Axel Schell – CTO at Allianz Technology – Less is more: rethinking IT in insurance

Axel Schell, CTO at @Allianz Technology, is nominated to the #EDLOTY Award in the Finance category! Join us on 26th October at #CIONEXT! Register here: https://www.linkedin.com/events/6963770877372968960 to find out how the finalists of the European Digital Leader of the Year 2023 are navigating the Perfect Storm! In this #LeadershipDeepDive interview @Hendrik Deckers asked Axel how to transform a 130-year-old insurance company into a data-driven, cloud-based and agile organisation. They discussed the Cloudification Program and the “cloud first” strategy, as well as IT Decommissioning and its impact on the approach to technology of the entire Allianz Group. Watch the full interview to find out what it means to change the organisational culture from “HiPPO to Geek” and if the “less is more philosophy” brought the expected results at Allianz Technology! Table of contents: 01:13 | Introduction 01:38 | Axel’s background 03:21 | About Allianz Technology 04:16 | Drivers for change at Allianz Technology 05:50 | Business strategy 06:54 | IT Decommissioning Program 10:17 | Data migration 11:56 | Team responsibilities 13:21 | Launch of the Decommissioning Program 14:38 | Results 16:30 | Agile at Allianz Technology 17:43 | Use of automation 19:27 | The Cloudification Program 22:38 | Multi-cloud strategy 25:02 | Data centres vs. cloud 26:49 | Results of the Cloudification program 27:33 | Future cloud platform 30:44 | The role of community 32:00 | IT & Digital organisation 33:42 | Operating model 35:35 | Being data-driven 37:41 | KPI Dashboards 40:39 | The role of the CTO 43:42 | Management style 46:36 | Personality 48:40 | Attracting talent 50:16 | Leadership style 53:43 | MBTI profile 58:17 | Personal mantra 59:24 | Core values 1:03:01 | Mentors 1:05:13 | Failures & lessons learned 1:06:49 | Best things in life 1:07:44 | Worst things in life 1:08:58 | Loves and fears 1:10:48 | Advice for aspiring digital leaders