«The best thing is that every day is different.»

Who are you and what do you do at Helvetia? How did you get where you are today?

I'm Daniel Dux and I've been with Helvetia for 17 years. I started as a developer/programmer and today I head up the Front End Solutions Development St. Gallen team. As to my training, I first gained a specialist certificate in IT before completing a diploma in IT. Four years ago I did a post-graduate course in Human Computer Interaction Design.

Can you tell us what your job is and explain what you do in just a few words?

We develop web applications for Helvetia, which is quite varied. From quotation systems for the sales force and brokers up to – and this is pretty new – various premium calculators for end customers. The customer can use these, for example, to calculate their household contents premium and take out the policy directly with just a click.

What is exciting about insurance IT?

Generally, insurance sounds quite boring. However, the exciting part of IT is that insurance doesn’t have to be seen as one «thing», but is very diverse. From motor vehicle to household contents to life insurance, there are plenty of areas in which processes can be automated, such as claims. And precisely that’s what’s exciting, the variety. Every day is different, every project or application that we implement is different again.

What challenges do you foresee in the future?

The difficulty lies in developing what the user actually wants and needs. Particularly in the area of B2C, end customers, it’s not so easy to find out what they want and how the applications need to respond. And the speed of development is becoming a challenge, especially with new competitors.

What does &Go mean for you in your day-to-day work at Helvetia?

To me, &Go means daring to do something new, making fairly quick decisions for or against something and sticking to them – and having the courage to drive the topic forward. In my area we are slowly making efforts, but we could do more. In particular, I think that decisions should be made more quickly. After all, we haven’t actually got much to lose. We can try things out and learn from our mistakes.

Why is &Go important and right for Helvetia?

With digitalization, our environment is changing rapidly and it’s easy for a customer to take out insurance. If we’re not fast enough, the customer quickly goes to the next insurer who may already have a fully automated customer portal. I believe it’s important for the whole company to move forwards and not cling to the old.

What kind of people will be needed in your department in the future?

In addition to specialist knowledge, which is a basic requirement, a new employee has to fit into the team and the whole Helvetia culture. We’re a relaxed team – we have a lot of fun. The human aspect also has to be right. Initiative and independent thinking are also becoming more and more important.

How do you put the Workreallysmart@helvetia topic into practice at Helvetia?

I’ve been working flexibly for a long time. I’ve worked an 80% week for many years and I think it's great to have this option. In my team, a number of people also work an 80% week or have the flexibility to work from home and achieve a good work-life balance. There are plenty of tasks that I can do from home, especially when I need to concentrate.

What would you like for Helvetia in future?

What I would like is the issue with decisions. We should make fast decisions in future and put &Go into practice rather than just talking about it. We need to be braver and try things out.