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Alexander Forbes Integrated Annual Report 2017

Innovate and create internal capacity to disrupt ourselves through innovation

achieved in progress not achieved

Ambition 2022	Performance against ambition
Create a culture of experimentation, innovation and collaboration. Implement five betterment innovations with NOPAT of R10 million per annum and one investment case	In May 2016 ten innovation business cases were presented to the board and group exco at the annual innovation day event. The top three ideas were awarded prizes at the SuperServe Awards held in July 2016. In addition to these ten innovative business cases, one disruptive innovation went to market, Betterwage.com, and a strategic partnership was formed with Degreed.com. To date we have the following betterment innovations in market: auto escalation of retirement savings, unit trusts and funeral policies for stokvels; medical top-up for pensioners (Kenyan market); financial preservation for lump sum beneficiaries; and process innovations in automations in pension fund administration.

Actions	Progress	2017 progress	2018 plans	Ambition 2022	Risks
Create an internal ‘sandbox’ for experimentation and incubation, with guided processes to develop skills and filters to identify winning ideas		Pilot programme under way with staged roll-out from June 2016. Several innovations approved and awaiting incubation/commercialisation	Group-wide roll-out of internal innovation programme, with dedicated innovation executive appointed Three commercialised business unit innovations	Business unit innovations implemented annually, with more than 50 experiments perpetually operational	Low appetite in the group for experimentation; this is being managed through cultural programmes
Centralised group innovation team to drive innovation in three to five key theme areas, as well as explore emerging technology trends		Group innovation team appointed, to be fully available from July 2017 Possible key themes currently under exploration	Group innovation division minimum viable product in market Prototypes/use cases under development for each key theme	Commercialised innovation within each identified key theme	High failure rate of new products; this is being managed through early identification of issues
Focus on strategic partnerships within the global innovation ecosystem (start-ups, fintechs and researchers) within three to five key themes		Several partner discussions in progress, including a global accelerator/venture capital programme Identification of appropriate ‘search’ themes and framework for selection under way	Ensure commercialisation of first strategic partnership	Robust portfolio of partners within each theme	Poor cultural fit and lack of change management skills

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