Aflac Shapes Its Digital Footprint for Future Growth
Aflac is enhancing customer experience with state-of-the-art technology to be more efficient and flexible in the future.
Sponsored by: Aflac Worldwide Headquarters
Aflac – first known as the American Family Life Assurance Company – knows the importance of information technology. It’s key for both customer service and business success.
Aflac Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Sheila Anderson is taking on the challenge of making Aflac – with worldwide headquarters in Columbus, GA, a principal player in that space.
Anderson, a nationally known leader in business information who served in previous roles at several Fortune 500 companies, has expertise in helping companies manage the latest and most efficient digital technology.
Yet, when she joined Aflac in July 2022, Anderson knew she would be taking on a significant challenge.
“They were looking to move from legacy technology to a more cloud-based technology,” she recalls, adding that the company was at that time still using mainframe computer hardware and software.
Today, with the transition well underway, the ease and speed of communications is helping the company enhance and expand its business. Anderson says Aflac hopes to add many more information technology experts to its payroll in the coming year to aid in the transition.
“The insurance market is much more dramatic today then in the past,” she explains. “We need to be efficient and flexible if we want to continue to be a leader in the space.”
With 5,700 employees in the Columbus headquarters and other U.S. cities, as well as over 5,000 in Japan and over 100 in Ireland, Aflac is the largest insurance company in the supplemental market.
But it isn’t just company efficiency that is at stake; Aflac customers are also top-of-mind for the CIO.
“A major goal is to enhance the customer experience,” says Anderson, who was recognized by Insurance Business America with its Elite Woman Award in 2018. “We are focused on an integrated customer experience, which will give policyholders an improved digital path to access their policies and benefits, along with relevant policy data.”
