Microsoft Works With Financial Services Start-Up to Help Underprivileged South Africans Access Low-Cost Financial Products
03/09/2007 10:02
PR Newswire
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, September 3 /PRNewswire/ --
- Imagination implements cost-effective and scalable IT infrastructure
based on Microsoft technology to supply low-cost insurance, banking and
healthcare services.
Imagination, a South African start-up company that will provide life
insurance, banking and healthcare services to citizens unable to participate
in traditional financial services, has implemented a fully scalable,
cost-effective and flexible IT system based on Microsoft(R) technology. This
will enable the company to offer value-for-money financial services products
to the 40 million South Africans who at present only have access to
inadequate savings arrangements, loans at inflated rates and costly funeral
plans.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)
With the support of community organisations such as labour unions and
churches, the company aims to make life cover, savings accounts, loans and
other financial products affordable to more people as well as design products
more appropriate to their needs, for example, by taking into account that
customers may make small or irregular contributions.
The IT system, which is being used by 20 people within the organisation
and will soon provide web access to all its customers, was built in
collaboration with Microsoft Certified Partner Fourge and the Microsoft
Technology Centre. It uses Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005, Microsoft Windows
Server(R) 2003, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint(R)
Server 2007, Microsoft BizTalk(R) Server 2006, Microsoft Windows(R) Workflow
Foundation and Microsoft Visual Studio(R) Team System.
Imagination will benefit from powerful reporting and analysis features,
flexible development tools, and data integration. In particular, Microsoft
SQL Server has been deployed to hold and receive client information and
monitor customer accounts. It offers the company the ability to react quickly
to market changes by adapting its financial services offerings, which in turn
will support the firm's continuous business growth. Microsoft Visual Studio
Team System and Microsoft ASP.NET are being used to create web pages
containing product information and customer account sign-up features.
Gordon Ejsmond-Frey, industry director, Insurance, Financial Services
Industry, Microsoft EMEA, said, "Imagination is a dynamic and visionary
company with a precise business ethic and lots of potential to grow so we
wanted to make sure that we built an infrastructure that would reflect this.
By keeping IT expenditures down, we were able to help Imagination meet its
business goal of offering low-cost financial products to non-affluent South
African customers."
Jim Deane, CEO, Imagination Life, said, "Microsoft understood our vision,
one that focuses on making available appropriate financial services products
to more people across South Africa, more easily and at lower cost. The
technology we have implemented is scalable, which means that we will easily
be able to meet our aim of administering 250,000 customers in our first year
of operation."
"The potential for microinsurance is significant," said Don Canning,
industry solutions manager, Insurance Value Chain, Microsoft Worldwide.
"Microsoft supports microinsurance through our relationships with thought
leaders in the industry, such as Michael McCord, director of the
MicroInsurance Centre, as well as many of our partners. These partners use
the Microsoft platform and products when developing their solutions and
services for the insurance industry. Many of our innovative partners such as
Imagination are using our technologies to build solutions and services that
will provide developing and emerging markets with cost-effective
microinsurance products and services. This focus on microinsurance can, in
turn, lead to successful new business models that also carry the potential to
transform the quality of people's lives in under-served markets."
About Microsoft in Financial Services
Microsoft's Financial Services group helps financial firms leverage
technology to amplify the impact their people can deliver to drive business
success. We help our customers in banking, capital markets/securities, and
insurance achieve four business outcomes: develop relationships, drive
innovation, improve operations and build connections. To do this, we focus
our products and technologies, and our work with leading solutions, services
and hardware partners, on key areas where we believe we and our partners can
deliver exceptional value; those areas include advisor platforms, channel
renewal, core banking, enterprise risk management and compliance, insurance
value chain, and payments. More information can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/financialservices.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise
their full potential.
About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)
Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft
employs more than 13,000 people in 60 subsidiaries, delivering products and
services in 138 countries and territories.
This material is for informational purposes only. Microsoft Corp
disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to use of the material
for other purposes. Microsoft Corp shall not, at any time, be liable for any
special, direct, indirect or consequential damages, whether in an action of
contract, negligence or other action arising out of or in connection with the
use or performance of the material. Nothing herein should be construed as
constituting any kind of warranty.
Web site: http://www.microsoft.com
http://www.microsoft.com/financialservices
Chanda Gathani, +44-20-3100-3500, chanda.gathani@metia.com, or Simona Cotta-Ramusino, +44-20-3100-3500, simona.cotta-ramusino@metia.com, both of Metia for Microsoft Corp.; NOTE TO EDITORS: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft in EMEA, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/emea or the EMEA Press Centre at http://www.microsoft.com/emea/presscentre. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at the time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/emea/contactus. If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft Corp, please visit the Microsoft web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft's corporate information pages.; Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO, AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org, PRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.com