 452 2923 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it