Transformation

The VM Group established a Digital Transformation Strategy in 2018, coming out of a bold vision “to become a digital leader, a modern and relevant mutual”. This vision was in alignment with one of the organisation’s key strategic goals which is to become a Modern Mutual.

One of the key projects on the Digital Transformation Roadmap was the migration of email and collaboration tools from IBM’s Lotus Notes to Microsoft’s Office 365, moving the organisation from simply ‘Doing Digital’ to ‘Being Digital’ and significantly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Team. This resulted in improved communication and collaboration; increased up-time, security, reliability and scalability, through cloud technologies; and improved productivity and agility through automation and remote working capabilities. 

That process began with lead user and early adopter engagement, immersion sessions, and infrastructure readiness preparation. The migration was carried out in phases and users were provided with online and in-person training. O365 process automation work started in late-2018 as the Digital Transformation team began working with business units to review existing manual and paper-based processes to identify opportunities for digitalization, and continued into 2019 and 2020, where team members were also enabled to develop their own solutions.

A variety of tools in the O365 suite have been used for communication, collaboration, cloud storage and file sharing, data-driven decision-making, centralized file and data stores, data gathering and surveys, business process applications and workflow automations. The year 2020 saw the creation of a comprehensive, organization-wide digital capabilities training programme, VM Digital U which includes courses on digital transformation, O365 tools and other digital capabilities needed for the new VM.

The introduction of O365 redounded in changes in the organisation’s culture and was particularly beneficial when the organization transitioned to a hybrid remote environment starting in 2019, and then into the start of the pandemic, resulting in significant resilience and agility when up to 70 per cent of team members started working remotely. It also resulted in strong financial results and improved productivity, especially when compared to other organizations regionally and globally as shown by the Microsoft Productivity Score.

Significant work improvements have been demonstrated across various teams, improving their efficiency and saving time and money, while also incorporating the benefits of data-driven decision-making thanks to a variety of dashboards being used to improve service delivery. Additionally, there has been an improvement in perception by team members of the provision of digital resources.

The shift towards becoming a digital organization, underpinned by the productivity and collaboration tools provided by Microsoft, has contributed to global recognition of VM by several international organizations for its performance during this period, including coveted certification as a Great Place to Work.