The new name reflects their enhanced scope and capabilities, says SLGS top executive.
As a company that seeks to promote digital transformation and technological progress in the insurance and financial technology industries, Sun Life Asia Service Centers, a microcosm of Sun Life, has officially repositioned itself as Sun Life Global Solutions (SLGS).
This strategic move aims to establish the company’s global reach and expertise and build greater awareness of its digital capabilities as it delivers exceptional services and experiences to its stakeholders.
It is often observed that visionary leaders and highly skilled teams propel the growth of a business only to realize later that the way the name is presented no longer accurately represents the current state of the organization. A business can evolve and even assume a new name without changing the core of what makes it great. In the case of SLGS, its vision and purpose remain unchanged.
“We at Sun Life Global Solutions are highly passionate about our purpose of helping people achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives and multiplying value for our clients and employees. And with the new name the focus will get further enhanced and amplified,” said Tarun Sareen, Managing Director, Sun Life Global Solutions.
With over 32 years of operations in the Philippines and 17 years in India, Sun Life Global Solutions has evolved as a capability and solutions hub for Sun Life and works in close collaboration with Canada, US, and Asia teams. Over time it has built some key assets like Client Care Center, Technology, Operations and portfolios of Knowledge services work like Actuarial, Finance shared services, Legal services, Risk and Compliance monitoring and HR shared services. As a microcosm of Sun Life, SLGS understands each Business Group and its functions, strategy and priorities, and future needs.
“The quality of work being done by the India and Philippines teams has evolved to provide high-quality delivery, consulting, and solutioning. Our teams now provide end-to-end solutions and work collaboratively to develop digital assets and tools, which is further reaffirmed through the repositioning,” said Tarun.
“The repositioning of our business is an opportunity to reach a wider target group, evolve our offerings, differentiate ourselves, and more importantly advance the global experience of Sun Life,” added Tarun.
Tarun Sareen, Managing Director of Sun Life Global Solutions
What’s in a name?
Tarun explained that the new name, Sun Life Global Solutions, reflects their enhanced scope and capabilities and signifies their commitment to provide comprehensive solutions to clients and partners worldwide.
“The inclusion of the word Global in our name reflects our expanded outreach and collaborative approach with business groups across different regions. It highlights our efforts towards leveraging our resources, knowledge, and expertise to deliver value to our clients.”
On the other hand, the word Solutions emphasizes the primary focus of delivering effective solutions to all pillars or business groups – Canada, Asia, US, Asset Management, and Corporate functions.
“Solutions represent our optimistic approach towards addressing challenges and seizing opportunities. By constantly architecting and solving for the future, we position ourselves as a forward-thinking organization dedicated to helping clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives,” said Tarun.
Photo shows Sun Life Global Solutions team during its annual offsite leadership forum dubbed “ArawUday” where they discussed leadership programs, plans and strategies for the organization.
Inclusive process
The repositioning is certainly not a decision to be taken lightly. It is a significant challenge that even on a good day may require more time, resources, and attention than anticipated. But when done right, it can have a profound impact and be the most consequential endeavor a company has pursued.
“What I am really proud of is the process that we followed. The new name was decided jointly by the entire leadership team along with our colleagues in Canada and Asia and especially the Global Marketing team and the Global Strategy team, to ensure alignment with organizational strategy and thinking,” shared Tarun, who is one of the key leaders supporting Sun Life in its digital enterprise journey. He is responsible for managing SLGS and advancing the organizational purpose, while nurturing a value-centric culture.
“The repositioning has been developed along with the global stakeholders and has the collective organizational input and thought behind it,” said Tarun.
They followed a systematic approach to research and test potential names in sync with the value proposition goals with all stakeholders to ensure it resonated well. All these teams collaborated to conduct exhaustive workshops to identify a positioning statement and preferred nomenclature or terminology. They also tested the names with their external industry partners.
Staying ahead of the curve
With this repositioning, Tarun talked about the organizational goal and strategy when it comes to advancing digital capabilities and offerings to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving financial services industry.
For SLGS, the goal is to advance in being the digital hub, exhibit digital leadership, and contribute to the expansion of the industry as it puts into core focus talent attraction and onboarding.
“We believe that people are our primary assets,” said Tarun, adding that a key aspect of the SLGS strategy is to expand and advance employee experience and create global opportunities of learning and development both in India and Philippines.
Sun Life Global Solutions Leadership training with Chot Reyes, former CEO of TV5 Network Inc
After examining industry trends and Sun Life’s own business plan, Tarun said that moving forward, they will further solidify their position as a talent hub for essential digital and technological capabilities that are centered on innovation and customer-centricity.
“As an organization, the trajectory of our development has been mirrored by the market’s overall expansion of GICs (Global Inhouse Centers). We want to become a digital corporation and pivot Sun Life Global Solutions as a key partner to the country’s next gen digital transformation journey by expanding our digital capabilities in terms of AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning), analytics, and the use of various apps applicable and available to our customers and employees,” added Tarun.
Ultimately, Tarun said, SLGS will continue to invest in technology, people and training. He also shared that Sun Life’s vision is to be among the top asset management and insurance companies in the world.
“Our company has been a hallmark of great legacy and history but is also ambitious about the future. Our company can play, is playing and will play a great role in architecting this new future,” said Tarun.
However, the path to transformation does bring in its own set of challenges. Would SLGS encounter challenges along the way? The answer is “yes,” Tarun admitted.
“But there is no U-turn from this journey, we’re going to keep on marching ahead with a bolder and solutions-oriented approach.” Tarun said he expects all members of SLGS to exhibit leadership whether entry-level or senior level employees.
“We will continue to work on client challenges and drive meaningful innovation to take our customer journeys to the next level,” Tarun asserted.
Enhancing Client Experience
Sun Life Global Solutions offers Client Care Center, Technology Solutions, Operations to Sun Life businesses in Canada, USA and Asia
For SLGS, its clients have always been at the heart of everything they do. All digital solutions that they provide stem from the years of data collection on what creates a customized and personalized client experience.
“We don’t implement a new technology just for the sake of having or to stay ahead of the curve. Technology and innovations are used to enhance customer interactions and we ensure that they resonate with our clients,” said Tarun.
To further explain this, Tarun enumerated some ways they are leveraging AI and other advanced technologies to enhance client experience. He mentioned Claims Prevention and Automation which is being supported by AI, Machine Learning, and Data Analytics to identify potential fraud or anomalies in insurance claims.
Computer vision, a field of AI, is also being used by SLGS to extract meaningful information from visual inputs such as images and videos especially for risk and claim management. Similarly, Voice Biometrics is used in call centers to verify the identity of callers efficiently and securely, while facial analytics technologies are utilized to assess individuals’ health risk score and vital statistics.
“At Sun Life Global Solutions, we are actively integrating digital and AI technologies within the Global Capability Centre sector and specifically at Sun Life for driving innovation, advanced product development and enhancing client and employee experience,” said Tarun.
With the help of AI, Tarun said, they are designing personalized marketing campaigns to target specific customer segments based on their preferences, behaviors, and requirements.
“By leveraging these technologies, we aim to enhance customer experience, streamline operations, prevent fraud, and develop innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of our client,” said Tarun.
In addition, employee-facing chatbots are deployed to enhance employee productivity Experience. Just recently, in the Philippines, SLGS launched Sinag Chatbot and Campus Hiring in Metaverse to create an immersive and interactive candidate hiring experience.
Long-term impact
Sun Life Global Solutions’ vision and strategy is to be a “Powerhouse of value for Sun Life by maximizing client impact.”
SLGS is positioned as a Digital and Innovation hub for Sun Life and is working towards elevating its strategic quotient by developing digital capabilities, enabling business groups to create best in class digital experiences and scaling innovation.
The organization is also committed to continue being a reliable and trusted partner for Sun Life businesses globally and collaboratively deliver outstanding client experiences and services; boost its engineering expertise and adopt digital ways of working and continue to increase value for Sun Life by capitalizing on its unique strengths and expanding scope of solutions.
SLGS is ranked as a Great Place to Work and will continue working on this charter by maintaining and cultivating its culture of leadership, purposefulness, and bolder mindset – committed to attract and develop top talent and leaders.
“We will make sustained efforts to nurture an equitable work environment that we have to stay true to our commitment and purpose. Sun Life Global Solutions will be an organization where employees can have continuous learning to support their growth and will have an inclusive and caring environment to assist in employee’s overall well-being,” said Tarun.
Social advocacies and community support
Sun Life Global Solutions integrates social advocacies and community support into its core values and practices. It values education and believes that it is essential for the nation’s progress.
“In the Philippines, we’ve started supporting education through our various CSR initiatives. Last year alone we launched the project SOS for F2F Program to support public schools. We’ve supported 19,000 students from different public schools in the Metro and Zambales by providing feeding programs, and donating COVID-19 prevention kits, as well as office chairs, tables, monitors, clinic beds and other furniture,” said Tarun.
In 2023, SLGS donated a total of 80 laptops to Pasay City West High School and Maricaban Elementary School.
“We will continue such programs and reach out to more public schools because we believe that education is the key to a person’s fundamental skills such as creativity, decision-making, critical thinking, problem-solving and personal and social responsibility,” Tarun remarked.
By weaving social advocacies and community support into its fabric, SLGS is demonstrating its commitment to making a positive impact on the world.
Tree planting activity with Sun Life Global Solutions volunteer employees at the La Mesa Nature Park